MOLI VIEW™

While standing in line waiting for former president Bill Clinton to sign my copy of his new book Giving last Thursday, I started reading Stephanie Strom's article "Big Gifts, Tax Breaks, and a Debate on Charity" on the front page of The New York Times. I had to finish online, later, because the security guys took away my paper. Good thing, because reading a bunch of billionaire white guys share their opinions about the tax system and philanthropy put me in a foul mood.
Some of them, like Eli Broad, are just as happy giving millions for stem cell research as footing the bill for an art museum. Others, like billionaire investor William H. Gross, attracted the Times' attention when he wrote in a recent investment report: "A $30 million gift to a concert hall is not philanthropy, it is a Napoleonic coronation." He softened his comment somewhat for the interview, pointing out that tax breaks for the philanthropist underwrite such generous gifts, and suggesting, "I don't think the public would vote for spending tax dollars on those things."
For some reason, out of all the evils in the world, one of the things that pisses me off the most is when the über-wealthy condescend to decide that the less fortunate don't care about art. In fact, here in Miami, one of the poorest cities in the United States, the public did vote to fund a performing arts center — with an opera house — as well as fine art museums. Such measures have consistently passed across the country.

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