I'm a bit torn about charity auctions. We realized a few years ago that straight cash donation is the best way to donate, generating the biggest tax writeoff while getting the most cash to the cause. However, the auctions are fun, and without the auctions, there would be much less donated overall.
In past periods of extravagance, the world at least got a silver lining of benefit. The great Renaissance artists? Funded by wealthy merchants in a pissing contest. Boom of 1900s libraries and theater? Robber barons trying to buy their name onto the good side of history.
They're good at hoarding their assets while paying a small percentage when it comes to taxes. Those who pay 0 are about greed and stockpiling it in offshore accounts.
If the rich just gave a little bit and paid a smidge more in taxes, they could help so many people, yet they choose not to. Not helping those in need when you easily can is something I will never understand about the rich.
They sold you a slogan: Trickle Down Economy. And y’all bought it hook, line and sinker. This is America. MAGA, CHiPS Act, Black Lives Matter, etc. This is how your propaganda works. Packaged into neat slogans and acronyms and bought by the masses.
The rich typically set up philanthropic foundations as a tax shelter and to preserve wealth for their heirs. It's generally not really out of a spirit of true generosity.
Snort. No, they wouldn’t. They want to support what they think is important or interesting. They certainly think they’re better judges than the government.
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Eat the rich.
There are exceptions, of course. Bill Gates and Warren Buffett come to mind.
That's fairy land stuff