The Wall Street Journal, it seems, has issues with philanthropy. Just the other day it ran a piece called “The Folly of Philanthropy”, reviewing a new book called The Good Rich by Robert Dalzell, that raised a familiar conservative argument against philanthropy that we find rather peculiar. “Charity is a sideshow”, concludes the reviewer, Amity Shlaes. […]
Tag: Wall Street Journal
The Billionaire Boys Club
In her book last year, “The Death and Life of the Great American School System”, Diane Ravitch dismissively described the wealthy philanthropists who are bankrolling various efforts to improve the otherwise taxpayer funded school system as the “billionaire boys club”. She argues that the likes of Bill Gates, the Walton family (heirs of the founder […]
“Bah! Humbug!” in the Wall Street Journal
Two recent articles in the Wall Street Journal have taken shots at elements of philanthrocapitalism – the idea, endorsed by many of the most successful capitalists, that capitalism needs to make a more deliberate effort to improve society. Like Dickens’ Mr Scrooge, the writers’ response to the suggestion that firms and business leaders could do […]
The Billary Problem
Whether Hillary Clinton has really “set [her] ego aside for world peace, world stability and for the good of the country”, as Senator Barbara Boxer suggested during Mrs Clinton’s confirmation hearing yesterday, is not for us to say. But we are pleased that her appointment as President Barack Obama’s Secretary of State will not mean […]
We were honoured to see that the former Mayor of Los Angeles Richard J. Riordan reviewed Philanthrocapitalism in the Wall Street Journal. He rightly asks why more billionaires aren’t giving and muses that it’s not greed but that “…they don’t know how to get started”. He suggests that they might “…take a look at this […]