2016 US Presidential Election Thread

[sthar8]

I like you. You can be a senator.

[Yosarian2]

Just curious, if super rich people were more charitable what would be the most effective and helpful use of their charity?
Or maybe "If you were a billionaire and wanted to help those in need, what would you do?"

It may interest you to look into the different charitable initiatives the super rich undertake. It's actually quite surprising how many are involved philanthropically, including the degree to which they are.

Some of the super rich do donate a lot to charity, but actually, most charity giving comes from the middle class. As a percentage of their wealth, middle class people tend to be more generous on average then the rich. It's just that when a really rich person does give huge amounts of money to charity (Bill Gates, ect) you hear about it.

is this verifiably true? particularly if you remove tithing from the equation?

Yes, it is. The poor give a higher percentage of their wealth to charity then the wealthy every year.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/22/magaz ... .html?_r=0

. In 2001, Independent Sector, a nonprofit organization focused on charitable giving, found that households earning less than $25,000 a year gave away an average of 4.2 percent of their incomes; those with earnings of more than $75,000 gave away 2.7 percent.

And it gets even worse as you go farther up the wealth scale


http://www.cnbc.com/id/48725147

The study, conducted by the Chronicle of Philanthropy using tax-deduction data from the Internal Revenue Service, showed that households earning between $50,000 and $75,000 year give an average of 7.6 percent of their discretionary income to charity.

That compares to 4.2 percent for people who make $100,000 or more. In some of the wealthiest neighborhoods, with a large share of people making $200,000 or more a year, the average giving rate was 2.8 percent.

(Note that the studies were done in different years, with different methods, and were looking at different things, which is why the numbers are somewhat different. But the trend is the same.)

[zoraster]

Just curious, if super rich people were more charitable what would be the most effective and helpful use of their charity?
Or maybe "If you were a billionaire and wanted to help those in need, what would you do?"

It may interest you to look into the different charitable initiatives the super rich undertake. It's actually quite surprising how many are involved philanthropically, including the degree to which they are.

Some of the super rich do donate a lot to charity, but actually, most charity giving comes from the middle class. As a percentage of their wealth, middle class people tend to be more generous on average then the rich. It's just that when a really rich person does give huge amounts of money to charity (Bill Gates, ect) you hear about it.

I'd actually bet on the top 5% giving a higher percentage to charitable endeavors than the rest of the 95%.

To be fair, the top 5% isn't that high a bar to reach, around 160k a year.

It seems like you need to be in the 10m+ category (and who knows if that's people making 10m a year or 100m a year bringing that up) to be as high as between 45k and 50k:



Unfortunately this includes charitable donations to churches, which I suspect alters this pretty heavily.

[sthar8]

I'm not sure why charitable donations to churches should matter.

It'd be nice to eliminate charitable donations to political candidates, lobbying, and colleges though.

[BlueMoonRising]

I'm a libertarian, not a Republican, so I don't think I always "vote against my status". But even if I were, the idea that the poor should always vote democrat is like saying that women should always vote for women.

[MonkeyMan576]

I'm a libertarian, not a Republican, so I don't think I always "vote against my status". But even if I were, the idea that the poor should always vote democrat is like saying that women should always vote for women.

[inte]

r u saying democrats are poor

[Psyche]

poor in common sense

[Katsuki]

I'm not sure why charitable donations to churches should matter.

It'd be nice to eliminate charitable donations to political candidates, lobbying, and colleges though.

I don't see what's wrong with donations to public education institutions that are in need of funding considering the number of students they benefit, especially if they're for scholarships.

[sthar8]

No you're right. Donations to community colleges should definitely count as charitable.

[Katsuki]

@Zoraster: The valley in that graph is rather interesting. Without getting into the discussion as to whether church donations count as charitable (imo operations of local church isn't really, but there are those church initiatives that help others), I'm curious how the distribution would look like excluding it.

Given what's being said, it does seem quite hard to even define what exactly constitutes as charitable giving, such as college donations, as I can't imagine that Harvard really needs those new buildings (as generous as a $400MM donation is), while other universities are indeed in need of funding, not to mention donating to scholarship funds regardless of university is something that can change the life of numerous individuals.

[Yosarian2]

No you're right. Donations to community colleges should definitely count as charitable.

Most colleges, really. I get that donating to Harvard doesn't make a lot of sense, but people who donate to state colleges do a lot to improve them as both educational and as research facilities, and helps people get scholarships. All of those things are both helpful and probably good investments for the country to make.

[sthar8]

No you're right. Donations to community colleges should definitely count as charitable.

Most colleges, really. I get that donating to Harvard doesn't make a lot of sense, but people who donate to state colleges do a lot to improve them as both educational and as research facilities, and helps people get scholarships. All of those things are both helpful and probably good investments for the country to make.

In 2012 WSU football operated in the red to the tune of roughly $5 million after counting as income a $6 million subsidy from the university.

In 2014, ten of the top ten highest paid state employees worked for the state universities, as did the overwhelming majority of the top 1000. By contrast, the state Supreme Court Justices barely make top 1500, and the Governor is in the upper 1600s.

Donating to at least my state's schools is akin to pissing in a bullet wound.

[MonkeyMan576]

Hey, I am Wazzu alumni, class of 2001.

Go cougs!

[Untrod Tripod]

In 2014, ten of the top ten highest paid state employees worked for the state universities

how many of those were coaches?

[inte]

i'd reckon most

http://thefieldsofgreen.com/2014/11/24/ ... -dantonio/

[Untrod Tripod]

because I am on the teaching payroll at a major public university and I get paid ~9000 dollars a year for 20 hours of work a week and have spent the past few years watching the state legislature roll back our pay and amenities further and further to the detriment of the teachers, the students, and the university as a whole

so I don't want to hear any fucking horseshit about how overpaid university employees are

[zoraster]

I don't think anyone is referring to the teachers or even full professors for the most part but rather the admin and executives.

[MonkeyMan576]

And I don't think when people donate money to universities paying administration and execs is what they have in mind.

[Yosarian2]

No you're right. Donations to community colleges should definitely count as charitable.

Most colleges, really. I get that donating to Harvard doesn't make a lot of sense, but people who donate to state colleges do a lot to improve them as both educational and as research facilities, and helps people get scholarships. All of those things are both helpful and probably good investments for the country to make.

In 2012 WSU football operated in the red to the tune of roughly $5 million after counting as income a $6 million subsidy from the university.

In 2014, ten of the top ten highest paid state employees worked for the state universities, as did the overwhelming majority of the top 1000. By contrast, the state Supreme Court Justices barely make top 1500, and the Governor is in the upper 1600s.

Donating to at least my state's schools is akin to pissing in a bullet wound.

Oh i think college sports especally football are a stupid waste of money. But that's really a different subject.

That's also what most of those top salaries probably are are sports coaches.

[AniX]

Just curious, if super rich people were more charitable what would be the most effective and helpful use of their charity?
Or maybe "If you were a billionaire and wanted to help those in need, what would you do?"

I'd throw as much money as possible into making ectogenesis and genetic engineering 1. existent 2. effective 3. as cheap as possible.

[Psyche]

http://m.dailykos.com/story/2015/09/01/ ... l=facebook

bernie's building support among minorities
which is key for him

[quadz08]

Oh i think college sports especally football are a stupid waste of money.

this is why I love that my alma mater's sports funding is entirely self-sufficient. No tuition or government money goes into funding sports stuff. (Possible exception of scholarships)

[Untrod Tripod]

And I don't think when people donate money to universities paying administration and execs is what they have in mind.

yeah except at my public university we're getting rid of administrators and giving their duties to TAs and professors without increasing their pay. everyone involved is less effective at everything they do because of it. administration is a necessary evil to running a university.

the actual waste and graft in my experience comes from construction of useless buildings and programs that have nothing to do with the actual mission of a university, take money away from actual necessary upgrades and additions, and make life for everyone who is actually paying to be there worse. in more than once case, at the schools I've been at, it was at the behest of donors.

[Untrod Tripod]

and yeah, sometimes administration is a waste. I recognize that fact.