http://hfcn.blogspot.com/

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I was part of the problem by failing to recognize the significance and the relationship between poverty and unemployment, as it affected community. While I have worked many long hours to support the troubled industries and regions affected by natural disaster, I overlooked the affects of poverty, where the situation was grim.. Recent census numbers showed that in my own state, poverty is at record proportion.

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I read your Labor Day comment and was moved by your question. I think it’s our government that makes us all poorer. Let me give you what I think is evidence.

The government makes us poor by:

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(1) its monetary policy (i.e., inflation)

By inflating the currency, it’s a hidden tax on the stored value role of money. It hits hardest on the poor and those on fixed incomes by raising prices. The poor can’t go in and demand higher wages. So how do they adapt to a 5% annual inflation (and, I’d argue it was higher)? The answer is they don’t they slip down the economic ladder as the tide is rising.

(2) its misguided attempts to help (i.e., the war on poverty)

In the 60’s, LBJ declared a war on poverty. It basically broke the backs of the poor. It raised taxes and went into the “charity business” pushing aside the family, the churches, and the true charities. It sucked out the vigor. Welfare, the dole, is demeaning and demotivating. We know have generations that have grown up on it and don’t know any other way. Even the reforms (welfare to work) are subverted by bureaucrats who like things the way they are. Government welfare is immoral, ineffective, and inefficient.

(3) its misguided attempt to change human behavior (i.e., the war on drugs)

Another of the great ideas in government that something happens when they pass laws. So they outlaw drugs and think they’ve done something. All they’ve done is create a black market with violence and death. There have always been drug addicts. There always will be drug addicts. We didn’t learn from Prohibition. Outlawing something means (a) crime will supply the product; (b) People will die either from gang wars or bad products; and (c) the overall use rate will go up. As a libertarian, I want all drugs to be sold at WalMart without a a prescription. A lot of smart people predict: the rate of addiction will go down, we will empty the prisons of non-violent offenders, the number of drug related deaths from bad drugs will drop to zero, the drug dealers will literally disappear overnight since competing with WalMart is a losing proposition, and we will all be better off. They can NOT keep drugs, weapons, and violence out of their prisons. Why do we believe they can keep it out of our neighborhoods?

(4) its intrusion into the free market for labor (i.e., minimum wage) and products (i.e., price supports for milk and sugar)

I have ranted about the minimum wage which has a terrible impact on the poor. The government can’t give the poor the skills needed to earn more but when they raise the minimum wage they ensure that they will not earn anything at all. They enact zoning and licensing laws which mean the poor can’t start a business. Zoning says you can’t sell crafts from your kitchen table. Licensing says you can’t braid hair in your living room. Don’t use your car to drive someone somewhere; there’s a slew of rules agianst that. And, your grandmother’s famous recipe for <insert favorite ethnic food>, forget trying to make and sell that to people, you might kill them. And, when you but soemthing made with milk or sugar, the government ensure that you have to pay more for it by having “price floors”. And, if they have “price ceilings”, then that just ensures your won’t be able to buy it legally at any price. It just makes us all poorer!

(5) its definition of poverty

It defines poverty so that we will always have poor people. Many economists point this out. My favorite example of this was when the TV interviewed an immigrant trying to get to America. His answer to “why do you want to come” was “I want to live in a country that has fat poor people”. Absolutely priceless. The economists point out that people who are poor don’t necessarily stay poor. Just as those who are rich don’t necessarily stay rich. The government defines the poor by an income level selected so it represents the bottom percentage of the population. Let’s say the bottom 20%! Then they declare a “war on poverty” so we can have big programs where their friends will win lucrative contracts. And, since we will always have a bottom 20%, they can continue to exploit the misfortune. Arghh!

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I got tired and skipped over: government public skools, high taxation, the social security ponzi scheme, government unintended consequences, and affirmative action. These too are government frauds perpetrated on the poor. But as I said, it makes me frustrated to keep on ranting.

I hope that this is perceived not as a rant but an attempt to put the blame where it belongs. I too look for “effective compassion” as defined by http://www.acton.org/ppolicy/compassion/. Personally, for the last decade, I try to help a private non-religious group that focuses on moving people from poverty to a normal life by specific help. http://www.homefrontnj.org/ I think they have had a significant impact. Maybe when I retire, I can take their org as a template and bring it to my own county. I think the key finding that they made was that the government welfare programs were not designed to move people off poverty and onto the future. When you chat with the people who were involved with the organization in the early days, they found the government welfare people and programs were downright hostile to the idea that these “clients” were people that deserved better. I personally believe that it was when the government got into the “charity business” and pushed out the churches, fraternal organizations, and the non-profits that the situation got bad.

Again, I think that putting the blame where it belongs is CRITICAL to solving the problem.

So what’s my solution? Can’t just rant, you have to have an answer.

(1) Rant agianst government. Try to convert people to the libertarina view that we are best served when we are left alone by government. This doesn’t mean that the poor will starve. America is a charitable country. Even with all the current taxes, we still gave a grazillion buck to the Tsunami victims, the Katrina victims, and on and on. Instead of sending a buck to the government where they waste 99 cents, I’ll send it Connie Mercer at Homefront where she’ll figure out how to get 21 nickels worth of value out of it.

(2) This year, I’m going to open a checking account and start putting in a hundred bucks a month. From that checking account, I am going to give to worthwile causes and people. It’ll be my version of the Rockafeller Foundation. I’m going to do that in addition to the regualr charities I support like HomeFront, Salvation Army, and “my” church. Regardless if I get a tax deduction or not, everything in that account will be spent on “charity”.

Maybe this will spark other to do the same. We don’t need government to do our “heavy lifting”. We can’t afford it.

imho