Our Empathetic Rich: The Rarest of Birds

[marmar]

from Too Much: A Commentary on Excess and Inequality:



Our Empathetic Rich: The Rarest of Birds
OCTOBER 11, 2014

A landmark new study has laid bare the dirty little secret of modern American philanthropy: America’s wealthy don’t particularly care all that much about the rest of us.

By Sam Pizzigati


Billionaire CEO Nicholas Woodman, news reports trumpeted earlier this month, has set aside $450 million worth of his GoPro software stock to set up a brand-new charitable foundation.

“We wake up every morning grateful for the opportunities life has given us,” Woodman and his wife Jill noted in a joint statement. “We hope to return the favor as best we can.”

Stories about charitable billionaires have long been a media staple. The defenders of our economic order love them — and regularly trot them out to justify America’s ever more top-heavy concentration of income and wealth.

Our charities depend, the argument goes, on the generosity of the rich. The richer the rich, the better off our charitable enterprises will be.

But this defense of inequality, analysts have understood for quite some time, holds precious little water. Low- and middle-income people, the research shows, give a greater share of their incomes to charity than people of decidedly more ample means. .................(more)

- See more at: http://toomuchonline.org/empathetic-rich-rarest-birds/#sthash.HBqK3wM9.dpuf

[ladjf]

1. The rich could be either empathetic or logical. Either would cause them to

realize the folly of hoarding almost all of the wealth. nt

[hifiguy]

3. No addiction has a more pernicious grip than that to greed.

The ultimate logical comeback to the laissez-faire crowd is stump-dumb simple: "Greed is not self-regulating never has been and never will be."

[ladjf]

4. I agree. nt

[WhiteTara]

2. If all rich were taxed appropriately, we wouldn't

need charitable donations from them.