‘America does so much more to subsidise affluence than alleviate poverty’
The main problem with government poverty programs is that they usually focus on <i>spending</i> money instead of <i>giving</i> money to people who need it. That is, the government spends money on things, but this is a very inefficient or even counterproductive way to help. And a lot of the time it just means that the money is going to whoever is politically connected.<p>A much more efficient way to help people is just to give them money directly, and then people can spend it on whatever they think they need.