The Problem with Charity and Philanthropy

The rich love charity because imagining the appreciation of the poor makes them feel good. The rich love philanthropy even more because imagining the admiration of their peers makes them feel even better. They know as well as you and I do that neither charity nor philanthropy can stop the growth of the wealth gap.

What the rich won’t admit is that charity and philanthropy are not supposed to end poverty. The educated rich know the only things that have ever shrunk the wealth gap in the US were Keynesian social programs—which may be why neoliberals began gutting and abandoning those programs under Carter, Reagan, Bush, and Clinton.

When leftists criticize charity or philanthropy, fans of capitalism ask if we don’t believe in helping people. They don’t see that we criticize charity because we care. If we didn’t, we would shrug when hypocrites seek profit or praise in the name of helping others or when well-meaning people do inefficient things in the belief they’re doing good.

a few quotes about philanthropy

“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.

“Millionaires at one end of the scale involved paupers at the other end, and even so excellent a man as Mr. Carnegie is too dear at that price.” — Hugh Price Hughes