Government welfare gets money to all locations over the long term. Private charity does well in short, acute phases (eg hurricane relief), but over the long term, it&#x27;s only useful for socially attractive services - and even then, it&#x27;s not enough. &#x27;kids with cancer&#x27; charities do a lot better than &#x27;young adults with mental illness&#x27; charities, which in turn do better than &#x27;disabled people who need 24-hour care for life&#x27; charities.<p>&gt; <i>poverty was decreasing between the 40s and 60s</i><p>... something which had little do to with welfare or private charity.<p>&gt; <i>I know you&#x27;ll find this hard to believe but its true the richest in our society give more than anyone else to charity.</i><p>I don&#x27;t find it hard to believe at all. What you&#x27;re finding hard to believe is that even though the rich give more than others, it&#x27;s still a drop in the bucket compared to government-supplied assistance.