the jimmymac attack!

During the Ming dynasty in China there was an emperor who ruled for less than one year. It's unfortunate Zhu Gaozhi died at the young age of forty-six in 1425. He was a revolutionary thinker when it comes to social planning. He had the unusual idea that ordinary people should be taken care of. Some bureaucrats balked at his ideas and he responded by saying, "Relieving people's poverty ought to be handled as though one were rescuing them from fire or saving them from drowning. One cannot hesitate." It's a beautiful idea.
There use to be a city on the Persian Gulf called Hormuz. Now the city is gone but the Strait of Hormuz remains today. In 1414 the Chinese Admiral Zheng He sailed to the Persian Gulf city. He found a very wealthy prosperous society. He reported that there were no poor people in Hormuz because "if a family meets with misfortune resulting in poverty, everyone gives them clothes and food and capital, and relieves their distress." It was a rich and prosperous city and they took care of every citizen. Ever notice how like attracts like? Poverty and need usually exist where it is accepted and tolerated. If it's not accepted and a society takes action against it then it does not exist.

* these facts come from "When China Ruled the Seas" by Louise Levathes