Is this world being run by smart people?...we need to help the poor

Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on or by imbeciles who really mean it.I am for doing good to the poor, but...I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. I observed...that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer.