POVERTY:
Poverty does not necessarily cause crime, crime often causes poverty. Those who choose the path of illegal means to make a living cost themselves lost privledges, friends, family and security in their work careers.
Libertarians nearly always favor local or private control of an issue. The private sector or charitable organizations do a much more efficient job of providing necessary services for the truly needy. They are also in a better position, if it's local, to determine who is truly needy without all the red tape and cost. The federal welfare program
1) Seventy-five percent of our welfare dollars, enough for each family of four to receive $50,000 annually, goes to administering the program. On the other hand, 75% of each privately donated dollar goes to the needy. "Welfare & Poverty"NCPA Policy Analysis, 1983, page 1.
2) The poor fare better in free markets because entry into the workforce is easier. Many Europeans immigrated to the US to escape the guilds and trade restrictions that kept them out of the labor market. Because the US allowed its poor to work, it became the wealthiest nation in the world. Even the poor in the US are better off than the middle-class of other countries.
3) As Jesus said, "You will always have the poor with you." John 12:8 People are poor and homeless for a number of reasons, some of them insurmountable. All we can do is present the best opportunities for all our citizens in the hope that the majority will be prosperous enough to provide for the truly needy.
4) "...equal (even relatively equal) incomes can be achieved only by abandoning liberty for tyranny," Michael Novak The Wall Street Journal, 7/11/95.
5) According to the Heartland Institute:
* Amount of money spent on 'War on Poverty" since 1965: $5 trillion
* Percent of Americans below the poverty line in 1968: 13%
* Percent of Americans below the poverty line in 1994: 13%.
6) Wealth redistribution, wealth disparity solutions equal Socialism and demand robbing Peter to pay Paul. In some cases, the poor are unwilling to do what is necessary to change their situation. "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink. You can send a boy to college, but you can't make him think."
7) To see why Jesus said, "the poor will always be with you" picture the desired state of Utopia where everyone has everything. Of course, it comes from the labor of some individuals. Now picture one individual sitting back and saying "I won't work. Feed me" and the fairness dissolves. The Apostle Paul said, "Let he who does not work not eat" 2 Thessalonians 3:10
8) According to Atlantic magazine, 1993:
* Federal social spending that goes to families below the poverty line: one of every eight dollars.
* Federal social spending that goes to familes with income above $50,000:one in every four dollars.
9) Dollar amount of government entitlements that went in 1993 to households with incomes of more than $50,000: $150 billion. Insight magazine 2/7/94.