Firstly, people choose to donate to museums over selling for a wide variety of reasons, ranging from philanthropic to less-than-philanthropic. I do not believe

Firstly, people choose to donate to museums over selling for a wide variety of reasons, ranging from philanthropic to less-than-philanthropic. I do not believe that selling donated items is a direct violation of the concept of donation, but reasonable people are allowed to disagree on this, I think. I agree that the status quo is that donating to a museum is traditionally one-directional. I do not think it needs to be. Yes, people can sell things themselves, but it's often cheaper and easier to donate them to museums for a tax deduction, than it is to sell them at auction. I totally agree that museums should be exercises in long-term thinking. One aspect of long-term thinking is fiscal responsibility. If museums are teetering on the edge of bankruptcy, posting $100mm losses, they are not thinking long-term or being responsible stewards. The world is not black and white, and I think it's silly that we should hold museums to black and white standards regarding their ability to borrow loans against some portion of their assets.