No one thinks money spent on (1) fraud prevention, (2) food safety, (3) basic research, (4) judicial salaries for civil dispute resolution, or similar programs alleviate poverty.
I think you just shocked the countless thousands of economists who believe that functioning institutions are key to growing economies and alleviating poverty.
My point was that it isn't charity. Many of those programs (particularly functioning judiciary and basic research) easily produce more value than they cost. But they aren't welfare - despite the contrary assertion from the link.
Thus, dividing this type of spending by the number of people below the poverty line is confused and misleading.
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.