Georges Monbiot is at it again in today’s Guardian:

But one obvious question
recurs. Why must the relief of suffering, in this unprecedentedly
prosperous world, rely on the whims of citizens and the appeals of pop
stars and comedians? Why, when extreme poverty could be made history
with a minor redeployment of public finances, must the poor world still
wait for homeless people in the rich world to empty their pockets?

Here’s the awful truth Georges. A minor deployment of public finances would not make extreme poverty history. A major redeployment of public finances would not. The question is not, as you assume, to be answered by the redistribution of wealth that already exists. It is to be answered by creating more wealth. Government programmes are not notably good at the latter, whatever their success at the former.