Curing poverty by charity

One in six people around the world continues to survive on $1 or less a day.

'The greatest cause of poverty is hover-population,' remarked Harlow.

'Yes,' said old Joe Philpot. 'If a boss wants two men, twenty goes after the job: ther's too many people and not enough work.'

'Over-population!' cried Owen, 'when there's thousands of acres of uncultivated land in England without a house or human being to be seen. Is over-population the cause of poverty in France? Is over-population the cause of poverty in Ireland? Within the last fifty years the population of Ireland has been reduced by more than half. Four millions of people have been exterminated by famine or got rid of by emigration, but they haven't got rid of poverty. P'raps you think that half the people in this country ought to be exterminated as well.'

The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists

When it comes to poverty, too many have their fingers in the dyke instead of working to redirect the river. Spending money to alleviate the symptoms of poverty neglects the attack upon the cause. Poverty is too big a problem for philanthropy to have much effect.

Feeding America estimates that 49.1 million Americans lived in food insecure households in 2013. A sixth of the U.S. population faces hunger. All charitable giving for human services was $41.5 billion last year, which works out to $891 for each American living officially below the poverty line. That's not a lot of money, especially when you consider how many other people living above the poverty line are struggling. In Silicon Valley's biggest county, for instance, it was estimated that one third of households earned less than the Self-Sufficiency Standard in 2010, which measures basic expenses for food, housing, transportation, child care and other necessities. Even as tens of millions of Americans endure ongoing hardship in an economy that simply doesn't work for them, many won't engage this problem at a systemic level and instead opt for Band-Aid strategies that themselves fall short. 

Many rich people, along with the foundations they endow, don't care all that much about helping poor people in the United States—as opposed to funding the arts or building up their alma maters.