Salon is attacking Rick Perry, so I guess he is over the target.
I didn’t read the article, but just from the headlines - Perry is right - Jesus said the poor you will have with you always. We are to help them when possible.
I know the bible says that the poor are always with us but I don’t even need that to know that poverty is inevitable. Very simply, in a free market system some are bound to do far, far better than others so those with the lowest incomes will be defined as in poverty even though they may be doing well in absolute terms. On the other hand in a NONfree market system the government will make everyone live in poverty except for a few at the top.