"We as a people, are responsible for helping them. Every major religion teaches this. "

You say "as a people", but the solutions you propose create a burden for us as individuals.

No one is responsible for anyone else, except parents for their children. If your religion teaches you otherwise, kindly respect my right not to follow YOUR religion. The Crusades ended a long time ago, buddy.

How much money do you donate to the poor each year? Yeah, that's what I thought.

And yet how much money do you try to extort from the working middle-class via coercive taxation, to give to the poor?

Nevermind the rich. They have tax shelters, that's why they're rich. It's just us middle-class working shmucks who get screwed by Robin Hood socialism in the end.

The poor dont even get that much out of it. Fucking bureacrats in the welfare machinery soak most of it up. But that never stops liberals from wanting to pour in more of what isn't even theirs.