Opinion | Give Philanthropy the Market Test

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From WSJopinion: It’s free-market capitalism, not philanthropy, that gets people out of poverty, raises living standards and cures the world’s ills, writes AndyKessler

I’m always mystified by philanthropic foundations and how fruitlessly they disperse their capitalism-provided funds. Bloomberg Philanthropies spends a chunk of its $8 billion on “Sustainable Cities.” The new $10 billion Bezos Earth Fund is backing climate activists. The $12 billion Ford Foundation insists, “To address the climate crisis, we must address inequality.”

Huh? Way more than philanthropy, free-market capitalism gets people out of poverty, raises living standards and cures the world’s ills. Of the four things you...

 

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opinion andykessler But it's rigged in the US and you know it. Why else has income inequality and the purchasing power of working and middle-class Americans eroded so spectacularly while the 1% has increased dramatically? US capitalism needs a big reset.

opinion andykessler When the GOAL is helping and a thought is given to making things better, yes, I agree. When the goal is to 'make a buck, no matter what' it doesn't work as well toward THAT end.

opinion andykessler Would that we had really free markets. Many, if not most, sectors of the US economy are monopolies or near monopolies dominated by a few giant conglomerates.

opinion andykessler So.....trickle down economics. That’s effectively the argument here. Even though every time we’ve tried that in the US, it just increases the wealth gap, because nothing trickles down.

opinion andykessler Capitalism is the biggest curse of the 21st Century. Worst form of repression. It’s biggest tools r interest wch is forbidden 🚫 by God. Economy blindly following capitalism n devoid poor of fair economy ll go to hell. If not wrong biggest curse on human kind.

opinion andykessler 2/ “Instead, unregulated markets -particularly markets not regulated by significant taxation on predatory incomes -invariably lead to the opposite of a healthy middle class: They produce extremes of inequality, which are as dangerous to democracy as cancer is to a living being.“

opinion andykessler 1/ “For thousands of years, economists and economic observers from Aristotle to Adam Smith to Thomas Picketty have told us that a ‘middle class’ is not a normal by-product of raw, unregulated capitalism — what right-wing ideologues call ‘the free market’...”

opinion andykessler No. It’s free market capitalism plus proper regulation plus sensible redistribution. Free market capitalism alone creates too many losers.

opinion andykessler Short sighted and narrow minded. Democracy with a strong middle class is achieved with constant vigilance over greeedy Capitalism trying to create more poverty. Philanthropy is one of those oversights

opinion andykessler Backed by corporate welfare of course.

opinion andykessler True, but everyone got too greedy and fucked it all up.

opinion andykessler Trudeau lifted 300,000 children out of poverty via the Canada Child Benefit. That’s the other more effective way to do it. Fair and moral redistribution of wealth.

opinion andykessler How's that free market capitalism working out in the USA?

opinion andykessler fine, but institutionalizing a system that captures and keeps most people living hand to mouth is not exactly progress...and that is where the US is headed.....deny opportunity and destroy any hope of progress

opinion andykessler Blindly following a doctrine, without reviewing its weakness and CIP, which is Continuous Improvement Plan, not Communist Inspired Plan, will finally lead to down fall of a system

opinion andykessler LOL! Upton Sinclair, The Jungle

opinion andykessler Big faxxxs

opinion andykessler Surely you jest.

opinion andykessler Even if the free market corporations get subsidized by gov. Tax breaks and employees food stamps.

opinion andykessler TrickledownEconomics DejaMoo Richard Wolff on Fighting for Economic Justice and Fair Wages Global Capitalism Is Theft Neoliberal Capitalism Sets the Stage for Fascism

opinion andykessler Yeah, last century. Now we're in technological abundance and your markets are irrelevant. AnachronisticAnthropos

opinion andykessler I mean your torn about this right. In the article, Tata is able to get a better rate and a higher return because the foundation is willing to break even or earn less. It’s essentially a subsidy, and the project doesn’t stand on its own. Is that capitalism?

opinion andykessler It’s BOTH. Don’t provide a fig leaf for the selfish Billionaires out there. Despite your premise, and the political wrangling of the Bern, some of them are making a real impact (Gates, Buffet, and now Bezos). And before them, Carnegie seeding public libraries everywhere, etc.

opinion andykessler 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

opinion andykessler Kill the poor then poverty killed

opinion andykessler I say it's none of the above.

opinion andykessler Free Market Capitalism? No. That's what's gotten everyone into such a rut.

opinion andykessler Too bad free market capitalism hasn’t existed in 30+ years. All we have is crony capitalism, corporate lobbyists writing legislation and regulation policy. What an embarrassment.

opinion andykessler Free market capitalism, by definition, can’t work.

opinion andykessler Free market capitalism made modern day “philanthropy”. Let’s be clear, neither are working for the disenfranchised.

opinion andykessler LOL. Look, we’re all sick of hearing about trickle down economics and the invisible hand of the market. We need real solutions to make capitalism make sense in this new century. Inequality and robotics are a real problem.

opinion andykessler That's nice, but we don't have free market capitalism. Let's be honest with ourselves. We are new age serfs in the emerging corporate oligarchy.

opinion andykessler Another excuse for rich people acting immorally.

opinion andykessler How about it's neither philanthropy or unfettered capitalism?

opinion andykessler Just support Globo-Homo Capitalism. You'll get a deracinated population of easily controlled 92 IQ consumers, and all the porno and video streaming you want, and you can put it on your credit card.

opinion andykessler I wish that worked long-term. It only works until resources run out.

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