America's poor are its most generous donors
The poor share a greater percentage of their income with others than the rich do. Maybe that's because they tend to be more religious and empathetic, and are more likely to rub shoulders with others in need.
When Jody Richards saw a homeless man begging outside a downtown McDonald's recently, he bought the man a cheeseburger. There's nothing unusual about that, except that Richards is homeless, too, and the 99-cent cheeseburger was an outsize chunk of the $9.50 he'd earned that day panhandling.
The generosity of poor people isn't so much rare as rarely noticed, however.
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This isn't about panhandling homeless folks. It's about a people's willingness to share what they have with folks who don't have as much -- or have next to nothing. It's no surprise that most of the wealthiest among us are also the least likely to share, and this isn't simply about right versus left, either. It's about stingy versus not-stingy.