dec, 2011

the ignored drawback of choosing charity over public aid is that, while it eliminates a means of questionably justified coercion, it also removes aid work from public oversight, allowing financial dictatorships to pick and choose which causes they wish to support based on their own whims and amusements. that prioritizes wealth over research as a factor in decision making. philanthropists should consequently be regulated.

to put it another way, these are resources that should be controlled by the community and not by what amounts to the modern equivalent of feudal landowners.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/27/sunday-review/policy-making-billionaires.html?pagewanted=all