Thoughts on Philanthropy from Books Featured in the Giving Review in Second Half of 2024

T.R. and Rockefeller

“The vindictiveness was gone, but the prosecution remained.” President William Howard Taft got to preside over something [Theodore] Roosevelt had wanted but did not attain in his presidency: the demise of Standard Oil.” In 1911, “the Supreme Court spoke and ordered the dissolution of [John D.] Rockefeller [Sr.]’s creation, a decade and a half after he stepped back from day-to-day operations.”

“The breakup made Rockefeller even wealthier than he already was. His focus now was on philanthropy, and it showed. …

“The Rockefeller Foundation was not coincidentally founded in 1913 with a $183 million endowment, just at the very time when Rockefeller was facing the prospect of the income tax. Like Henry Ford would do during the Franklin Roosevelt administration, Rockefeller set up a powerful foundation to wield influence and protect his holdings, in direct response to federal government policies.”

—         Tevi Troy, The Power and the Money: The Epic Clashes Between Commanders in Chief and Titans of Industry, reviewed in “T. R. and Rockefeller in The Power and the Money,” September 30, 2024

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The Myth of the Generous Billionaire

“When considering the apparent generosity of the ultra-wealthy in funding charitable foundations and causes of their choosing, it is naïve to assume that this is simply a matter of selfless do-gooding altruism. The question is, what do billionaire philanthropists expect in return for their economic largesse?

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“Undermining the myth of the generous billionaire surfaces how billionaire giving is a ruse to secure the wealth, power and privilege of the billionaire class.

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“Philanthropy is not designed to change the system but to preserve it. …

“Elite philanthropy is not something to be lauded, and the idea that it is the best way to solve the world’s problems is a myth that is both false and dangerous.

“When billionaires make sizable gifts to charity, they are not channeling their money through [] a socially controlled process” of general taxation to fund projects for the common good and benefit society, “but rather through one that is largely privately controlled by them. The billionaires decide how much is spent and they decide what it’s spent on. The added sweetener is that, in most countries, charitable donations are tax deductible, serving to further impoverish the public purse.”

—         Carl Rhodes, Stinking Rich: The Four Myths of the Good Billionaire, reviewed in “Stinking Rich pierces myth of the generous billionaire,” December 16, 2024

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What Difference Was There?

What difference was there between Brooke the person and the Asher and Carol Jaffee Foundation, really? The tiny sound of the card on the table was Brooke’s contribution to the symphony of American commerce, a whisper that said she was there, she was alive, she was this person, she was worthy of these things, and deserved so much more than she had.

—         Rumaan Alam, Entitlement, reviewed in “Big Philanthropy’s lost children,” December 26, 2024

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This article first appeared in the Giving Review on December 30, 2024.

Source: https://capitalresearch.org/article/thoughts-on-philanthropy-from-books-featured-in-the-giving-review-in-second-half-of-2024/