Big Spender, by Martha Thomases – Brilliant Disguise | @MDWorld

October 11, 2014 Martha Thomases 3 Comments

One classically right-wing premise that has always interested me is this (at least as I understand it):  Taxes should be kept low, especially on the wealthy, because they are better able to judge the needs of their communities.  For example, why send dollars to Washington to develop alternative energy sources when people can see if solar, wind or tidal work best for them.  The wealthy would spend just as much on the public good, but not by way of the government.

I don’t agree with this perspective, but I get it.  In a world in which we were all good and kind, it might work.  I aspire to live in a world in which we are all good and kind.

But we’re not.  Here’s the gist:

“Between 2006 and 2012, the wealthiest Americans became less generous with charitable donations, as a share of their total income, while lower- and middle-income Americans reached farther into their pockets as they witnessed the need for charity in their communities, a study says.”

There are individual wealthy people who donate a lot of money to many worthy causes.  The study didn’t say that every rich guy was a selfish pig.  However, in the aggregate, they might be.

All sorts of studies have shown that the money in this country is increasingly concentrated in possession, not just of the top one percent of the wealthiest people, but the top .01 percent.  And as they get more of the wealth, they are sharing it less.

The article speculates that, perhaps, the reason less affluent Americans are giving a larger proportion of their incomes to charity is that we actually do see the need.  More and more, the richest Americans are cut off from everyone else.  They hang around with other wealthy people, and that’s all they know.

i don’t know about you, but when I am with the same group of people for a long time, I start to get envious and competitive.  I like to see my high school friends, but if there are more than a handful of us, I feel my high school insecurities returning, as I resume my perceived role.

It’s one of the reasons I don’t think I would enjoy living in Los Angeles.  It’s too much of a company town.  Instead of being happy in my own space, I would be consumed with jealousy for those who have more or get to do more.  If you live in Los Angeles and this doesn’t bother you, then you have more control over your feelings than I do.

If I were in the .01% and lived in such exclusive communities, I might not notice that my money could make a difference in the lives of billions of others.  I wouldn’t see billions of others.  But I might notice that the hedge-fund manager next door had a bigger swimming pool than I did, or threw better parties.  I would try to compete on that kind of playing field.

That’s because I can be petty and venal.  You know, human.

Which is one reason why it’s ultimately more efficient to pay taxes.  Yes, there is waste and mismanagement in government, and we should all fight against that.  But there is even more waste and mismanagement in the private sector.  And the private sector (as far as charities are concerned) will never have the potential that the government does.

I’d like to find a cure for cancer.  It’s not something I’m going to do, because I’m not smart enough and I’m not trained.  By myself, I can’t donate enough money to make a difference.  Neither can you.  However, if our elected officials chose to do so, they could appropriate hundreds of billions of dollars for this effort (instead of spending the money on weapons that end up on the hands of ISIL).

That’s why it’s an honor to pay my taxes (even though it fills me with anxiety) and it’s important to vote.  And, in the meantime, it’s important to point a spotlight on the superrich and see if they can be shamed into doing their part.

At least, that’s what this Jewish mother is going to try to do.

Media Goddess Martha Thomases aspires to tithe, and sometimes she even does.