The Urbanophile has a post that Libertarians can surely get on board with. He takes a swipe at the narrative of the fiscally conservative Republican governor. He argues generally that they’re no more frugal than their Democratic counterparts.
In particular, he takes aim at Ohio’s Governor Kasich who defunded Cincinnati’s plans to invest in street cars only to start spending piles of money on a bypass around the small town of Portsmouth, Ohio. On the way, he notes similar behavior by Indiana Governors Pence and Daniels for Indiana’s plan to spend $100,000 per foot on a highway in Kentucky.
One definition of welfare is whether or not one actually knows the intended beneficiary. If not, it’s “welfare”. If one does know the intended beneficiary, it is “economic development”, or “jobs creation”.
There may be a corrolary concerning the amount of tax monies being spent as well. Amounts closer to subsistence would be “welfare”, while amounts making one a million (or more) isn’t.
It’s not about who spends less, but who gets rewarded more.