Government Poverty Program Spending Averages To $87,000 For A Family of Four

From The Wall Street Journal, "A Republican War on Poverty: The myth about the uncaring GOP is being debunked again." by Gary MacDougal:

... the Rube Goldberg patchwork of 126 federal safety-net human-services programs focused largely on the 46 million Americans now in poverty. Including state-level programs, annual government spending on these programs is almost $1 trillion. Dividing $1 trillion by 46 million shows an average of $21,700 for each American in poverty, or nearly $87,000 for a family of four. That's almost four times the $23,850 a year federal poverty line for that family. While not practical, a cash payment of that amount would lift everyone in poverty well into the middle class. Clearly we are not getting the results we should from this enormous level of spending. [Emphasis added.]