The Sustainability and the Efficacy of Charity

From Bloomberg (via Jeffrey Ellis):

“The only way to fight poverty is with employment,” [Carlos] Slim [, the richest man in the world] said at a conference in Sydney last month. “Trillions of dollars have been given to charity in the last 50 years, and they don’t solve anything.”

As previously noted, it's important to differentiate between relief and economic development - but otherwise Carlos Slim (despite how he came into wealth and has protected it) is right.