2 ms·
> "While there is no enforcement in place to ensure pledge members follow through on their promise, the Giving Pledge educates them on ways they can make their
by rchaud 2y ago
> "While there is no enforcement in place to ensure pledge members follow through on their promise, the Giving Pledge educates them on ways they can make their donation, which is seen as “public, moral commitment."
How hard is it for the ultra-rich to simply cut a check every year to a charitable organization they didn't invent as a tax vehicle, at a time of incredible suffering globally through conflict or natural disasters?
Medecins Sans Frontieres, World Vision, the Red Cross --- all these orgs engaged in active disaster responses are almost entirely funded by regular people like you and me making a charitable donation.
Why do the rich need this dog and pony show?
Regular Americans on regular salaries manage to scrounge up a few bucks each year to give to food banks, or help provide kids with school supplies, or other forms of mutual aid . They don't have articles written about them.
- abenga 2y ago> Why do the rich need this dog and pony show? Because alleviating suffering is not the goal. Reputation laundering, giving friends and family cushy sinecures, optimizing tax liability, and placating the masses and governments are the goals.
- rchaud 2y agoMaybe I'm overly nostalgic, but the reputation laundering in years past didn't seem to preclude significant financial gifts to things the general public benefited from, such as scholarships, public parks and libraries. Bill Gates for his part has done a lot to prevent the spread of infectious disease for the most vulnerable around the world. Something definitely seems to have changed since those days. Warren Buffett is one of the top 5 most influential men on earth and does nothing besides spout folksy platitudes about how "it's not right" that his secretary pays a bigger percentage of her income on tax than he does. Even Jeff Bezos' divorce was a blessing in some ways as his ex-wife committed billions to charities that Bezos himself would not. The less said about Musk taunting the United Nations Food Programme's ask for $6bn, the better.