Inequality and Trust

A Chinese millionaire recently took out a full page add in the NYT announcing he would feed a selection of homeless people and then give them $300.00 in cash.  The somewhat paternalistic rescue mission chosen as the vehicle for this charity told the homeless on the day of the transaction they would accept the money on behalf of the poor.  Meanwhile, many studies across the world have shown that giving the poor cash more often than not leads to permanent gains in their socio-economic status.  It works all over the world, so why not here.  Somehow, our mixture of crony capitalism and paternalistic attitude toward the poor has made us more than cautious in our welfare policies.  Meanwhile, we have no problem showering the rich with tax cuts and subsidies.  Kansas is the perfect example of this phenomenon.  The governor there signed off on the largest tax cuts ever, mostly for the wealthy and proclaimed it as the new model for state growth.  Instead, the state is doing worse than the US average and has gutted its school system to pay for the cuts.  It is a case of the ideology dictating policy and results be damned as long as the 1% get their subsidy. WTF...