California has become the state with the highest poverty rate in the United States, and welfare is the main reason

California has become the state with the highest poverty rate in the United States, and welfare is the main reason (Los Angeles, 14th) Which state has the highest poverty rate in the United States? Not Mississippi, New...

(Los Angeles, 14th) Which state has the highest poverty rate in the United States? Not states like Mississippi, New Mexico or West Virginia, but California. According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Supplemental Poverty Measure, almost one in every five people in California is poor.

This "Poverty Assistance Measures" statistic reflects the cost of housing, food, utility projects and clothing in each state. It also includes government non-cash subsidies, which are also a form of cash.

Considering strong job growth and prosperity in many industries, it’s worth asking why California is lagging behind, especially since in the five years to 2016, California’s per capita GDP growth was twice the U.S. average, the Los Angeles Times reported. California's per capita GDP growth rate is 12.5%, while the national GDP growth rate is 6.27%.

California policymakers are not neglecting their efforts to fight poverty. Sacramento, the capital of California, and local governments spend a lot of resources on poverty-assisted projects. Several welfare programs and municipal programs in California overlap. Many people earn less than 200 percent of the poverty level and still receive welfare benefits. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, California and local governments spent a total of $958 billion on welfare programs from 1992 to 2015, including cash subsidies, payments to providers and other public welfare programs. California, which accounts for 12% of the nation's population, accounts for one-third of the nation's total welfare payments.

California Democrats have long indulged the ideology of this "blue state" with little to no political cost.

Generous welfare payments have not only failed to solve the problem of rising poverty rates, but have actually worsened the situation.

In the 1980s and 1990s, several states, mainly Wisconsin, Michigan and Virginia, carried out welfare reforms. Under the operation of President Clinton and the Republican-controlled Congress, these reforms enabled people in these states who used to rely on welfare to become normal workers, freeing these states from being labeled as poor states.

Look at the situation in California. California’s welfare recipients are receiving disproportionate aid in cash payouts with no strings attached. It's as if welfare reform passed through California and left a dependency trap. Immigrants are even more in trouble, with 55 percent of immigrant families receiving some kind of means-tested benefit, compared with only 30 percent of natives.

If California does not formulate welfare policies to really help welfare recipients escape poverty, but instead politicians continue to use welfare benefits to win the support of low-income people, it may be difficult for California to get rid of its reputation as a "poor state."