The two people I cited came from "dirt poor" backgrounds, and it is NOT pointless! If they can succeed, one black and one white, then the opportunity exists for any others to succeed! One became a world renowned surgeon, and the other, while an entertainer, started “Dollywood” and its associated enterprises to bring economic growth into the Appalachian area (read her story!).I don't agree that we have failed miserably. The US, and other market based systems, have created more income and better living conditions for billions around the world; more than any other economic system. We could look at any measure to show this is true historically and otherwise. The only person who would not like our system is Karl Marx - and his diatribes and economic systems have failed miserably. The only "communist/socialist" type systems that still exist have had to adopt some type of market based system to survive. Everyone points to the Nordic countries as the pinnacle of success, but if they did not export and trade with market based systems, they would be on their "economic butts"! As to the poor, what has failed most miserably is our government hatched, government run welfare systems which are poorly designed and keep millions entrapped in poverty because they are not built to help people "up" so to speak. It is better to leave the money in the hands of private charitable people and entities because more of the dollars go to the needy and not government "bureaucrats" who suck the vibrancy out of the "private" economy like leeches. That is not to say all government programs are a failure, but it does tend to take resources from the private sector that could be better used to create jobs and feed more people! As to taxes, they are necessary to run the country in the manner that the Constitution recommends; however, we have moved far from those guidelines and we are reaping the downside of those moves. I would say we are experiencing the "negative consequences of well intentioned, but misguided compassion". If you want to look at the "spiritual" side of it, even Jesus said, "The poor you will have with you always". That is because no "government" can make up the difference in motivation, the inclination to take risk, and other factors that differentiate individuals in the world. How can a Vietnamese "boat person" come here with next to nothing, learn the language, get educated, and succeed in businesses? They were MOTIVATED to do so, and they did not expect the "government" to support them for life.
As Thomas Jefferson pointed out: To take from one because it is thought that his own industry and that of his father’s has acquired too much, in order to spare to others, who, or whose fathers, have not exercised equal industry and skill, is to violate arbitrarily the first principle of association—the guarantee to every one of a free exercise of his industry and the fruits acquired by it.