Forbes‘ Ralph Benko explains what a chance encounter with Mother Teresa taught him about good economic policy:

I had walked by a homeless man (or, as then was called, bum) sleeping on the 41st Street sidewalk. People sleeping on the sidewalk were a familiar sight in the New York City of that era. I hadn’t even noticed him.

But Mother Teresa had noticed him. And she had stopped to get him to his feet.

As I approached the group, Mother Teresa was glaring up at this wobbly fellow — someone nearly two feet taller than her. She had her forefinger pointed right in his face. A cop, who had wandered over, echoed her lecture to him:

“Now you listen to the little lady. Unless you help yourself there ain’t nothin’ we can do for you.”

Macroeconomics in a nutshell. This presented an axiom apparently lost on both major political parties today.

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