Avi K,
A rising tide lifts all boats.
Not always.
I generally agree with everything else that you wrote; however, discussing free market economies does not seem to be related to the subject at hand. Israel has universal health care, child care allowances, and other “entitlement” benefits that the US does not, yet, as you pointed out, the overall economy has grown well over the last 10 years. So the notion that social programs and jobs-based solutions to poverty are engaged in a zero sum game doesn’t seem correct.
Also, I’m not sure that the concepts of tzedaka, which are mitzvos for each Jew individually, would apply on the governmental scale, or even in the case of entrepreneurs. For example, if I started a small business that created 6 jobs, would that count as tzedaka for me? Now, if I knew of a poor Jew, and gave him one of those jobs, that would be tzedaka, but just the general job creation?