The author, David Brooks, usually reads like an out-of-touch corporate shill. New shitty portmanteau: shillionaire.

Check out this post for a vicious literary beat-down.

Edit: lol'ing in the original article's comments section:

Brooks's views on poverty are pretty fluid. Most of the time he considers it something that the poor simply have to accept as they live their small but deeply meaningful lives. Other times, poverty is something that can be alleviated by a nod of the head or a considerate word to a homeless person in the subway. This is the poverty-will-always-be-with-us Brooks. The nod and the word from someone with a lot of money means a lot. And you can't put a price on it. Today Brooks is taking a more proactive approach to poverty. It actually can alleviated, at least in the third world, but only if the TPP is approved by Congress. This is the social justice warrior Brooks, the one who sees poverty as not inevitable but avoidable. If Brooks's views of the poor are fluid, his view of the wealthy never wavers. He's always there to lend them a hand.