"while donating money to elite universities might seem like one of the less-bad ways wealthy people can spend their money, we ought to be wary of what they’re trying to buy" my latest for @chicagotribune.bsky.socialwww.chicagotribune.com/2024/10/07/o...
Wealthy donors have turned us into a DIY Society, where people are supposed to take care of themselves rather than be helped by government.
I haven't read the article yet, but I'm already in the bag for the idea.
This piece notably omits any mention of George Mason University, which is where the Koch brothers set up James M Buchanan to create a whole econ department. (They later lent JB to Pinochet to write an oligarchic constitution for Chile.) Check out Democracy in Chains by Nancy MacLean for deets.
Universities with hundreds of billions in endowment don’t need donations of any kind and they should not be tax deductible
Big donations might seem inherently benevolent. And yet, they brought us the up-by-your-own-bootstraps, winner-take-all, profits-over-people economy that’s leaving so many Americans — and especially women and mothers — still struggling today. www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/697130...
Other countries have social safety nets. The U.S. has women. Holding It Together chronicles the causes and dire consequences. America runs on women—women who are tasked with holding society...
Outsized donors have outsized influence, at any institution they give to.