[matt4077]

Just pointing out some assumptions you're making in your post:

1. Poor people are stupid/uneducated ("Applied education is the best path for the poor")

2. Poor people are lazy ("pay poor people to work their ass off")

3. Poor people are criminals ("reduce crime...")

4. ...and junkies ("...and drug usage")

5. The broken window theory is right ("renovate ...")

[swframe]

Agreed, I made gross assumptions based on my crazy background and experiences. I grew up in public housing (80% welfare families) in East New York (Brooklyn) during the 80s when that tiny (crack infested) neighborhood had the highest murder rate in all of NYC. For the last 3 years, I currently fund the education, teach and mentor several people in the 3rd world who make less than $10/day. The poor people I grew with and I now try to help are ...

1. Smarter than me but don't know how to end the cycle of poverty (one had a baby recently at age of 19 and both parents are unemployed).

2. Are not lazy but work in dead-end 60-hour/week jobs where they are not learning the skills that allow them to make enough to escape poverty and have no time to learn new skills.

3. Are not criminals but have accepted their fate and are not working to change their neighborhoods to reduce the temptation of their kids to enter a life of crime.

4. Are not drug users but drug related crime and extreme violence surrounds them (they have seen dead bodies in the streets on their way to work).

Other kinds of poverty exists. My proposal should be adapted to work in the situations I've not experienced.