I’d like to take this graph, place it on a 3X5 index card and show it to the random assortment of family members and acquaintances who are convinced that “goddamed welfare” is bankrupting the country.

Dylan Mathews reminds us that welfare payments constitute .7 percent of the US federal budget. And in fact the number of eligible people accessing welfare has been steadily declining (see graph). People are free to have policy disagreements with the efficacy of the state providing “temporary assistance to needy families,” but a little reality is nice sometimes.

Have any of you ever had conversations with relatives, friends or neighbors that perpetuated an “urban legend” about government spending?