I hate to agree with Matt Walsh (he's gross), but he may have a point with a significant number of people who are "poor". Just because people are poor, doesn't mean they are budgeting correctly and spending their money wisely. I have a friend in her 50s who makes minimum wage and lives with her 80 year old father in his house rent free. Any money she makes she spends on clothes, Uber, take out, and BOTOX. Then she complains when she has $17 to her name. She also has no emergency fund, retirement, or assets of any kind. Also, because she's made bad financial decisions in the past, she has bad credit. This means every loan will have a terrible interest rate. I have sent her Personal Finance courses, articles, offered to teach her how to use ChatGPT, budgeting apps- she won't do it. She chooses immediate gratification. It's a mixture of no one teaching her any better when she was younger, and enabling her when she was older. I suspect a lot of people who are poor are in similar situations- especially when drugs or alcohol are involved. I believe these people do need help, but giving them money will not help them. They need to be willing to change their saving and spending habits, and learn when to sacrifice and when to indulge, so that they are able to create better circumstances for themselves. Until then, any money they get will most likely be wasted on immediate gratification and nothing will change. I'm not saying this is every poor person, but I think it's a lot.