Peter Buffett, son of Warren Buffett, with a thought-provoking Op-Ed for The New York Times about the motivations and consequences of today’s charity culture:
Philanthropy has become the “it” vehicle to level the playing field and has generated a growing number of gatherings, workshops and affinity groups.
As more lives and communities are destroyed by the system that creates vast amounts of wealth for the few, the more heroic it sounds to “give back.” It’s what I would call “conscience laundering” — feeling better about accumulating more than any one person could possibly need to live on by sprinkling a little around as an act of charity.
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But as long as most folks are patting themselves on the back for charitable acts, we’ve got a perpetual poverty machine.
In essence, Peter argues that the very people who offer aid to fight poverty are the ones helping create and maintain it.