Rubenerd

There’s an infographic going around comparing how much billionaires donate, with the implication that some are more charitable than others. It misses the point:

• What unscrupulous business dealings did some of these people do to get where they are? Can we stop glorifying ruthless behaviour, and allowing charitable deeds to make up for it?

• How much tax did these people and their businesses pay, either now, or when they were raking it in? My hunch is we’d need fewer charitable causes if they paid into the society which made their businesses viable in the first place.

We do a disservice to wealthy people with consciences by lumping in others who pay cynical lip service.