NBC... You Should Be Ashamed Of Yourselves...

[WillyT]

I'm all for positive experiences for kids... but THIS ???

Walmart heiress brings art to Arkansas youth
When you think of Arkansas, art may not be the first word to come to mind but don’t tell that to Walmart heiress Alice Walton who has built a world class art museum on the edge of the Ozarks, attracting millions of visitors in recent years. NBC’s Harry Smith reports.

Link to Pro-Propaganda For The Walton Heirs: http://www.nbcnews.com/id/40153870/vp/53383966#53383966

[Cali_Democrat]

1. She's doing something good.

What's the problem?

[WillyT]

5. My Mistake... I Guess Some Here Are Not Current... With Current Events...

Link: http://www.walmartsubsidywatch.org/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/rickungar/2013/04/17/walmart-pays-workers-poorly-and-sinks-while-costco-pays-workers-well-and-sails-proof-that-you-get-what-you-pay-for/

To just scratch the surface.

[Cali_Democrat]

7. I still don't understand why an art museum like this makes you angry. n/t

[WillyT]

11. Because... Since WE Subsidize WalMart Employees... Who Qualify For Food Stamps... Because...

WalMart Pays Shit Wages...

Means WE helped buy and finance that museum!

She does not get to throw a few crumbs at the peasantry to buy some phony good-will.

PAY YOUR EMPLOYEES A LIVING WAGE !!!

Costco does... and they turn quite a handsome profit.

[Cali_Democrat]

12. Again...why would that mean we can't focus on some good

like the art museum?

I don't get angry when Bill Gates does good either.

You're being silly, Willy.

[WillyT]

14. Awww... That The Nicest Thing You've Ever Said To Me...

[Wilms]

15. OK. I rob you and donate 0.0001%.

We're good. Right?

[gopiscrap]

18. I fully agree with you FUCK WAL MART!!!

[ProdigalJunkMail]

2. no different than a politician working a photo-op

do you bitch and moan about those, too? at least she's not shilling for votes...

sP

[bhikkhu]

3. This Alice Walton:

?itok=fx6ELS_U

...I guess I'd agree with those upthread, that you shouldn't criticize someone while they are doing good, but then again I wouldn't write her up as an honorable philanthropist without mentioning her many DUI's, and her general bad attitutude about other people's right to exist.

[TexasTowelie]

8. But, but, but...they dropped the charges.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/107812210

[gvstn]

4. I guess they forgot to discuss this part of their "charitable" giving

The type of Jackie O. trust used by the Waltons doesn’t generate a break on income taxes, instead the potential big saving is on gift and estate taxes.

When a donor sets one up, the IRS assesses how much gift or estate tax is due, based on how much of the trust’s assets will end up benefiting charity and how much will go to heirs.

The IRS makes an estimate using a formula tied to the level of U.S. Treasury bond yields during the time when the trust is set up.

If the trust’s investments outperform that benchmark rate, then the extra earnings are passed on to the designated heirs free of any estate tax.

That rate has been hovering near an all-time low since 2009 and is currently 1.4 percent.

With a big enough spread between the actual performance and the IRS rate, a Jackie O. trust has the potential to save so much tax that it leaves the family richer than if they hadn’t given to charity.

A trust can only save taxes if they beat that 3.6 percent rate, which they would have done at any stage over the past five years.

The trusts returned about 14 percent a year before taxes during that period, according to a Bloomberg analysis of IRS filings.

That growth means the four Helen Walton trusts have been accumulating assets faster than they give them away. As of 2011, they held a combined $2 billion, up from $1.4 billion in 2007.

Barring a stark reversal of fortune, at least that much money will probably pass to Helen Walton’s heirs.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2419374/How-billionaire-Walmart-clan-using-charity-avoid-paying-estate-taxes-150-billion-dollar-fortune-pass-future-heirs.html

A more detailed article explaining in fairly easy to understand terms. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-09-12/how-wal-mart-s-waltons-maintain-their-billionaire-fortune-taxes.html

[DURHAM D]

6. People from wealthy families have done some interesting things in Arkansas

The Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation -
http://www.wrfoundation.org/



From the wiki -

The legacy of Winthrop Rockefeller lives on in the form of numerous charities, scholarships, and the activities of the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation and the Winthrop Rockefeller Charitable Trust. The foundation provides funding for projects across Arkansas to encourage economic development, education, and racial and social justice. In 1964, he founded The Museum of Automobiles on Petit Jean Mountain, which after his death in 1973 was given to the Arkansas State Parks system; a non-profit organization was formed to run the museum; in March 2007, the Charitable Trust pledged $100,000 for its ongoing operations if the museum raised an equal amount by the end of that year.

Rockefeller's political legacy lives on in both the Republican and Democratic parties of Arkansas, both of which were forced to reform as a result of his presence on the state scene.

[LiberalArkie]

9. Win was a good man. He brought liberalism to the state.

[DURHAM D]

13. He was and I know young people from Arkansas who have never heard of him

and most folks are surprised to find out David and Nelson had a brother who was a Governor and left a good legacy.

[Tanuki]

10. "The Rise of Walm-Art"

The Guardian's art critic Kriston Capps sees it a little differently from NBC:
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/apr/02/theriseofwalmart

Moreover, Alice Walton ruthlessly exploited the Fisk University's financial crisis to get her harpy claws on the exceptional art collection that had been bequeathed to the historically Black university by Georgia O'Keefe.

[hedgehog]

16. Andrew Carnegie donated a lot of his money to libraries and education,

but treated his workers like shit.

[WillyT]

17. There Was A Tax Write-Off, Right ???

Or was that before tax write-offs ???