By Bill O'Reilly
All the polls say the same thing. Americans who don't have a lot of money, overwhelmingly support the President. That's because since Mr. Obama has been in office, welfare spending has increased 41 percent.
Right now about $1 trillion every year is spent on entitlements. Medicaid, the biggest situation but there are 126 anti-poverty programs on the books. Back in 1964, President Lyndon Johnson declared unconditional war on poverty. At that time the poverty rate was about 19 percent.
Since then, America has spent roughly $15 trillion fighting poverty. Yet, right now the poverty rate is above 15 percent. So you can see all the money has not done much to combat the problem.
The reason is that poor education and poor parenting are driving destitution. High school dropouts are almost four times more likely to end up in poverty than those who graduate. And children growing up in single parent families are four times more likely to be poor than those living with both parents.
As long as Americans refuse to educate themselves and family units remain chaotic, you will have a 15 percent poverty rate no matter how much money you throw at it. The statistics I have cited come from a new study by the Cato Institute but as you may know "Talking Points" has been telling you this for years.
In a free society, people have a right to be a moron and no government can stop irresponsible parenting. So, what is the solution?
President Obama believes that the federal government should give money to the poor. Hand it right to them in a variety of ways. The problem with that is that many of the poor will use the money irresponsibly. The high rate of alcohol and drug addiction and other social problems assure a massive amount of waste in the entitlement arena.
Americans are the most generous people on earth. But the truth is that income redistribution doesn't work. For what the feds spend now on entitlements, every single poor person in America could be handed almost $21,000 a year.
Now, Mitt Romney would be wise to lay out his own anti-poverty program that would be heavy on personal responsibility that if you're getting entitlements, you have to show where the money goes. It can't go to buy drugs and alcohol or to be used in a casino.
The bible says the poor will always be with us and that's absolutely true. There are always going to be human beings who cannot and will not support themselves. Society must be compassionate but must be responsible in trying to help these people especially the kids.
But right now there is no discipline at all in the entitlement culture. And President Obama simply wants to throw more money at the problem.
And that's "The Memo."
Pinheads & Patriots
Last night, Bob Beckel appeared with Sean Hannity, and things got a little heated with Mr. Beckel saying the "F" word. He thought it was a commercial in progress. But no, "Hannity" was on the air.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BOB BECKEL, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Did you say that Head Start is a failure? You don't know what the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) you're talking about.
SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Whoa, whoa! Bleep. What are you doing?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Failure.
BECKEL: I just can't stand right-wingers.
HANNITY: All right, we apologize for...
BECKEL: I don't apologize.
HANNITY: Yes, you do!
BECKEL: No, I don't.
HANNITY: We're on the air.
BECKEL: I'm not going to apologize.
HANNITY: All right. I apologize for you.
BECKEL: We're not on the air.
HANNITY: Yes, we were on the air.
BECKEL: When?
HANNITY: When you just cursed.
BECKEL: We weren't on the air.
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