http://www.ontheissues.org/2016/Ben_..._+_Poverty.htm
Charities better at providing for needy than the government
He railed against the government's lack of forethought to deal with the national debt. "We're not planning for the future," Carson said. "If we continue to spend ourselves into oblivion, we are going to destroy this nation." He also said the government is treating corporations "as enemies" and that corporate taxes should be lowered to encourage growth. "Corporations are not in business to be social-welfare organizations; they are there to make money," Carson said.Charities, he added, are better at providing for the needy than the government. "Nobody is starving on the streets. We've always taken care of them," Carson said. "We take care of our own; we always have. It is not the government's responsibility."
Source: 2013 Conservative Political Action Conf. in Baltimore Sun , Mar 17, 2013
Those who don't want to work? They are on their own
The issue of how to handle able-bodied individuals who simply do not want to work has three practical solutions:
- Tell those who don't work that they are on their own.
- Take from those who have something and redistribute it to the individuals who aren't working.
- Borrow from a 3rd party in order to take care of the nonworking individuals and leave the debt to future generations.
Logically, with solution 1, the individual who isn't working clearly either starves or finds a job. What about solution 2? In this case, those who are forcibly constrained to support the individuals who aren't working eventually lose interest in working themselves, since the fruits of their labors are being confiscated. This, in turn, leads to even more individuals who aren't working. What about solution 3? These investors are unlikely to extend credit indefinitely. Thus solution 1 is the only one that stands the test of logic and is the one upon which we should concentrate.
Source: America the Beautiful, by Ben Carson, p. 88-89 , Jan 24, 2012
Government entitlements compete with private-sector charity
It is very difficult to travel to any community in our nation and not find charitable organizations specifically created to aid the indigent citizens of that community.Our government used to fully understand the role of private-sector charitable organizations in ameliorating the plight of the poor. This is why the government offered tax deductions and exemptions for churches and other charitable organizations. Today the government actually competes with many of these private-sector charities while still offering them tax deductions. How does this wasteful duplication benefit government or us, its citizens? Certainly by creating huge government entitlement programs, the size and power of the government increases dramatically. Before long, people generally depend on government for everything from health care and education, to a comfortable retirement, instead of looking to government for the basic protection of life and property, as well as providing public roads and public safety.
Source: America the Beautiful, by Ben Carson, p. 91 , Jan 24, 2012
Eradicate poverty by providing education and requiring work
The Bible makes it clear that we have a responsibility to be kind to the poor among us. [But] America did not become a great nation by encouraging people to feel sorry for themselves and seek handouts from othersIf we really want to eradicate poverty, we should allocate significant resources and personnel toward providing education and opportunity for the poor. And if we are to provide assistance to our able-bodied citizens, it should be attached to a requirement for work or acquisition of education and/or skills.
If they have to work anyway, many people will put real effort into finding the kind of job they want as opposed to collecting unemployment benefits and being assigned to work they consider undesirable. Some conservatives would say that we should leave such people on their own to sink or swim because we cannot afford to keep supporting them, while some liberals would say that these people already have enough problems and that it would be unfair to require anything of them. I reject both