ECONOMY
As wealth becomes concentrated in fewer hands, so does
political and social power via foundations and non-profits.
By Sarah Lazare / AlterNet
February 29, 2016
Bill and Melinda Gates pictured in June 2009.
Photo Credit: Wikipedia
Photo Credit: Wikipedia
As wealth becomes concentrated in fewer and fewer
hands, the billionaire class is increasingly turning to foundations and
non-profits to enact the change they would like to see in the world. Amid the
rise of philanthrocapitalism, growing numbers of critics are raising serious questions
about whether this outsized influence is doing more harm than good.
In the January issue of the New York Review of Books,
veteran journalist Michael Massing noted that, in the past 15 years alone, “the number of
foundations with a billion dollars or more in assets has doubled, to more than
eighty.” The philanthropic sector in the United States is far more significant
than in Europe, fueled in part by generous tax write-offs, which the U.S.
public subsidizes to the tune of $40 billion a year.
As Massing observes, billionaires are not just handing
over their money, they have ideas about how it should be used, and their vision
often aligns with their own economic interests. For this reason, the
philanthropy industry deserves rigorous scrutiny, not a free pass because it is
in the service of good.
