Monday, April 19, 2010

Beggars Can't Be Choosers


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According to a study by the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, the Obama administration's decision to raise marginal tax rates and scale back deductions for charitable giving will cost charities $5 billion this year alone.

The negative impact is so tremendous that some experts believe that the tax policies are deliberately designed to curtail private giving, so the government will have more control over who does (and doesn't) get helped and, more importantly, prevent the poor from becoming confused about financial aid being available from any source except the government.

Of course, nothing comes for free...and the tradeoff for punishing the "evil rich" is less money and more suffering for the genuinely poor and needy.

It's all too easy to imagine this president arching an eyebrow, waving a lace handkerchief at the poor outside his palace window, and saying
"Let them eat hope."

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow. Just wow.

Ya know my wife pointed something out to me today. She basically said: Who owns the american car companies? Now, if you had such high stakes in american cars, what's the best headline you can engineer? Foreign cars suck! right? What are today's headlines about? Toyota recalls, toyota defects, toyota fined...

Our president may not know how to run a country but he sure knows how to turn any odd situation into lots of money into his personal pockets. Oh yeah... lawyer.

Pete(Detroit) said...

Unintended consequence? Fmeh!
Back in Rocket Science School (yes, I really *did* study rocket science, and I assure you, this ain't it...) there was a phrase 'intuitively obvious to the casual observer'
In Jr we just said 'well, DUH!'
Not only will 'the rich' cut charitable gifting, but the will not be traveling as much, going skiing as much eating out as much, replacing toys / equipment as much... so, hotel / resort staff, restaurant staff, manufacturers of golf clubs, tennis rackets, boats, PWCs, etc, etc (most of which are still actually made here) will all suffer. JackAssHats.

As for Toyota, yes, "the media" are making a huge stink (or six) about their problems - however they *did* bring it upon themselves.
Just that the White House is far too good to let a crisis go to waste...

Anonymous said...

Don't forget the movement afoot in California to require that non-profit philanthropic organizations have rainbow boards so all races, genders, etc., have a say in how money gets distributed. It's another example of how a seemingly well-intended "goal" becomes a mandate that politicizes, divides, and distracts from the overall mission to help others.

Pete(Detroit) said...

Anon - one of my favorite "demotivational" posters has four forks in a row, one of them just mangled - tines tied in knots, basically. The caption - "Diversity - just because you're different, does NOT mean you're useful"..
Now, granted, Diversity "can" be a good thing, prevent against 'groupthink' etc, but diversity solely for the sake of diversity is inane.
Just MY $.02