I worked my way up from nothing to a state of extreme poverty.

Groucho Marx

In a country well governed, poverty is something to be ashamed of. In a country badly governed, wealth is something to be ashamed of.

Confucius

We hold the moral obligation of providing for old age, helpless infancy, and poverty is far superior to that of supplying the invented wants of courtly extravagance.

Thomas Paine

15% of Americans rely on the Government for food. 

In 2010, more than 18 percent of the nation's total personal income came from entitlement programs such as Social Security, Medicare, food stamps, unemployment benefits and other programs, according to an analysis by USA Today. Wages made up the lowest share since government tracking began in 1929.  April 27, 2011, http://www.npr.org/

Today’s Drudge Report…

You don't get out of 9.2% unemployment, you don't get out of -- today it was announced [that] the largest number of Americans [are] on food stamps in history. I've said now for six months, this is the most effective food stamp President in history. That sounds like it is an attack, it's just a statement of fact. It's just that his administration kills jobs. They are driving Americans onto food stamps. Most Americans would rather have a paycheck,

Newt Gingrich

Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is in an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob, and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe.

Frederick Douglass