My own pet theory is that people simply have a harder time justifying the giving of help/charity to people they do not know and/or understand. e.g. It's easy t

My own pet theory is that people simply have a harder time justifying the giving of help/charity to people they do not know and/or understand. e.g. It's easy to hate "the other" because you don't know them, you don't live next door to them, you've never lived through what they've lived through, etc. And this is amplified by those who benefit from the hate, and who slander with strawmen and push for rules that maintain the separations and distinctions. (DADT, segregation, most suburban zoning laws in the US, Arizona's new immigration laws, etc) Similarly, it's harder for rich people in the suburbs to support social programs than even similarly rich people who simply live where they have more contact with people of more economic classes. Even if neither set of rich people had been personally poor. Likewise, poor people --while more likely to give charity to other people who are in situations they understand-- are still very skeptical of charity given to "the other" (e.g. TARP) Truly, some people have a strong philosophical belief and act accordingly. But mostly, people are just skeptical of "the other" and act accordingly.