I can see reasons behind doing this either way.<p>A good example is in medications.  Lots of people go off medication because they feel better.  But they feel better because of the medication.  So they no longer feel better after they go off it.<p>Similarly, if all poverty reports in the US included benefits, many conservatives would say: see, we have no more poverty.  We can get rid of these programs.  But these programs were why we had no-one under the poverty line.  We now have poverty again.