More Bang For The Poverty-Fighting Buck

Arnold Kling has some interesting ideas about poverty , charity, and government. (Warning: This article contains arguments with libertarian tendencies. The management takes no responsibility for how this will affect you. Read at your own risk.) He examines briefly the roots of poverty (worthy of a discussion in itself), and offers some speculation about what would happen if the 20% of our population with the most money (let's call it the oppressor class, just for fun) was stripped of its possessions and shipped to a deserted land mass, leaving the country and its riches to the rest of us. Which group would be better off in twenty years? An interesting question. He later turns his attention to the effectiveness of government as a remedy to poverty, looking at programs that have succeeded and failed in their stated goals. He makes the case that government should focus its efforts and spending where its programs have proven effective, and leave those areas where its efforts have fallen short to charitable organizations. He proposes some changes to our tax code, to promote a shift of dollars from government programs to charities. I could summarize the article further for you, but then you probably wouldn't read it. I'd really like you to go have a look at it, and then come back and tell me what you think of his ideas. Anybody game?