Read on Twitter
Generosity is not a substitute for justice. This should shock no one. https://twitter.com/zachmider/status/1296786600626720768
When Robert Smith made his dramatic gesture at the Morehouse commencement, it was celebrated around the world as amazing.
Leaders tweeted and issued statements.
People sent me the story as proof of the power of philanthropy.
How about them generous apples? they seemed to say.
Leaders tweeted and issued statements.
People sent me the story as proof of the power of philanthropy.
How about them generous apples? they seemed to say.
But there were always problems lurking beneath the surface.
For one thing, Smith was on record to @dgelles justifying the indefensible carried-interest loophole that has let private-equity barons like him amass great fortunes at great cost to the commons.
It costs the government as much as $18 billion a year. https://www.wbur.org/cognoscenti/2019/05/22/morehouse-robert-smith-college-debt-miles-howard
It costs the government as much as $18 billion a year. https://www.wbur.org/cognoscenti/2019/05/22/morehouse-robert-smith-college-debt-miles-howard
It felt important to point out that, without that loophole that Smith and his colleagues have fought for, we would have more money available to fund affordable college for all graduates of all classes at all institutions, not one graduating class at one institution.
And some eloquent students at Morehouse began to point out the unfairness behind this gift. Why were other classes left high and dry? What was the plan for everyone who didn't benefit from one rich man's whim?
There were also signs that, while Smith was publicly generous, in private his private-equity firm was engaging in the business as usual that results in layoffs and corporate miserliness.
He was giving some students some help to enter an economy he was helping to keep merciless.
He was giving some students some help to enter an economy he was helping to keep merciless.
And now this story, about the possible avoidance of taxes.
With a telling detail: "Part of his defense rests on a reported pledge by the private equity fund to direct proceeds to charity."
Charity as the alibi, charity as the laundromat. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-08-21/billionaire-robert-smith-fighting-u-s-criminal-tax-inquiry?sref=trRSsxUR
With a telling detail: "Part of his defense rests on a reported pledge by the private equity fund to direct proceeds to charity."
Charity as the alibi, charity as the laundromat. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-08-21/billionaire-robert-smith-fighting-u-s-criminal-tax-inquiry?sref=trRSsxUR
Today's issue of http://The.Ink is all about this kind of thing.
These pleasant-seeming gestures by corporate barons.
And a growing body of evidence that they don't just amount to nothing.
They actually make the world worse. https://the.ink/p/how-corporate-good-deeds-make-things
These pleasant-seeming gestures by corporate barons.
And a growing body of evidence that they don't just amount to nothing.
They actually make the world worse. https://the.ink/p/how-corporate-good-deeds-make-things
