Fake Philanthropy

I really would like to be able to help the homeless, the sick and the needy, but I just can't. I don't have the money nor the organizational talents to make a dent in those huge social problems.

I'm just yelling about it on the sidelines; that's about how much I think I'm able to do, which isn't much, and can even come across as slightly hypocritical. The way to remedy this is to get rich and powerful. Maybe, if by some miracle, I win the lottery, or if some rich person "discovers" my articles and wants to buy them for a couple of billion dollar, maybe then I could make a difference...

And that's where this train of thought should stop. Unfortunately this is how we view and experience charity; if I want to be generous and help the less fortunate, I will have to become rich first, because how could I donate to or invest in the poor and needy without having the money to do so? This is the wrong way to approach this, I think. In the public eye the biggest philanthropists are the wealthy elite; we're regularly treated to some billionaire in the news who gives away billions of dollars to some charity of his or her choosing. It re-enforces the idea that rich people are good people and that there's nothing wrong with earning insane amounts of money, like more than a million dollar per minute. Many people think it's necessary even, because without billions to give away, those poor schools, hospitals and relief funds would never see the light of day.

In the discussion I'll link below the article, journalist and writer Anand Giridharadas (yep, I stopped trying to pronounce that right), gives the example of San Francisco, the city and the five counties around it, in the United States. He says there's approximately 7400 homeless people there, living right next to 74 billionaires, so 100 homeless people per billionaire. If it was a country, it would be ranked ninth in the world for billionaire population. Like Anand says, it is simply astonishing that such a situation can even exist. What's worse even, is that these billionaires own the companies that refuse to pay their workers a living wage, but hire lawyers to figure out the best ways to evade paying taxes and ship their money elsewhere.

Of course these elites will jump at any chance they get to appear having concern for the less fortunate in the world; it's a chance for them to look good, to guard the status quo. They won't look at the causes of poverty, because that would mean changing the system that got them to their privileged positions. So, Bill Gates, Warren Buffet and Bono won't bring the change we need to structurally solve our problems, instead they'll look nice into the camera when they swear they "want to give back" some of their fortune to the people they stole from in the first place.

Also, this policy of letting rich people decide which charities should and shouldn't be supported, gives them even more power than they already have. As Anand rightly points out, donating is a form of power exertion. I would like to add that it also degrades the receivers of donations, in the sense that they are supposed to be grateful for any aid they get, when in fact they should ask questions instead of saying "thanks".

A couple of days ago I wrote about the World Economic Forum in Davos, where Rutger Bergman upset the meeting by bluntly accusing the rich of not paying their fair share of taxes. In conversations about taxing the rich, this generosity is always used as a secondary defense against raising them; taxing the rich is dangerous because they would stop investing in new jobs, and also, look at how much good they do with their money! Well, if they wouldn't have so much of it, more would be left for the rest of us in the first place. I found the entire conversation with Anand very interesting; it's an hour long, so if you're gonna watch it make sure to have you favorite beverage at hand:

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