For decades liberal politicians have been spending billions trillions of dollars fighting the “War on Poverty,” yet the poverty rate remains unchanged. But of course, they tell us that they just haven’t spent enough money.

The government is not making much headway reducing poverty despite spending hundreds of billions of dollars, according to a study by the libertarian Cato Institute.

Despite an unprecedented increase in federal anti-poverty spending the national poverty rate has not declined, it finds.

“[S]ince President Obama took office, federal welfare spending has increased by 41 percent, more than $193 billion per year.” the study says.

Federal welfare spending this year now totals $668 billion, spread out over 126 programs, while the poverty rate that remains stubbornly high at nearly 15 percent – roughly where it was in 1965, when President Johnson declared a federal War on Poverty.

Read the whole thing, but resist the urge to bang your head against anything hard.