Poverty is a problem, but the solution is not redistribution of the income and wealth of the rich. We have so many examples of the failure of that strategy in history, I am surprised people still believe in it. Either they don't read history, or they want to pretend that this time will be different.
If you are serious and compassionate, the first stop to ending poverty is to understand the root causes.
So here are the primary root causes and I would be interested to know how you think we should solve them...
Children going through our public schools and unable to read, write, and add at a high school level. Many who are not headed to college, graduate with no skills to earn a decent living. Being able to work a full time job reduces the probability of someone living in poverty by 75%.
Second, women having children out of wedlock before the age of 21. Older woman with good careers are choosing to have children out of wedlock and can afford them, but young girls having children condemn but themselves and their children growing up in poverty again with over an 80% poverty. What is your solution for that problem, compassion isn't picking up the pieces, it's avoiding the trainwreck in the first place.
Third, lack of savings in before retirement and no extended family. Social security is not enough to retire on and it never was intended to be enough. Either we pass a "forced" retirement savings plan or people need to consider returning to extended families, where grandparents live with and care for their grandchildren. This has worked for thousands of years, so why abandon it now.
People who are disabled physically and mentally. This groups needs a social safety net. And if we reduce the strain on the social safety net, we can provide for these people very easily. Meanwhile, be aware many of the homeless prefer to be homeless (I said many, not all or even most). I worked in mental hospital in college as a health aide. Many of our patients chose to live on the streets and checked into the hospital over the winter. For one reason or another, they cannot handle the stress of living independently and having a full-time job. They had a choice of living at the hospital where they got a room and three meals a day or living on the street. They chose the latter.
Substance abuse, whether its alcohol or drugs, substance abuse is a major cause of homelessness and poverty, not nearly as much as some of the other causes noted above, but an increasing one. What is your plan to prevent illegal drugs from ruining people's lives and helping those who do get addicted get rehabilitated or in many cases institutionalized. Sadly, cognitive damage means many of these people simply cannot live independently.
Focusing and addressing the causes of poverty will lead to less poverty, attacking the wealthy will lead to less funding for the social safety net. The wealthy through their taxes fund the social safety nets of most countries... taking away that source of funding is why the poor are so destitute in countries without wealthy people. Sad reality... compare the poor in America with the poor in poor countries.
