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Thanks. That essay is really interesting and I haven't seen it on HN before.

• H8crilA 5y ago
  That is a good essay. And yeah Soros wrote quite a bit, his writing is very good though seems convoluted/chaotic at times. The quote about "corruption" was from some interview with him, I'll link it if I find it, though you know how hard it is to search videos like that. Also, this provides a stark comparison to Mackenzie's style of giving: Over thirty years I have contributed more than $8 billion to the worldwide network of Open Society Foundations. It tool Soros 30 years to give $8B, while she did it in 1 year.
  • dredmorbius 5y ago
    The New Yorker touches on this: Over the years, starting with his experience in wartime Hungary, he had developed all the instincts of an outsider; he was distrustful of government, disdainful of the establishment, allergic to institutions generally. Traditional foundations did not escape his contempt. He saw them as too bureaucratic to respond in a timely way to real need; laden with overhead, which benefitted the givers instead of the recipients; and inherently corrupting, almost demanding to be exploited. (“They go against human nature,” Soros says, “which is to take and not to give.”) This last point was particularly nettlesome for him, inasmuch as he is a singularly untrusting person, intent on not allowing others to take advantage of him. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1995/01/23/the-world-according-to-soros https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1995/01/23/the-world-acco... I don't find the "human nature" quote referenced elsewhere.