Why Don't rich people help the poor ?
Answer:
I think they do, but I don't think that the problem of poverty is a matter awaiting amelioration by intervention of the wealthy.
Consider that poverty is a worldwide problem with many, many causes, some of which can be helped by simply giving money (ie, subsidization of emergency rent help to keep people living paycheck-to-paycheck from being evicted and thereby becoming homeless, which makes poverty far more intractable). But generally the causes are far more pervasive.
Worldwide, the single largest reason for poverty is disease, of which malnutrition is the most prevalent. We're not talking a cold that keeps you home for a day, but debilitating yet astonishingly common maladies such as River Blindness, malaria, HIV, TB and anemia. These diseases prevent families from being productive (either in the fields or at home) which forces them onto whatever familial or societal safety nets exist (generally meager).
The second largest contributor to poverty is warfare. War is a negative-sum game. Money that is spent on ammunition does not reap any fiscal returns, while the capital destroyed and lives lost represent total losses that can never be fully reclaimed.
The third largest contributor is a lack of infrastructure. Joseph Stiglitz, while a grad student, noted that Kenya's economic development was permanently hampered by information asymmetries that made landlords enforce sharecropping (rent is a portion of the crops) rather than fixed payment (rent is a predetermined value) which reduced incentives for tenants to improve their productivity. Likewise, much of the difference between a successful community and a starving one is whether the means are available to take their products to the market. Where the potential for marketable cash crops exists, farmers will plant these as they can in order to reap gains from specialization. Where there is no such potential, farmers remain subsistence only and hence cannot improve their lot.
If you consider even the poor in our own nation (who, by global standards are quite well off), much of the assistence given them comes from taxes paid by the wealthy and donations made by the middle- and upper-classes, either directly or via a mediary such as a religious organization or a philanthropic foundation.
The ultimate causes of poverty in the U.S. stem more from societal ills than a hardness of heart on the part of the wealthy (although there are some stingy bastards out there). Consider that the leading causes of financial failure (aka bankruptcy) in the US are excessive medical bills, divorce, and prolonged job loss. The cost of insurance and of medical treatment itself feed one another and thereby prevent proper access. My mother used to work as a nurse in an emergency room, and she said the majority of patients she treated weren't trauma or crash cart, but either suffered from less threatening maladies but had no insurance and hence no hospital access (or didn't know to go to the local urgent care clinic), or had chronic conditions that were easily controlled with treatment but the patients had forgone that treatment due to cost or ignorance.
When I say ignorance, I mean someone who has been diagnosed with high blood pressure but continues to smoke and eat greasy food, or someone who is diabetic but refuses to modify diet or take insulin.
Other leading causes of lifelong poverty tend to be linked to poor lifestyle choices: teenage pregnancy and drug use. Those who are homeless and use drugs generally became homeless because of the drug use. Teen moms often get little support from family and, having no education but not wanting to abandon their children, face a series of difficult choices and end up in low-paying jobs. There are private agencies designed to help these young women become self-sufficient providers, and private donations do support these causes (I'm a big fan of Our Lady's Inn in St. Louis, Mo.), but other things would be more helpful such as stricter enforcement of paternity rulings.
There is really no way for the rich to help out in such circumstances, other than say by getting together and endowing support systems. Ultimately, however, the decisions taken to reduce crushing poverty must be made at a governmental level and involve radical wholesale changes to the systems that comprise them.
Rich people pay a large amount of the taxes, much of which go towards the poor. Virtually all charitable foundations are founded by rich people.
Why don't poor people help the poor?
the largest contributors to private charities are the rich not the middle class. the largest proportion of taxes leading to redistribution is paid by the rich. what exactly do you expect them to do?
so the rich sweat to make their money and now they have to give it to a poor person? why cant the poor person learn to manage their money better instead of spending it all on the latest fads and dont have any money to feed themselves. so now they are asking for a handout. the poorest people eat mcdonalds everyday. thats 7 dollars a meal- or 2555 dollars and since they have 3 kids, thats 7500 minimum. add rent to it, 700 a month or 8400 a year. most poor people make around 20k a year. see 15k is already out. taxed at 15%. they only have 17350 left so thats only 2350 at the end of year. now add the supersize meals and that takes another 1k from it. then theres cable tv, magazines, etc that ends up eating the rest of the money.
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