So? Surely not all poor people have a "desire" to be poor (nobody wants to but I get the point of your post is maybe some people want to take actions that make

So? Surely not all poor people have a "desire" to be poor (nobody wants to but I get the point of your post is maybe some people want to take actions that make them poor), and should we not help them? Furthermore, don't you think that the behaviours of the people who "want" to be poor are such because they can't afford nice things and turn to cheaper and more destructive forms of escapism, such as drugs? You make it seem like we shouldn't give painkillers to people in pain because some people do stupid things that cause them pain. But the fact of the matter is that giving the money currently spent on poverty (because we do in fact spend a _lot_ of money on poverty) to the poor people directly is more efficient. They, again and again, make more out of a dollar than that dollar would have made if it were spent on, say, food banks. If the case for empathy doesn't work for you (and clearly it doesn't) then surely the case for efficiency of government spending should?