Ktmdude, i think you are raising better questions now. From your first post, it sounded like the solution was in using the $1000. Thanks for extending the discussion to deeper issues as to WHO can use the money and WHO can guide them. First off...I want to make one point very clear (in my opinion :-) ): I think that every human is capable of deciding whats best for them. The attitude mostly displayed by the donors and some so called 'better equipped' folks is that they are somehow qualified to make someone else's life decisions. I agree that we dont know a lot about lot of things and when you started a post, I was assuming that I would hand out the money to someone who could use the money. In other words, I wouldnt be handing out to a nice car driving, well dressed, well-to-do looking person. I think giving the money, and then telling that person how to use it just exercising your power or controlling. Yeah, you and I might have seen better days..seen/read/experienced a lot but our priorities as to what is 'good' is almost always different from their priorities. Respecting the person's capacity to decide for him/herself is the first thing everyone should do. I would like to mention (have to mention, coz i cant remember the exact quote) the fundamental principle of Mohammad Yunus here. He believed that no matter how uneducated, inexperienced, 'backward' a person is..they know how to survive and work towards the betterment of their own life. All of us have the desire and equipped to do it, some just lack the means. He gave loans to people who had never made money before and look how it has impacted the folks. Providing the means is great generousity but giving the freedom to decide how to use the means is humanity. I guess this was my only point. That we have to learn to teach ourselves that a person in the right health and mental condition will decide the best for him/herself. I think one other question you raised is if that person will be able to survive in the long run after that $1000 is over. Its a great thought and as I am an economist, i think of it as a sustainability issue. Yes, money will run out one day or the other and unless you have 'planted the seeds' somewhere..you will end up squarely where you started. However, sustainability is very hard to achieve as everything runs out eventually. So there is nothing that is truly sustainable. But a person's lifespan averages to about 80 years and it is definitly possible to have something consistent. Depending on where you give that $1000, it might do nothing for that person in the long run coz the amount is too small. Or it might land up in a country like Nepal where it is good chunk of money and a person can survive according to their skills (minus the natural disasters and tricky folks). They can buy cattles, open as small shop, collect interest, etc. Like I said, depending on their skills. And yes, everyone has skills..it might not be refined..but we are definitely skilled to survive. Why dont you tell us what you think? Asking the right questions is just the beginning :-)