Can charity fill in the gaps? Not to the extent big government can, like the $80 billion in SNAP funds for the hungry.
"When it comes to poverty, myths abound. Americans believe that legions of folks are on welfare, for example, when only 10 percent of the poor receive cash assistance. Some politicians claim that a large percentage of food-stamp recipients cheat to reap benefits, though fraud levels are quite low. And for years, it's been asserted that charity can replace the dollars spent by the federal government on hunger programs - despite numbers that show it's not true." -- Alfred Lubrano, the Philadelphia Inquirer
