Shyam's take on this article....
Poverty is an essential bane of democracy. Poverty alleviation is a constant unfulfilled promise of various political parties and politicians in all the democracies of the world.
It is not something unique to any one country.The day the poverty is really conquered, the relevance of the politicians and political parties comes to an end, or it gets substantially diminished.
While the poverty is a curse and suffering for people, it keeps the politicians relevant and affluent.
America has been debating the poverty and liberty for the last 240 years, and India for almost 70 years.
Now please read Ron Paul's Liberty report
It appears that Obamacare is going to be one of the early issues addressed by the incoming Trump Administration. There's a lot of back-and-forth about "repeal and replace" and "repeal and wait." It's all nonsense.
Politicians think of themselves as high and mighty architects, running around with their magnificent blueprints that they're going to force on society. However, (without exception) life and reality smack the pompous politicians down. The sought after results almost never come to pass.
Unfortunately, like dogs that chase their own tails, politicians bounce back with a new set of blueprints every single time...And around-and-around we go.
No matter what type of society we are to live in, there will always be the poor, the uneducated, the hungry, and the unemployed. They would exist in an anarchist society. They would exist in a society with a limited or small government. They would even exist with free markets, sound money and rock-solid private property rights.
Poverty is not to be abolished. That's not an easy pill for many (most?) to swallow. As a result, people come up with the craziest ideas in order to fight this reality. Every idea has failed.
Take a look at America's current government. It's the biggest and most intrusive that the world has ever seen.
Has it abolished poverty? On the contrary, it's a poverty manufacturer.
Is it from lack of funds? Of course not!
The U.S. government parasitically drains American citizens to the tune of trillions of dollars per year. And it doesn't stop there. The gang has buried itself in debt that can't possibly be paid...ever!
And yet...
There are poor people everywhere. The uneducated (thanks to government schools) are growing exponentially and millions of people are still hungry and unemployed.
So what's missing? Does the federal government need another trillion dollars? Does it need more credit from foolish creditors? Does it need another professor to concoct another blueprint?
The answer is a resounding NO to all of the above.
A serious advocate for a society of liberty, sound money, voluntary interactions, and rock-solid private property rights understands that there is no getting rid of poverty. For it is a built-in part of life.
But it's not as bad as it sounds. There's a very big upside, and here it is: In a free society, poverty may only be a temporary situation for each individual. As long as you have the freedom to think, to create, to serve, and to keep the fruits of your labor, you can raise yourself to unbelievable heights. That is the promise of freedom.
Unfortunately, that scares a lot of people. So instead of taking the peaceful route, most will choose to snuggle into the arms of the violent blueprint makers. "Let the politicians draw up plans to raise me out of poverty," becomes the belief.
The blueprint makers love taking on this most impossible task. They get praise (and sometimes worship). But they live and breathe on mostly one thing: Dependency.
Take a look at the arguments that are being presented in the Obamacare "debate." The left seems to brag about the numbers of dependents that they've created. What is to be done about the tens of millions who signed up for Obamacare? What are you going to do, rip their insurance away?
The dependents have become political bargaining chips.
Obamacare is just a small slice of the dependency web too. Factor in the unsustainable Medicare and Social Security scams and you've got a whole society of dependents (who believe they're entitled to what the government promised them).
Instead of a move towards liberty and free markets, the blueprint makers will bark at each other and settle on either keeping the monstrosity as it is, or "replace" it with another monstrosity that will inevitably fail.
A new philosophy must be embraced. Instead of trying to see how much poverty the U.S. government is able to create. Let's scrap the belief that stealing from (A) to give to (B) is a solution to any problem.
There's no way to make theft work.
There's no blueprint that will turn a wrong into a right.
Liberty is always the best option.
Perhaps someday it'll catch on.
