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> Where is the spirit today of someone like Carnegie, who said I’m going to take all this wealth and build thousands of free public libraries? I'm really annoy
by fsckboy 4y ago
> Where is the spirit today of someone like Carnegie, who said I’m going to take all this wealth and build thousands of free public libraries?
I'm really annoyed that philanthropy is so applauded. Yes, it's nice that a robber baron decides to give some money back, even all of it, but it would have been better for the economy if he didn't monopolize it in the first place. The giving back does not make up for the cost.
Microsoft held the computer industry back in a way that was very expensive for many many customers not in the computer industry. Bill Gates shouldn't have done that.
- jwestbury 4y agoPhilanthropy is just another way for the ultrarich to bend the world to their will -- they choose where to give money, they nearly always (Mackenzie Scott excluded) choose how the money is spent by recipients. Sometimes this has positive outcomes, but that doesn't change the fact that someone who gained incredible wealth on the backs of others' labour is then using that same wealth to further their own views.