Libertarian Egalitarianism

I first became aware of Edward Glaeser when he was promoting his theory (which is demonstrably correct) that zoning laws are a primary driver of real estate bubbles in liberal cities (San Fran, DC et al.)  

Today, he posted what I consider to be the clearest enunciation of my economic viewpoint. This should be tattooed on the eyelids of all of the young evangelicals who prance around saying that they support BHO and the Dems because Christ told us to care for the poor. 

Guess what! Free markets help the poor more than the transfer of wealth from tax payers to rich-well connected people. This 'bailout' / 'stimulus', it is designed to make rich people who have politicians ears richer. The fundamental conceit of socialism is the 'transfer of wealth.' Unfortunately it always results in the transfer of wealth to a few who are close to the throne. 

If you want to be Christ-like you achieve this by giving your money to the poor. Its as simple as that. The reason we do not want the government to take our money and give it to the poor for us is: 1) then we were not being Christ like at all, but rather abdicating that responsibility on to others, and 2) the government doesn't really give money to the poor but rather to special interest groups, and 3) when we give money to the government, not only does it not give it to the poor, and rather give it to special interest, but then the poor get even poorer because there are fewer jobs, lower paying jobs, and fewer innovative products that save the poor money while increasing their standard of living.