PBS: Are Americans a Stingy Lot of People?

[tabbycat31]

79. A few things here

First off I agree about the lack of empathy. I see this in some family members, and most of the MBA types I know (I wonder if it's taught in business school--- regard people as a number not a human being).

Second off--- Americans are generous to charity, but the 1% types tend to fund their own charities. The Koch Brothers are very generous with the arts and donate generously to places like opera houses (that have their place in this world but they don't help people in poverty) and it's treated (tax wise) the same as a donation to the foodbank. I doubt that David Koch has ever written a fat check to his local foodbank.

Churches do some charity work and I commend them for it (one of my Girl Scout troop projects as a kid was spending a Friday night making sandwiches for the homeless in a church basement). I've been in churches that have food pantries once a month (this particular one also had clothing for giveaway too). I'm not also discounting operating expenses because everyone has to keep the lights on. But for every church that has a food pantry, there's another that's using their donations for proselytizing (abroad via mission trips or domestically by passing out pamphlets, door knocking, etc) or doing something opulent like building a giant marble cross (I've driven by one--- that can't be cheap). So I'd like to see a chart of where church donations REALLY go (food pantries, proselytizing, or opulence).

Public policy wise, I think we need a complete overhaul in our tax system (I'd be in favor of scrapping the whole thing and starting from scratch) but we perhaps a donation to the foodbank should have greater tax benefits than a donation to the opera house. This is really coming across as insensitive to non people helping charities (I personally have donated to my local SPCA and donate old clothes to their thrift shop) but I'm just throwing food for thought out there.