Index of Economic Freedom
After 50 years of war on poverty, it appears there must be a better solution to helping our struggling neighbors than government funded programs. Recent data supports that people are most prosperous in economically free societies. Check out these graphs from the 2016 Index of Economic Freedom.
Note the correlation between national economic freedom and individual prosperity. Economic Freedom is important for the poor! Do government funded programs hurt? Actually, they do. Limited government is a primary marker for economic freedom. How is the US doing? Unfortunately, government spending is up again this year and we rated the lowest in North America in the category of fiscal freedom.