Using your numbers, ~20,000 per poverty-stricken family is still being spent on them, which would apparently nearly double most of their income if transferred directly.
Also, I don't think the article is being disingenuous, but I think the way it is represented here is. If you believe the point of this spending is to help those in genuine poverty, rather than to assist middle class families, the Pell grants and stuff are just as wasteful as whatever else the money is being spent on.
If you believe the point of this spending is to help those in genuine poverty, rather than to assist middle class families
Fine, but who thinks that?
http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/over-60000-welfare-spentper-household-poverty_657889.html
60000 dollars per year per poor family, if the article is correct.