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Trickle Down Charity

Posted in OPINION to The Loyal Opposition by Dan Schreiber on Tuesday, December 2, 2008 at 9:00 am

Charity.jpgIt looks like trickle-down economics has only seven more weeks of life left before Barack Obama is sworn in and shuts the party down. No more tax cuts for the wealthy so they can create jobs for the rest of us. No more relying on the self-interest of the powerful to accidentally and occasionally intersect with the welfare of others. We’ll be on our own, without the elites to look after us.

If this concerns you, take heart, for the Christmas season is upon us. After all, Christmas is about hope and faith, so what better time to validate your devotion to a theory that has been so thoroughly debunked? And Christmas is about giving too, so this may be your last opportunity for the next four years to show your faith in a bankrupt economic policy by combining it with year-end charity.

How so? Well, if you truly believe that tax cuts for the wealthy are the best we can collectively do for ourselves, the course is clear: Don’t give money to charities, which will just waste your money by distributing it to poor people in need. Instead, give your charity dollars to people who are already wealthy, who will in turn make life better for everyone else. After all, if the wealthy had even more money, they may end up hiring more people, many of whom live in this country, and some of those for wages that are higher than the minimum allowable by law.

Locally, I would suggest going through Krannert Center program inserts to identify all the people who gave more than $1,000, or copy down the names of people etched on the donor wall at the library. Look their names up in the phone book, and just send checks to them — whatever amount you would have wasted giving to local food shelters or homeless shelters.

If you have old winter coats or mittens, don’t drop them off at Goodwill, as they would just make their way to needy children. Instead, drive around the wealthier neighborhoods of southwest Champaign, look for the biggest houses, and drop off your spare clothes there. They might have maids or gardeners they could afford to hire if they could pay them with used clothes.

Or, if you are uncomfortable giving money to individuals, there are plenty of businesses here in town that are probably still making a profit, even during this economic downturn. Find out which companies are doing the best, and then send them money. If trickle down really works, I’m sure they would be more than willing to share their profit with competitors that aren’t doing as well. People and institutions always do the right thing when they are flush with cash.

As for me, I guess I’m just not smart enough to figure out how this works. I will stubbornly continue to support organizations that are mandated to serve others, rather than maximize profit. I used to feel out of step about this. But come January 20th, I think I’ll finally feel good about it again.

2 comments

username

ad

12/02/08 at 12:28
#1

There is a boys and girls club in California that has spent $20,000 on a new solar generator and has a $250,000 projected savings. 

When looking for ways to help, perhaps earmarking funds for such a project makes more sense that just handing out food or shelter for the moment.

username

Roger nehring

12/03/08 at 12:51
#2

ad, When people are hungry and homeless, and we, collectively, refuse to provide adequate care(as in public funding), then we, individually are obliged as caring humans to give what we can to sustain them.  The Big Brother Big Sister project sounds very worthwhile and I laud anyone who supports it.  But to minimize support of immediate critical needs as,“just handing out food for the moment.“ seems heartles to me.  Are you suggesting that the wealthiest nation in the history of the world can’t support both types of good and necessary work?

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