Why Billionaire Philanthropy Won't Solve Anything
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 24 ก.พ. 2022
- You ever notice how oligarchs like Warren Buffet and Bill Gates are cast as these uber-wealthy saviors who are singlehandedly raising the world out of poverty? That doesn't happen by accident. In this week's episode, we're taking a look at the insidious philanthropy scheme billionaires use to make sure their reputation remains squeaky clean. Hope you enjoy!
Why Billionaire Philanthropy Won't Solve Anything - Second Thought
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New video every Friday!
Citations and Further Reading:
Hasan Minhaj’s video
• Why Billionaires Won’t...
Microsoft Bad
time.com/3553242/microsoft-mo...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critici...
Bill and Melinda Gates Rebrand
www.gatesfoundation.org/about...
Charitable Tax Deductions (74% statistic)
inequality.org/great-divide/e... ssrn.com/abstract=3462163
Where I Got the 60% of Gross Income Stat
money.howstuffworks.com/perso...
$246.1 Billion Dollars in Charitable Tax Deductions 2010-2014 (free article on Google Scholar)
www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi...
Charitable Donations Increase Over Time (the second source is the original, but it’s paywalled)
winklergroup.com/wp-content/u...
store.givingusa.org/collectio...
5%/95% Split in Charitable Foundations
www.philanthropy.com/article/...
www.latimes.com/news/la-na-ga...
www.pfs-llc.net/blog/the-5-ru...
www.vox.com/recode/2020/5/1/2...
Where the Gates’ Foundation 95% Goes
www.globaljustice.org.uk/wp-c...
www.latimes.com/news/la-na-ga...
www.wedemain.fr/partager/la-p... (in French)
Coca-Cola & Passion Fruit Farmers
www.globaljustice.org.uk/wp-c...
philanthropynewsdigest.org/ne...
Gates Foundation and Charter Schools
www.gatesfoundation.org/ideas...
Oscar Wilde’s Quote
www.marxists.org/reference/ar...
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A billionaire announcing a charitable donation is like your boss announcing a pizza party instead of giving you a raise/bonus
Hmmmm make sense
this one^
No it isn't. The donation is allowing a charity to do good work. A pizza party for employees is just a bit of fun.
@@matthewleitch1 my guess is you didn't watch the whole video
@@matthewleitch1 no, their charities are a tax write off.
I knew billionaires only donated so much because of the tax breaks but I didn't realize how little they actually did with their donating to benefit people
Just remember that they got to be the billionaires because they're the top 0.1% of the greediest people on earth as well. A man who's content with fulfilling his daily needs won't be a billionaire. It took a pathological level of greed to say, yeah I'm sated, but I really need to snatch that soft drink market halfway around the world in a place I don't even speak the language of, just because I want to. A normal man would say, "dude, that's excessive."
If it wasn't profitable, do you honestly think they'd do it?
@@wanderingthewastes6159
1) fallout NV is the best game ever. No gods no masters is the best ending, I love the “the entire NCR was outsmarted by a damn courier?!?” quote.
2) the imaginary people in your hypothetical couldn’t say that I command billions of other people’s time and energy by controlling their access to food/shelter via their salaries.. because I don’t own an international corporation.. so.. does that explain it?
@@Heidegaff yes, if it increases their power. No, if it does not.
@@wanderingthewastes6159 100 years ago, so 1922, that would be in between the two world war, so my living condition would be outrageous. But compared to 12th century Europe, they would not consider me a greediest 0.1% of the world. I would be considered a middle-lower class. My living condition now includes a 3x4 bedroom, in a boarding house with shared bathroom and kitchen. I used a 2013 Used Thinkpad laptop I salvaged from parts , I use it to work. The room is probably comparable to their middle-lower income class, a tad on the bigger size. I have no personal transportation unit of any kind. My laptop would be comparable to used paper back then, something a billionaire wouldn't touch. A middle class back then probably didn't have a personal transportation unit either. I eat two-three times a day of common staple food because I have a stable albeit low income, so, again comparable to what low-middle class would eat on daily basis, a staple.
“…crumbs that fall from the rich man’s table” is the definition of “trickle down economy.”
Hear hear!
I think you should turn this into a series, analyze different billionaires' donations and how their money doesn't actually help people
I agree with a lot he states but he is getting it wrong. Look at eradication of Polio. Westerners never notice something like that because Polio has been practically eradicated, but in Africa that’s a different story. Gates really saved many lives (plus Malaria efforts). Leaving this fact out in the video is really weird.
@@janottlinger it's a bit much to say that gates eradicated polio in Africa there is a whole lot of things and people responsible for that not to mention there is a lot of controversy about things he did there too
This ^^
@@janottlinger It’s called “propaganda” you really think he’d include something that disproves his point? He’s a Communist that ignores the good things that Capitalism does.
@janottlinger Why should we have to hope that greedy people who own more wealth than hundreds of millions of people will do the right thing? More often than not, they simply use their wealth to accumulate more wealth and power. Why shouldn't the people who produced their wealth, and are rightfully entitled to the value they produced, be able to have a say in how that money betters society? A boss can do good. Billionaires can do good. Why should we have to simply hope that the few rulers of our society decide they want to do the right thing? Capitalists stunt and hinder development and progress so dramatically. It's simply common sense to the average person that people should not die of diseases that we have had the cure for, for decades. Why should we applaud Billionaires when, once in a blue moon, they do something that helps people?
"Say the line, bart!"
Second Thought: "As you can probably imagine, when I made the switch to political content, I started getting demonetized way more often--"
lol nice
That's what I was expecting lololol
Come on dandy, you gotta do something. You're a certified badass. Maybe buy out that restaurant you want and become a trillionaire and teach these billionaires a lesson.
lmao
"Say the line, Bart!"
Dandy: "Stay Dandy, baby!"
“Philanthropy is commendable, but it must not cause the philanthropist to overlook the circumstances of economic injustice which make philanthropy necessary.” ― Martin Luther King, Jr.
It's barely commendable!
@@briobarb8525 Agreed. Also, I wonder how many philanthropists there'd be if it weren't tax deductible.
Bill gates must be beating himself up every day for inventing polio. This creating the need for his foundation to eradicate it.
@@jimpickins7900 Are you serious?
@@beeinthehive of course not, just saying that quote doesn't really fit allot of the time. especially since philanthropy is often international.
Christian teaching has said for two thousand years that the spiritual "saintly, thing to do is give charity in secret. Seemingly, so the act is not about reputational gains, and more pure. The fact that the general public calls the grandstanding billionaires saints just shows how devolved society is.
I've been writing an essay for school on how messed up taxes in America are your videos have been a great source. This one helped a lot to explain the myth of charity and how it's used to write off income and capital gains tax. Thank you for everything you do and keep up the good work!
You should learn how to actually compute taxes before you believe a video like this.
I love how everything has a different name just because rich people do it. Like if privileged people move to another country they're an "expat" and if poor people move to another country they're "immigrants". And guess which group isn't expected to assimilate...
It's not just limited to rich people. If you're an American in a foreign country you're an expat. And you stay an American.
Ironically, the expats absolutely NEVER assimilate.
They always stick with their own kind.
I proudly call myself a demon or a Degenerate Scumbag. Also Prince All D aka Thrilla in Manila.
@@johnnyonthespot4375 you would be surprised how unaccepting of foreigners people are in 2nd-3rd world countries lol
Edit: you are subbed to vox and Colbert,etc. Nevermind won't waste my breath lmao only western countries are racist in your mind
@@sukmidri Have you ever been to a poor or developing country?
It's scary how much a quote from Lex Luthor, a fictional billionaire, rings true for real billionaires:
"President? Do you realize how much power I would have to give up to be President?"
he also really looks like alot of billionaires
Yes, plus Power means responsibility. What you want is the illusion of power .
@@isuckatusernames4297 jeff bozos lmao
spending 75 million on a (fake) presidential campaign doesn't sound like a lot anymore
Power doesn’t necessarily mean responsibility. You can have power, but offshore the responsibility on to someone else. Look at “Individual responsibility” for a perfect example of this phenomenon
Watching your videos makes me both more enlightened and more depressed. "Ignorance is bliss" as they say, but there's no going back now.
“Ignorance is bliss” only works if youre not on the recieving end
I really think this video misses a major point.
It allows the wealthy to bypass any ethical guilt they may feel by exploiting the world and its people, by giving a few percent into whatever charitable thing they feel like promoting.
So on the one hand they give some very small fraction to make them feel like they’re a pillar of good that poor people should look up to, and at the same time they fund the politicians to enact policies that strip those same people who look up to them of as much of their money and rights as possible, which would allow them to succeed on their own.
The other consequence of this is it furthers the disconnect between billionaires and the average person. They stop looking at themselves as any part of the rest of the world, and consider themselves as gods, and poorer people as thankful slaves that owe everything to them.
It makes me feel kinda guilty in the moment, but I have stopped donating in stores for causes because most of those end up in tax exemptions and on the pockets of board members of the foundations. I prefer to use that money to buy water and a meal for the homeless person begging on the stoplight, or directly to people who need medical procedures.
Based
Yep. They use retail workers to beg people to donate for a good cause, which ends up being to pay back the donation the company made some months ago. It's why I kind of "forgot" to ask people to donate when we start doing donation drives. Donate to a charity yourself. Don't use retail to make one. The people It's supposed to be for will never get it.
th-cam.com/video/tT9DXJtwcOw/w-d-xo.html.
Donate to effective altruism causes. They maximize impact. (Furthermore if we focus on effectiveness, it doesn't reeeeeally matter how much ends up in exemptions if they're still the far more effective return even considering those. But the most effective ones in practice are the ones that aren't)
I feel you. I do the same
If Philanthropy was actually solving anything the amount of money people have "donated" so far would of solved all these problems already.
Yes like hunger...cancer all bee ess
Look at Africa all those foreign ad about donating yet they done 0 improvement, utterly useless
@@wrestlinganime4life288 it's called incompetent governments and corruption, no amount of money will fix that. Do you honestly think the government, warlords and whoever else does not take a large cut of the donated money (if not all of it)?
Also African people need to learn to produce their own wealth and not rely on others. You know africa is the richest country in terms of natural resources.
@@wrestlinganime4life288 1) A lot of the times these "charities" literally only help a certain rejoin temporarily
2) A lot of the times its probably better to teach them how to better their lives, yknow like the saying "give a man a fish you feed him for a day, teach a man to fish you feed him for a lifetime"
@@trollinape2697 Except they already know what to do!!!
Just look at Rwanda. It's easily one of the most thriving countries in Africa and had them let charity do the work they would never be the developed country they are today.
African problem needs African solutions, period Europe hasdone enough and honestly it hasn't been that great, cough France cough
"No one makes a billion dollars. They steal it."
Don't expect thieves to actually are about others.
@@slevinchannel7589 Slow down there, I have no idea what you are trying to say, please rephrase at least one of your points
@@slevinchannel7589 Oh, so you are saying these videos about Elon Musk are great and I should go watch them? I already have, and yes, Some more news and Adam Something are great
@@slevinchannel7589 huh, haven't heard of pop culture detective, definitely gonna check her channel out
@@slevinchannel7589 you should check 1Dime, Jonas Čeika - CCK Philosophy, Plastic Pills, Epoch Philosophy and Prolelukt, they make thoroughly researched, unique and compelling video-essays/ documentaries.
There was an Argentinian , in the late 60th and well until virtually today, (his name is Quino) who created an amazing and very critical characters through his very sharp cartoons.
The main one was Mafalda (which is the name of this cartoon) and her friends whom in many ways represented the different personas we have in our societies.
One of them,,Susanita, (which means little Susana in spanish) said something really interesting that relates very close to this particular vlog : "Lets organize a nice party where we get to eat delicious and expensive food to collect money to buy dry pasta and rice for the poor".
I truly recommend to familiarize yourselves with this particular cartoonist, he became a Latin American classic as much as "One hundred years of solitude" by the greatest Colombian writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
Amazing and very informative show as ever, thanks amigo.
Greetings from Toronto.
“Philanthropy is the private allocation of stolen social wages.” -Ruth Wilson Gilmore. Check out “The Revolution will not be funded.”
After Hasan Minhaj talked about this topic and interviewed Anand Giridharadas on his book Winners Take All, I checked the book out and thought it did a great job elaborating on what Second Thought discusses here. I'd recommend it to anyone who wants to learn more about how people with disgusting amounts of money can use selective charity to make the public adore them and forget all about how much exploitation went into obtaining that money in the first place.
It's really scary how Buffett, Gates, Bezos and Musk have cult followers and they can do no wrong.
Came to write this exact comment haha - nice recommendation and a stellar book. Everyone should defo have a read if this episode was interesting to you!
Hasan is a great person.
Without "exploitation" you wouldn't be writing on a platform called "TH-cam", a product of capitalism.
I read Winners Take All, the Elite Charade of Changing the World a few yrs ago and it was fascinating and enraging. Great educational book exposing the billionaires and their bs philanthropies. I also highly recommend it.
"We the people" are nothing more than livestock to these folks.
@briana3186 We, the people, the working class, the proletariat, need class consciousness.
We need to educate and keep on educating ourselves.
We need to organize and to have solidarity with each other because there is no politician and no prophet that will save us.
Only the people can save the people.
But, people need to figure out how this system is exploiting the proletariat, otherwise, we will keep attacking each other and keep getting distracted.
And, the rich are intentionally creating strife among the people.
All I can say JT, is I love your work and you! Because of you the U. S. could end up becoming a genuine democracy!! Thank you Second Thought.
These are the same people who ask for "donations" at the cash register. You donate the money and they claim the tax credit.
I'll remember not to donate to those things.
I had never thought of the fact that money donated by rich vampires is more money average people pay in taxes, but it makes sense when you think about it. They're also replacing what should be the government's role in protecting its citizens with "philanthropy" that addresses the symptoms of a problem rather than the causes.
It's like when conservative Christians claim the US or UK are Christian nations, but want to dole out the charity in little pieces here and there instead of using the government to give it to everyone at once. A truly Christian nation wouldn't have any hungry or homeless people in it.
@Zaydan Naufal To Mr. Naufal: The government is owned by trillionaire Saudhis and Europeans.
Yikes citizens should not try to solve problems
Correct. The only real good all that charity money does is salve their guilty consciences. It makes these insanely rich people feel better. Carnegie did the same thing when he built all of those libraries. Actually, that was a great idea. Many of them still stand today. Many have been built onto.
That's the point. Charity frequently does good, "even if" the donor also benefits.
Thank you for leaving the links to the articles in the description, its much appreciated.
Even if the billionaires donated the entire amount they say they donate, without tax breaks, and the foundations used 100% of this money for charity 100% of the time, a big power play still remains. They are the ones who get to decide what and who is "worthy" of this money. That's how we got things like concert hall "donated" by the robber barons to "the people" meanwhile this same people were dying of hunger on the streets and of "accident" on the factories owned by the same robber barons.
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The poor of the era are mostly gone and the concert Hall stands though.
We wouldn't have the Pyramids or any great construction if the money was just redistributed.
It's the sad reality.
In short: those billionaires need poverty and destitution to continue existing so they can continue to propagandize their own "kindness" by pretending to care.
correct.
politicians and the rich believe that you reward the rich with more money to motivate them to work harder and you reward the poor with less money to achieve the same thing.
@@scifirealism5943 Soooo true! And well said!
Amen!
One of the best quotes you wrote for comments hehe
This video tought me something I actually didn't know. Also, working on The Deprogram seems to have made you bolder on how you present your humor, and I love it
I just wanted to say... Those who are able to afford becoming Patrons and who do that are not philanthropists (not in my view) They are paying you for services rendered, and they pay either what they can or they pay as much as the service is worth to them.
"Charity is an insult to the poor."
- Christopher Hitchens
Christianity is the most communist thing I've ever seen. So yes.
And explaining is an insult to dumb.
@@zenandsujata8880 a truth hearts to fool
Thank you 👏 as someone who's spent time adjacent to NGOs that are often funded by philanthropy, their work plasters over the exploitation that led to their wealth and donations in the first place - a cruel and hidden cycle 😷
Philanthropy is the ultimate public relations management industry.
th-cam.com/video/tT9DXJtwcOw/w-d-xo.html..
What goes around eventually comes around. It's all Circular Functions like maths.Ha!
@@KingofDefiance well said
Another fantastic video ! One of this was ever about philanthropy and it turns my stomach to see these people hailed as saviours or something . I’m addicted to your podcast btw. As someone who defected to the US from a communist country when I was a kid and am now having very difficult conversations with my parents about that part of our lives and how things turned out, I am constantly amazed by you and your colleague’s insight. Believe it or not, it’s actually helping me cope and it has led us to have really interesting and revelatory discussions we never would have had otherwise
Great video Comrade. Loving the Podcast btw keep that shit up, you've finally inspired me to start my own Podcast. Looking forward to the next episode, appreciate all you've done for the community JT. Cheers, ~Heisenberg
Id love to see a compare and contrast between mutual aid and philanthropy
There’s a vid by a guy named RE-Education who did a vid on mutual aid if you want to understand it better.
Patreon is contributing to the value of someone's labor, not charity.
Debatable
th-cam.com/video/tT9DXJtwcOw/w-d-xo.html.
@Uhavenoright toaskyeah, REAL leftists don't need money to live.
@Uhavenoright toask is maintaining a platform not actual work
Wow you even recommended a video with an alternative view point right at the beginning. Well done sir. I appreciate you
Started listening to the podcast yesterday, glad to know one of my favorite TH-camrs is from my area. Keep up the great work!
@BoneLord303 Which podcast? The Deprogram? Is that the podcast?
Have you honestly ever, ever, ever seen a billionaire "philanthropist" solve anything since we've had billionaires?
Of course, they solved how to avoid paying tax for themselves, how to destabilise other countries to make profit, how to doctrinate the poor for consuming things that aren't needed, how to stop some societal and environmental protection,
they solves a lot of thing... For themselves be more riches. When was supposed to believe they were Messiah to save us from themselves.
Not even fictional billionaires like Iron Man and Batman have ever solved anything substantial
Polio
the eradication of polio is pretty good, though I guess that's only good for people in poorer countries not for westerners who are jealous of successful people. Guess it depends what you want.
I saw them posing with a picture of happy African kids sometimes so… it must’ve done something right?
It always irked me when billionaires got lauded for giving to charity even though what they give is just a tiny fraction of their enormous wealth. It would be like me giving 10 bucks to a soup kitchen and everyone saying how extraordinarily generous I am.Now I find out that only a measly 5% of that money they give actually goes to help someone! It's so infuriating! If we had a just society there would be NO billionaires!
Would society be better without billionaires? Please explain it exactly why.. I don't understand how it would affect me.
How bout millionaire 😊
@@jamisojo well I wouldnt say that exactly, but generally speaking, the amount of money in the world is a zero game sum. This means:
1) Everyone ca't be rich: As we've been seing lately, printing more money and giving it to people under the form of stimulus checks isn't going to resolve poverty, insted it creates high inflation, which the affects predominantly lower classes (having to spend a bigger part of their revenue into commodities with rising prices). Add that to the fact that many lower paying jobs are absolutely indispensible to most economies, and without inequality, there would be very little incentive for anyone to work those jobs. In other words, if everyone is rich, no one is rich
2) One can imagine global wealth to be represented as a cake, divided between people. This cake generally grows a little bigger year by year (through technological advances and gains in productivity), but if one group of people has a disproportionally high amount of cake, it can only leave less for other people. In the context of money, the growing concentration of wealth at the hands of a minority of top earners actually reduces the relative wealth and well-being of the general population. the reasons for this are multiple, but most importantly it boils down to the fact that money doesn't "trickle down" from the wealthier classes to the lower classes. The main reason for this is that wealthy billionaires tend to sit on their money, or else invest it into properties and other assets, (usually driving up the cost for the general population), instead of spending it and contributing to the general flow of the economy.
Therefore it's generally accepted that if wealth were more equally distributed (notably in countries with a very high inequality such as the USA), the general well-being of society would be very much improved (we see already in countries with a more egalitarian wealth distribution, notably in northern Europe, more meritocratic and egalitarian societies, shown by many different indicators (GINI coefficient, HDU, gender equality index, ...))
Love your content, it's so good! Thank you for your service.
The kid in sixth sense wasn't dead 'the whole time'. He saw dead people.
There cannot be both billionaires and democracy. But this video explains further, that you cannot have both billionaires and morality. Very high quality work.
So without billionairs there would be democracy? How? Please explain.
By somehow elliminating the most skilled people, because it require a lot of skills to become a billionair, the rest of the mob will become more clever and will do better decissions? Interesting opinion. Just not taking into account general nature of mankind.
Aside from all of the other many problems of personal philanthropy, there's one glaring issue: it's a tax write-off.
As long as doing charity reduces your taxes, all you're doing is taking money away from large-scale collective public programs & funneling it to much smaller scale pet projects. _Even if_ the cause you support is legitimate (which they often aren't) you're still making a net negative impact by taking that tax write-off.
Yeah I don't see how getting a reward for charity was ever written into law. That completely negates the point of it and, like you said, it just allowing them to get rid of responsibility and money owed to the government/people they benefit from so much. They no doubt probably control many of the charities they donate to as well. They have so much control and just made the public believe their lives were fair haha
which causes would you say are the most legitimate
Although you could argue that non profits are more efficient than the government
@@atrevolutionwiththomaspain68 You _really_ cannot argue that.
Philanthropy is _insanely_ inefficient partly because of how corrupt it is (often relatively little of the donated money even goes to the charity because that's not the purpose of philanthropy... tax dodging & good PR is), partly because even the biggest charity is at a tiny scale compared to government programs, & partly because private actors lack the authority of governments.
The myth of the inefficient public sector is just that: a myth... propagated by wealthy interests who stand to profit from people believing it.
Edit: Any time someone says "government," replace that word in your head with "democracy," because that's what they're saying. Remember that when the next rich politician tells you that we need to reduce the power of government... or talk about "government" overreach.
@@dr.zoidberg8666 So, I am a fundraising intern, and if you have a data that shows that philanthropy is more corrupt than government I would love to see it.
but the size of government/democracy it's exactly what makes it inefficient, a small non profit knows way more about the particular problems of a town than the federal government
Wait, are you saying that government/democracy it not less efficient than the private sector?
I always knew charitable donations were just a tax haven but the 5%-95% thing really pissed me off. Being rich isn't inherently bad but what's bad is the system that exists to enable the wrong people becoming the rich 1%.
Wiser to donate personally to the Needy & Deserving to make sure the money actually Reached Them! 🕯🌏💜🕊
Are you familiar with the Nobel Peace prize ?
That was started by Alfred Nobel because he was WELL aware of his reputation.
This is an old but very effective move.
Yep! Didn't he invent dynamite?
@@jarvisaddison8560 yes he did! And then invented the Nobel Peace Prize out of guilt for what it was used for. I just don't remember if it was created before or after his death.
Speaking about the Nobel prize, I find it funny that the Swedish bank created a category for economics like seventy years after the award was established. The prize is given pretty much exclusively to white male libs as you would expect.
@@guy-sl3kr I wasn't aware of that. Yeah that stinks.
I was wondering about this. Like, I've been seeing commercials on TV encouraging helping starving children in Africa since the 1980s, when I was a kid. If so many people were so concerned about saving the children, then why are they still showing those exact same commercials today, 30 years later?
Doesn't seem like they've helped all that much at all.
"Do They Know It's Christmas" by Band Aid pretty much sums up how charities want to keep people ignorant about the causes of poverty/famine.
When you really step back and think about what a philanthropist is, all you're left with is that one question..."wait, what the hell?"
It's insane how these people "have to exist" or rather that they do exist
Moral of the story - beware of billionaires bearing gifts.
"Billionaires bad" lmao, I haven't been the biggest fan of the channel's humor but that joke was pretty funny. Keep up the good work JT
No they are rich and good, and want good for us lmao
I tell this to so many people but they call me cynical or pessimistic. Billionaires don't do anything to truly help and I son's understand why people can't grasp that.
If being aware of how immoral the very existence of billionaires truly is then I might just be the biggest cynic of all according to those people.
@@jonathanjuarez5544 If I start a business, it starts booming (because I satisfy some unfulfilled need of the market), and eventually I end up with a billion dollars, where is the immorality in that ?
@@arunavaghatak8614 This is a five year olds understanding of a lemonade stand. Billionaires only make their fortunes by vertical integration, exploitation of labor and almost always by outsourcing labor to developing nations so that they can avoid paying taxes, wages, benefits, etc. There is not a single ethical Billionaire on Earth. Also, the profits for any consumption based commodity on Earth are not above a billion dollars. Billionaires only make that wealth through complex leveraging strategies and inserting themselves into exploitable economies that almost always have inelastic demand.
@@arunavaghatak8614 Two words- Wage theft. You are making more value from other's work than you are paying.
@@arunavaghatak8614 when you can describe such a business that isn't built on worker and/or resource exploitation, we'll listen.
If you're pressed for time, just watch from 0:19 to 0:27. That effectively summarises the whole video.
What so many people don't seem to understand about these people is that, in order to reach and remain where they are in life, whatever they do or don't do has to have a benefit to them, whether directly or indirectly; and by benefit I definitely don't mean "a personal satisfaction of merely having done the right thing"... NO. It must be financial, political, strategic kind of benefit.
Kudos for exposing people to this reality.
12:30
I was just arguing a point similar to this the other day. At least the government is (in theory) answerable to the people (if only we had a well-informed electorate who gave a damn). But handing over all of the power to billionaire oligarchs takes away any agency that we might have otherwise had.
I remember catching this topic on the podcast! Glad to see a little more coverage as I couldn't have agreed more when you three talked about it.
The 5% rule actually makes sense. It allows the foundation to pay out that much in perpetuity. For example, if you set up a foundation worth $1MM to pay for the college tuition of a needy students, you could pay for a new student to go to college every four years, forever. It would never run out. Once they graduate, another students tuition would be paid from the same principle. If you gave away all the money at once you would be able to pay for only five students tuition before it was used up.
but it still means 95% of potential tax money designated as "charity" is going to private corporations to spend on their daily operational expenses. you tax companies with the intent to spend on the public but end up giving them back the tax money through another route? might as well just lower corporate taxes and make it transparent?
@@priyojitchatterjee6164 I just don’t think it’s worth getting outraged about. It may fund the operation of a foundation/charity, but not a corporation. If you think the government should take all the money donated to charities/foundations, that’s fine. But the system is designed to incentivize people to donate money to charity. Many people do find ways of scamming the system, and maybe it needs more regulation, but this aspect of system isn’t inherently corrupt. Foundations and charities do a lot of good.
@@erichanson5194 charity shouldn't need an incentive. thats the entire point of charity. if you need to be paid to do charity then you are indirectly being funded to spend government money outside government supervision.
But if we taxed that money to begin with we wouldn't have had to set up college tuitions in the 70s 😙
Christ, JT. Your videos are always phenomenal. Great job, yet again.
It’s weird because I’m 26 and so by the time I started really being aware of things, Gates had largely restored his image I think. So compared to Musk and Bezos etc, I genuinely have slightly considered Bill to be a step above them. Still a billionaire, a think which shouldn’t exist, but about as good as you could hope him to be, all things considered. When I found out he was openly the Musk/Bezos type of asshole 20 years ago I was like, ohhhh
Musk is the most moral guy of the 3 .... Id say gates is the least moral...
see i personally have 0 problems with someone being a billionaire. my problem is the billionaire im fine with having will never ever ever happen (thats right, 2 evers lol). if someone becomes a billionaire because they invented the means to mine in space, and paid every single employee a great wage, never exploited people, paid their taxes like a normal person should. they yeah, have billions bro (even tho i dont think this person would be a billionaire because they wouldnt have the heart and would just instead pay their employees more, or just legit build housing for the poor with no return expected). but this ive exploited everyone to reach billionaire status is so wrong, and frankly should be illegal.
@@thedebate4836 there's mathematically no way you can make a billion dollars without exploiting people
@@TheRusschannel I think trying to rank billionaires by morality is like trying to rank all of the worst shit in the world based on smell, but I still wouldn't say Elon Musk is more moral than Bill Gates. Not when Elon Musk cultivates a workplace culture that's been successfully sued multiple times for horrific racism, when he's wielded his influence to harass random people he doesn't like (like the diver he called a pedophile), and when he spends his money on ill-advised ego projects like the expensive underground tunnels he's built that have completely fallen short of every promise he's made. At least Bill Gates' charity work has funded some good (and some ill-advised) initiatives for education and public health around the world
@@comicconcarne its super easy. sell 2 billion products for (cost + 1$), pay 50% in total taxes. whose being exploited the person who makes less than (cost + 1$) for the needed product?
Billionaire Philanthropy: it less expensive pretending to be Charitable...then actually being Charitable. 🤷🏿♂️
Funny thing about the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation, they gave my high school a huge grant to get all new computers and my school bought a crap ton of iMacs with the money.
That's quite ironic 🤣 but the real question is how did those pretty little machines REALLY benefit you or your fellow pupils.....? 🤔😏
That is why you should always ask a Foundation how much money goes towards the actual programs. It is also public information for nonprofits. Some organizations really do great work and are needed. Let's not forget this.
We don't need more effort from billionaires, we need there to be no more billionaires.
you nailed it!!
Said using a device you paid some billion company for, wonder why saying "voting with your wallet" provokes such a knee jerk these days.
@@wanderingthewastes6159 Yes because I'm sure in a Pandemic ridden world, where everything from media to school can be consumed purely through electronics I could avoid buying a phone, what should I use to talk? A walkie talkie made by a small business owner?
how would you achieve such a thing? that's highly unrealistic. what are we going to do, once they get to 100 million they can't get anymore profit from there companies? just give it away to the "poor". I've always wondered how this would be achieved every time a I see a statement like this.
@@wanderingthewastes6159 "oh, you complain about the way society is organized while simultaneously participating in it!"
Your argument is illogical, tired and brainless. Go educate yourself.
Will you make a video about the ukraine vs Russian war?
im sure he will
@@GabrialHolmes he just needs a handful of weeks, cant rush quality hehe
Russia would win from my Ukrainian brethren air force got there ass handed to them lately
Charity takes power. A narcissist of my acquaintance tried to give me charity and I refused, preferring to struggle. She had a light bulb moment and came back and bought art from me instead. That gives power. When you give free money the unspoken statement is "I have power and you don't but I pity you so I won't actually do anything about your situation but I will drip a little power on you. You will express gratitude and compliments and make it through another day of your continued misery while I go about feeling heroic. For a few bucks. The charity recipient feels it, and after a few years, realizes the catch 22.
I'm reminded of something from my Jewish upbringing: tzedakah, which often gets translated as charity, but is the moral obligation to help alleviate poverty, with the highest form being lifting a family or multiple families from the circumstances that put them in poverty in the first place.
In that regard, China and communism has done more than any capitalist “philanthropist".
I need to send this to my friend who thinks billionaires having all the power is somehow a good idea
It's almost as if capitalism is an antidemocratic power structure or something.
Billionaires don’t have nearly as much power as government. Government has the power to take away your resources, freedoms, assets and even your life. That’s who this commie wants in charge of everything in your life. The government.
@@PhedelCastro 1. That’s wrong, billionaires have more power than government.
2. Government having more is a good thing, because “commies” as you call them act on what’s best for the country and not their own selfishness.
Congrats on being the stereotypical ignorant American fascist
@@PhedelCastro stereotypical far right americna spotted
@@PhedelCastro Naaaahhhh...
Billy...
Who do you think actually controls most governmental decisions with their $contributions?$
Charity is the failure of government.
Philanthropy is a great way to avoid taxes
Just growing up and learning about what is fair and what is not, taught me that those who have too much don't really earn it.
Must times its given in one form or another
Books to read:
The Trouble with Billionaires - Linda McQuaig
The Sport & Prey of Capitalists - Linda McQuaig
The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism - Naomi Klein
Great books! The shock Doctrine is available online in PDF.
I work in a customer service and we are usually forced to ask for donations from people, sometimes quotas are set, it is always a competition and you get actual prizes (around 100$ worth usually). Always wondered how is it even profitable...
There is an old saying, "Behind every great fortune is a great crime."
Thank you for the video! Love the enlightenment, even if that comes with a existentialist crisis regarding our society
"We've become participants in empire building with the way we live our daily lives; with the taxes we pay, with the people we elect...
An empire has to have an emperor-so you ask yourself, 'well who's the emperor?' Well an emperor isn't elected, doesn't serve a limited term, and reports to no one. Certainly presidents don't satisfy that definition, but the people who run our biggest corporations do: it's a collective empire and it has enormous power. Whenever any country suggests it's going to pass laws that will get in the way of maximizing profits; regardless of social or environmental costs; these corporations all come together to fight this."
Let's be honest:
We're all waiting for Second Thought to do a video on Ukraine
A video like that would take so much research though, so I'm okay with waiting however long it takes
Next week
@@jdizzle708 , Scott Ritter on Russian Offensive
th-cam.com/video/3GkmdCaBECs/w-d-xo.html
And also video about USA killing 600 thousands civilians in Iraq by bombing and why USA after that is not an aggressor
The five percent required to spend can be directed at a second organization with same requirements enabling ninety five percent of the five percent to also be spent on non charity. Passed back and forth between companies, the largest charity amount becomes what's spent silencing government oversight of the spending.
Interesting to see an ultrarich persons perspective on the charity law, 5% must go to good work, to them means don't give more than 5% 🤯
I always like the latter half of your videos more. The “so what?” Because many people are educated or know the evils around us because we see it everyday. It’s a lot harder to do something about it or see that there can be a better alternative
“Imagine your name is William Henry Gates III. That name sucks!” 😭
Always remember: All the money those people donate isnt even a quarter that they should pay.
Im looking at you Elon. And everyone else.
As I learned from Riley on the Boondocks,
“The 1st rule of charity is that You never actually give away the fundraiser money”
GOD It's hilarious how people think that the dragons hoarding money will somehow give it up and help people..... I wonder how they hoarded that much money in the first place....
Thank you for all your work. The research and time you must put in is beyond me. Again, thank you and I will continue watching your channel.
I agree with the tax breaks for charity being silly part of your video, but I think it makes sense for charities to invest in stocks because ultimately they are organizations that have to make sure they set themselves up for long term successs and stability as well. By owning appreciating assets it gives them the stability to keep operating when donations aren't coming in.
"Charities should invest in stocks"
And more dumb takes you can complain about at 9.
Love your stuff, keep going, please. Best wishes.
Dude, your humour’s been brilliant. This has to be my favourite video of yours
Billionaire philanthropy is putting a bandaid on a giant open wound
And greenwashing
And then when it’s an ugly scar that easily gets infested again, they say that the problem has been solved.
It's fitting that one of the most famous charity bands was called Band Aid
The ultimate end goal of a charity - in spirit - would be to meet objectives so it doesn’t exist anymore. While some charities do some excellent things, it’s not in the interest of the people making a career out of the charity to have it run that efficiently. It’s comical to me that charities and modern art are the two avenues ultra wealthy people use to dodge taxes.
Paper money is really debt....
That makes it easy to put a curse on a person because every thing is tied to money.
Their survival, their lifestyle, family, plans for the future all depend on pieces of paper...
That's black magic...
It’s just a way for billionaires to launder their image. And to get a tax break to Boot.
thank you for talking about this, it’s been on my mind for ages
Your channel has now become more than an educational TH-cam channel. It's also an eye opener for the rest of the world to see. Hopefully, it reaches out to the correct people who can actually make a difference.
Just keep being a skeptic. Our guy here can’t be right all the time. It’s never good to put people on a pedestal.
As a Hasan Minhaj Stan, I feel like my hearts been broken. But awesome video!
Is there a site that tracks which charities are corrupt?
I always wonder that when Panda Express or other chains ask if I want to donate at checkout.
Presume all charities are corrupt except if your handing the money directly to the people in need in person. They prey upon the poor for donations to benefit themselves. Very little IF anything at all whatsoever makes it to the people they allege it goes to in the first place.
The very existence of billionaires requires large portions of the population live in poverty, in a just world billionaires wouldn’t exist and neither would their puppets in the government.
Billionaires have a right to their money. But it shouldn't come at the expense of the average citizen
@@arcticlaw9198 it's not even 'their' money, it's the workers money
@@arcticlaw9198 no billionaires are actually self made. They are good at manipulation and stiffing workers to increase their own wealth.
@@arcticlaw9198 The only way you can accrue that much wealth is if you are doing it at the expense of other people ,period. It is impossible for someone to make that kind of money off their own labor.
@@arcticlaw9198 That's silly, I don't recall Jeff bezos packaging and delivering to all of those houses. Could it be that the workers accrued him all of the wealth that he extracted from them? Seems impossible!
According to this principle, donors often stipulate that only a smaller percentage, such as 5% or 10%, of the donated money or assets should be actually spent on charitable activities. This is done to ensure the long-term sustainability of the foundation and to continue generating income for future charitable purposes.
Donors typically consider retaining or investing a portion of the money or assets and using the returns or interest to support the operational costs of the foundation as well as future donations. This allows the foundation to remain operational and grow, thereby enabling support for a wider range of charitable causes over the long term.
It's important to note that donors can decide on different percentages or principles. Each donor and foundation can have different approaches and prioritize various strategies. Therefore, it is crucial to understand the specific goals and principles of the donor and foundation in question in order to get a more accurate understanding of how the donations are being utilized.
The video didn't mention that what these rich folks ARE 'giving away' is NOT their fortunes but simply the interest on their fortunes. That's why Gate, Buffett and the rest continue to be the richest people in the world. Bezos alone makes nearly $4,000 per second without doing a thing. Per second.
If they were truly serious, they would AT LEAST give away portions from their principle, which of course they will never, ever do.
I: This is something I´ve tried to explain to my parents so many freaking times, and they still don´t understand 😩
Thank you for making this video, more people need to be aware of this.
All they hear is you sounding like a whiney know-it-all. Which you are. Which makes them sad.
And if you believe everything that is said in videos like this, you are a gullible whiner who is really mad about things that aren't even true.
@@jamisojo I: This _gullible whiner_ as you've called me would like to hear your evidence of the video not telling the truth.
Hell yea, Second Thought uploaded! I'm commenting for the algorithm and to thank you again for an amazing video. I need to start supporting you on patreon, even with 2€, because I don't have alot of money, but you definetly deserve the 2€/month and way more and I would give more if I only could... Thank you again comrade for another amazing video and I hope you remember that your videos are changing conservative and centrists minds towards more leftist ideas and your work is massively appreciated!❤ (I of course haven't watched it yet, but I have yet not seen a single vai video of yours, so I can already say it going to be amazing.)
Edit: typos
Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi (1746-1827) once said: "Charity is the Drowning of Rights in the Dung Hole of Mercy" (Wohltätigkeit ist das Ersäufen des Rechts im Mistloch der Gnade). This means: Rich people first rob you of your rights and recourses and than give it back to you, if they please, and you have to be thankfull about this. Or some years ago a German journalist said about a summit of rich guys to conquer problems like world wide poverty: "It sometimes feels strange for you European... Rich people searching for solutions of problems they themself caused.
In Hindi/Urdu, there is a proverb: "Neki kar dariya mein daal" which translates into: "Be discreet with you kindness" or to explain further, do good and seek no reward, do good for the sake of good...just do good and forget, NO PUBLICITY/SHOWOFF; no need to share your Samaritan act and must not expect anything in return. It must be selfless without any expectations, only for the sake of doing good...