The Buffalo News headline story today, The High Cost of Being Poor, does a wonderful job identify the symptoms of poverty but never addresses the cause. The cause can be summed up in one word - GOVERNMENT.

The war on poverty, much like the war on drugs, is not working. Throwing money at people has the opposite effect, it takes away the incentive for personal responsibility. The social welfare programs have actually succeeded in increasing poverty.

Many of you will think I’m being cruel and heartless, that is the furthest thing from the truth. All you have to do is look at the figures.

Congressman Ron Paul weighed in on the subject when facing a vote to increase welfare -

Voluntary charities also promote self-reliance, but government welfare programs foster dependency. In fact, it is in the self-interest of the bureaucrats and politicians who control the welfare state to encourage dependency. After all, when a private organization moves a person off welfare, the organization has fulfilled its mission and proved its worth to donors. In contrast, when people leave government welfare programs, they have deprived federal bureaucrats of power and of a justification for a larger amount of taxpayer funding.