Why doesn't America's rich donate more to charity

Kaon said:

The idea that capitalism is unfairly critiqued is asinine; the very purpose of capitalism is to produce more capital.

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I see your point now.

It reminds me of something once said by a great man...

The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries.
--Winston Churchill

Yarddog said:

Why Don't America's Rich Give More to Charity?

Why Don't America's Rich Give More to Charity?
They could certainly afford to donate bigger sums, but something seems to be holding them back.

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It was not easy donating funds to feed a poor couple, then they had four children. They should not have made babies, if they were unemployed and had no funds. Lust is wrong.

In Venezuela the government confiscated rich corporate properties and gave the proceeds to themselves and their people. Corporations left Venezuela. When there was nothing left to tax or steal, people wept for they had no food, only piles of worthless paper money. The shelves in the grocery store were empty.

Some rich people gave to the poor and now they are not as rich as before. They may not want to give much more.

God commanded the rich to help the poor, yet they may expect better wages for employment, else no one will work anymore.

Albion said:

I see your point now.

It reminds me of something once said by a great man...

The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries.
--Winston Churchill

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I agree, however, I would asterisk the quote, and say socialism categorically fails unless your leader(ship) is perfect, and capitalism categorically fails if your leadership is perfect.

The Redeemer, for example, would not set "competition" as the framework for the economy. Indeed, He preached complete charity (down to everything) - but that is because He is Perfect. He gives us much more credit than we exhibit when He charges us with the same complete charity - but that is because He loves us.

They don't give more, because of their sin nature. However; some rich people might give a large percent. A lot of people love money and are greedy, even us who are not rich.

Yarddog said:

.................................. Why Don't America's Rich Give More to Charity?
They could certainly afford to donate bigger sums, but something seems to be holding them back.

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While different articles and different organizations show different percentages - it is still true that the wealthier you are the higher percentage of federal revenue you pay in the form of taxes.

Below is one such table reflecting the tax burden by income level in 2014
(LombardiLetter.com)
.
Income Level Top 1% Top 5% Top 10% Top 25% Top 50% Bottom 50%

Total Revenue 39.40% 59.90% 70.80% 86.70% 97.20% 2.70%

Average Rate 27.10% 23.60% 21.20% 17.80% 15.50% 3.40%

Right or wrong and Christian thinking or not - it may well be that the richer you are the more you feel that you have more than paid your fair share.

I'm not making excuses for any selfish behavior. I'm just saying.

There's plenty of guilt to go around I suppose. But it appears to me that the bottom rung of the chart really should be feeling just as much guilt as anyone else for not giving a higher percentage of their income to charity.

timothyu said:

Also no one should profit.

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If you say no one should profit, then how do you live?

I remember one report stating that on a global scale, the richest 200 people in the world have more wealth than the bottom third of the world population. Also, just a fraction of their wealth is enough to wipe out poverty worldwide.

According to other articles, that fraction is very small for them because their wealth goes up readily every few years or so through financial speculation. Also, what is donated goes back to them with a return because the funds are usually spent on goods and services produced by their businesses.

In short, it's actually an easy, win-win solution. In which case, they don't they donate more? One more source (I think it was a Medium article) argues that the last thing that the rich generally want to see is to lose power over others: they need others to work and be productive in businesses owned by the rich, and to buy the products and services produced by the same.

Given that, they will donate only sparingly.

Silverback said:

Charity, should be a short term thing until people are back on their feet, and start working.

Nothing should be free.

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Careful with your words here lest you find yourself in a position where you depend on a form of charity with no opportunity in the foreseeable future to get back on your feet. Many people who are severely disabled depend on things like SSDI to be able to just live and not perish on the streets.

Jesus said that we will always have the poor. The early church focused on widows in particular because in that society, widows, especially those without children, were the most vulnerable.

Yes, it is the norm to want to get back up and start working as soon as possible but you can't impose that on people who don't have that ability. You can argue that too many people work the system and it's true. But that should not be an excuse to cut those people who do deserve and need assistance off.

Silverback said:

If you say no one should profit, then how do you live?

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We're talking about charity, not earning your keep.

ralfyman said:

Also, just a fraction of their wealth is enough to wipe out poverty worldwide.

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Yeah but their wealth is a figment of imagination, not being actual cash but the value of holdings.

Yarddog said:

Why Don't America's Rich Give More to Charity?

Why Don't America's Rich Give More to Charity?
They could certainly afford to donate bigger sums, but something seems to be holding them back.

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An interesting question?

You Americans seem to have us Canadians beat by a tidy margin.


Top 10 Giving Countries

Global Giving: A Comparison of Giving Rates between Countries

With the release of the Fraser Institute’s latest report showing that Canadians donated 0.64% of their combined income to charities in 2011 compared to 1.33% in the US, many Canadians are wondering why there is such a disparity. Are Americans simply twice as generous as Canadians? And how do Canadians compare with other countries?

Johns Hopkins University conducted a study comparing giving across nations from 1995-2002. In this study, it was found that Americans gave the most of all 36 countries examined at 1.85% of total GDP, followed by Israel at 1.34% and Canada third at 1.17%. Further research on this data found that charitable giving is negatively correlated to tax rates – countries with higher levels of social safety nets have lower levels of giving. As Canada’s total tax rate as a percent of GDP is higher than in the US, this is one potential explanation for the disparity in giving.

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Charitable Giving as a share of GDP by Country (1995-2002)

Country Giving (% of GDP)
1 United States 1.85
2 Israel 1.34
3 Canada 1.17
4 Argentina 1.09
5 Spain 0.87
6 Ireland 0.85
7 U.K. 0.84
8 Uganda 0.65
9 Hungary 0.63
10 Tanzania 0.61

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derpytia said:

Careful with your words here lest you find yourself in a position where you depend on a form of charity with no opportunity in the foreseeable future to get back on your feet. Many people who are severely disabled depend on things like SSDI to be able to just live and not perish on the streets.

Jesus said that we will always have the poor. The early church focused on widows in particular because in that society, widows, especially those without children, were the most vulnerable.

Yes, it is the norm to want to get back up and start working as soon as possible but you can't impose that on people who don't have that ability. You can argue that too many people work the system and it's true. But that should not be an excuse to cut those people who do deserve and need assistance off.

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I see what you are saying, if you look at my post I said everyone who can. Also, SSDI is not free, most people paid into it for decades, same with medicare.

derpytia said:

Careful with your words here lest you find yourself in a position where you depend on a form of charity with no opportunity in the foreseeable future to get back on your feet. Many people who are severely disabled depend on things like SSDI to be able to just live and not perish on the streets.

Jesus said that we will always have the poor. The early church focused on widows in particular because in that society, widows, especially those without children, were the most vulnerable.

Yes, it is the norm to want to get back up and start working as soon as possible but you can't impose that on people who don't have that ability. You can argue that too many people work the system and it's true. But that should not be an excuse to cut those people who do deserve and need assistance off.

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I was a bit harsh in my post, You are correct. I guess it's all the talk of socialism that gets me upset. Repentance for me is in order. Thank you for your correction, I will try to be more humble, and have more sympathy.

Yarddog said:

Why Don't America's Rich Give More to Charity?

Why Don't America's Rich Give More to Charity?
They could certainly afford to donate bigger sums, but something seems to be holding them back.

Click to expand...

Because selfish ambitions made them rich to begin with.

Of course, one can’t apply this to all who are rich. Some use their wealth as a way to care for others.

For example, at the funeral of a person who was close to me, many people came up after and told of the way this man took care of them. He paid for apartments for people without good homes, surgeries for people he met, distributing sleeping bags and food for homeless people on winter nights, and giving a helping hand and a “boost” to others when needed. Though he was known to be generous both to charities and individuals, much of his giving and help was not known until he died. He was smart and knew how to manage money and build a business, but he used that to enable him to help others.

All this said, it is important to remember that there are people of every class that follow the teachings of Jesus in regards to love, charity and taking care of each other. Some use their “smarts” or business sense for selfish gain. Others use it as a way to support those around them.

All4Christ said:

Of course, one can’t apply this to all who are rich. Some use their wealth as a way to care for others.

For example, at the funeral of a person who was close to me, many people came up after and told of the way this man took care of them. He paid for apartments for people without good homes, surgeries for people he met, distributing sleeping bags and food for homeless people on winter nights, and giving a helping hand and a “boost” to others when needed. Though he was known to be generous both to charities and individuals, much of his giving and help was not known until he died. He was smart and knew how to manage money and build a business, but he used that to enable him to help others.

All this said, it is important to remember that there are people of every class that follow the teachings of Jesus in regards to love, charity and taking care of each other. Some use their “smarts” or business sense for selfish gain. Others use it as a way to support those around them.

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The OP obviously sees a portion of the rich who do not do those things and it's to that portion that I speak of.

Yarddog said:

Why Don't America's Rich Give More to Charity?

Why Don't America's Rich Give More to Charity?
They could certainly afford to donate bigger sums, but something seems to be holding them back.

Click to expand...

First off, I'm always confused why people think that this is our business. How much some else gives to charity, is our business why? Because we are motivated by greed and envy of others?

No Christian should be bothering to shove their nose into other people's wallets.

In fact, to be perfectly honest, if more Christians spent more of their time worrying about how much they themselves gave to charity, we wouldn't need the money of the wealthy.

Because here's the reality.... Compared to 90% of the planet, some of the poorest people in America, have what is consider a wealthy life style to everyone else.

Second, saying 'could (insert anyone) give more to charity', is a ridiculous question. Everyone, all of us, could give more to charity. All of us. Every single person on this thread, and this whole forum, could give more to charity, starting with the money they wasted getting an expensive computer, to post online, about how the rich could give more to charity.

Fact is, most of the people on this forum, could live fine, without dozens of the luxuries they think they have to have. How many could have saved $10 on Starbucks or other coffee, and given it to the poor?

The only reason they think the rich should sacrifice for the poor, but they themselves should not, is because they are motivated by greed and envy. People don't like it that someone else is doing better than them, and the socially acceptable way to show that, is by saying "oh well... they should donate more to the poor!".

Thirdly, that article plainly says that the amount of money given to the poor, by the rich, drastically increased. So the amount of money given to the poor has gone up, not down.

If you truly care about the poor, and that is all that matters, then the only important fact of that article is that the very wealthy gave $4.6 Billion dollars more to charity.

Why do you care what percentage that is of their income, if all you care about is far more money is going to charity?

Because this is motivated by greed, and envy. It's that simple.

Lastly, I'm blown away by how obvious than answer is. Rich people get most of their income in stock.

Stock options, usually have a requirement that the executive must keep the stock in the company for an amount of time. Meaning, they can't sell it, and give it to charity.

Let's take for example, the compensation package for the CEO of Walmart. 70% of the CEO's compensation package is all stocks. In fact, only 5.7% of his compensation, is his base pay.

That means, if the CEO donated his entire base pay, he would only be donating 5.7% of his income to charity. And of course he couldn't do that, because his base pay, is the pay he uses throughout the year to pay his household bills with.

Another problem is that many CEOs get compensations in the form of things they can't donate. For example, Warren Buffet has a full time year-around security detail, that is part of his compensation, plus a corporate jet. How exactly would you expect him to donate security and travel services to a homeless shelter or some other charity?

He can't.

So I would submit to all of you, that expecting the super wealthy to donate the same percentage to charity, as low-wage people like myself, is unrealistic.

And again... it's none of my business what the rich do with their own money. Christians like myself, need to be less motivated to shove our nose up other people's butts, and being all greedy and envious of what other's have. No Christian has any business worrying about this stuff. You want to worry about how much is donated to charity? Go work at a shelter, and donate your own money. Stop worrying about what other's do. You worry about you.

Andrew77 said:

First off, I'm always confused why people think that this is our business. How much some else gives to charity, is our business why? Because we are motivated by greed and envy of others?

No Christian should be bothering to shove their nose into other people's wallets.

In fact, to be perfectly honest, if more Christians spent more of their time worrying about how much they themselves gave to charity, we wouldn't need the money of the wealthy.

Because here's the reality.... Compared to 90% of the planet, some of the poorest people in America, have what is consider a wealthy life style to everyone else.

Second, saying 'could (insert anyone) give more to charity', is a ridiculous question. Everyone, all of us, could give more to charity. All of us. Every single person on this thread, and this whole forum, could give more to charity, starting with the money they wasted getting an expensive computer, to post online, about how the rich could give more to charity.

Fact is, most of the people on this forum, could live fine, without dozens of the luxuries they think they have to have. How many could have saved $10 on Starbucks or other coffee, and given it to the poor?

The only reason they think the rich should sacrifice for the poor, but they themselves should not, is because they are motivated by greed and envy. People don't like it that someone else is doing better than them, and the socially acceptable way to show that, is by saying "oh well... they should donate more to the poor!".

Thirdly, that article plainly says that the amount of money given to the poor, by the rich, drastically increased. So the amount of money given to the poor has gone up, not down.

If you truly care about the poor, and that is all that matters, then the only important fact of that article is that the very wealthy gave $4.6 Billion dollars more to charity.

Why do you care what percentage that is of their income, if all you care about is far more money is going to charity?

Because this is motivated by greed, and envy. It's that simple.

Lastly, I'm blown away by how obvious than answer is. Rich people get most of their income in stock.

Stock options, usually have a requirement that the executive must keep the stock in the company for an amount of time. Meaning, they can't sell it, and give it to charity.

Let's take for example, the compensation package for the CEO of Walmart. 70% of the CEO's compensation package is all stocks. In fact, only 5.7% of his compensation, is his base pay.

That means, if the CEO donated his entire base pay, he would only be donating 5.7% of his income to charity. And of course he couldn't do that, because his base pay, is the pay he uses throughout the year to pay his household bills with.

Another problem is that many CEOs get compensations in the form of things they can't donate. For example, Warren Buffet has a full time year-around security detail, that is part of his compensation, plus a corporate jet. How exactly would you expect him to donate security and travel services to a homeless shelter or some other charity?

He can't.

So I would submit to all of you, that expecting the super wealthy to donate the same percentage to charity, as low-wage people like myself, is unrealistic.

And again... it's none of my business what the rich do with their own money. Christians like myself, need to be less motivated to shove our nose up other people's butts, and being all greedy and envious of what other's have. No Christian has any business worrying about this stuff. You want to worry about how much is donated to charity? Go work at a shelter, and donate your own money. Stop worrying about what other's do. You worry about you.

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Perhaps the OP could be reworded to "Is it the responsibility of the Rich to give more?"

Yarddog said:

Why Don't America's Rich Give More to Charity?

Why Don't America's Rich Give More to Charity?
They could certainly afford to donate bigger sums, but something seems to be holding them back.

Click to expand...

Their money is tied up in expensive mortgages, etc.

That is what I often hear. But then Jesus said, if you hate your life in this world, you will keep it (for eternity)

I suppose if you hate your life, you wouldn't spend your money on expensive mortgages. Settle for cheaper deals so you'll have more money you can set aside for Godly work...

Jesus doesn't ask us to leave our jobs. But if you're really working for God and doesn't love our lives in this world, shouldn't we spend our most of our money for Godly work instead of spending most of them on ourselves??

Does hard work give us incentive to use most of our money for ourselves? But ask, who gave us the strength to work hard, the intelligence and opportunities to pursue lucrative careers? Isn't it God? And as stewards of God's resources, shouldn't be use our resources for Godly work? to help our brothers and sisters calling out to God for help. Would God suddenly rain down resources on them or is in fact, our responsibility to do?