The Poor Among Us:

In Matthew 26: 11 Jesus said, "You will have the poor among you always." Many people, wishing perhaps to justify their own attitudes, have interpreted this passage to mean that Jesus was saying it was all right to ignore the poor and do nothing for them. This can hardly be what He meant because in all the other references to the poor His message is that we should show concern for them.

What did He mean then? I think He was simply stating a fact of life, the central point being that it was all right for His host to wash his feet with expensive ointment because He would not be here always. The poor have indeed always been among us. Why? Like others of my generation I grew up in the depression. Most of us were poor then, but that was only a temporary condition. The rest of this article I will devote to a discussion of the facts about the poor. I do not have any answers, only many questions.

The Great Society Programs
President Lyndon Baines Johnson started the war on poverty. His intention was to abolish poverty forever. Instead, he lost the war and created a vicious cycle in which the poor cannot seem to escape. This is a very good examph: of unintended consequences, often called a fundamental principle of government. The underlying difficulty with his system seems to be that the poor would be forced to give up so many government benefits if they went to work that they cannot afford to work.

A High Propensity to Consume
The economist would tell you that the poor stay poor because they have a high propensity to consume. Some economist would put it this way, they have a high propensity to consume because they are poor and have no money for anything else. Whichever way they say it they mean that the poor will spend all their money on themselves as soon as they get it. This fact has influenced the tax policy of governments around the world. A tax is labeled either regressive or progressive according to whether the tax is laid most heavily on consumption, (the poor) or savings, (the rich). One time I was discussing this propensity to consume with a friend. He said that the poor did that so no one could take it from them. Most times whenever they got something and tried to keep it, some one came along and found a way to take it. No one could do that if they spent the money and consumed what they bought right away.
Of course, with thinking like that they never will be able to save anything. They can never get ahead and rise

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