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Adam Ruins Everything - Why Billionaire Philanthropy is Not So Selfless | truTV - YouTube
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[3]
Ah, yes.
[4]
Every time a billionaire
even hints at doing
[5]
something charitable,
we treat 'em like saints.
[8]
Mega-rich guys
like Warren Buffett,
[11]
Bill Gates,
and Mark Zuckerberg,
[13]
have the media falling
all over them.
[15]
But in reality,
this billionaire philanthropy
[18]
is not as selfless
as it seems.
[21]
What're you talking about?
[22]
Why, we're literally
giving our money away.
[24]
Not quite.
[25]
Take the Chan Zuckerberg
Initiative.
[28]
When Mark Zuckerberg
announced his plans
[30]
to "give away"
99% of his Facebook shares,
[33]
the press covered it like
[34]
he was giving all his money
to charity.
[36]
But in reality,
he actually gave those shares
[39]
to an LLC that he controls.
[42]
And he can do almost anything
he wants with that money,
[45]
including invest it
in for-profit ventures.
[48]
For all intents
and purposes,
[50]
the money is still his.
[52]
I'm taking money from
my personal pocket...
[55]
and transferring it
to my foundation pocket!
[58]
Well, the Hulko Foundation
is a non-profit.
[61]
I'm one of
the good billionaires
[63]
who really is giving
their money away.
[65]
Eh, more like our money.
[67]
Because billionaire
foundations like yours
[69]
are essentially
one big tax dodge.
[72]
Normally when an individual
earns income,
[75]
a portion goes to taxes
[77]
so that our democratically
elected officials
[79]
can use it to pay
for public goods like
[81]
schools, services,
and infrastructure.
[83]
This money will go towards
[85]
what we, the people,
have decided.
[88]
But money donated
to private foundations
[91]
is mostly untaxed,
which means these billionaires
[94]
get to put their interests
ahead of the public's.
[97]
Or this money
could go towards
[98]
what I, the me,
have decided.
[101]
Not only that,
they also get
[103]
a personal tax deduction
[105]
for making
a "donation to charity",
[107]
which means the public
loses out on even more money.
[110]
Thank you for your donation.
[112]
Wait, seriously?
Why the heck am I doing this?
[115]
(Adam)
And when they "donate" money
to their own foundations,
[119]
they're not even required
to give it all away.
[122]
Tax laws only require
these types of
[124]
"charitable organizations"
to spend 5%
[127]
of investment assets annually.
[129]
And that could just be on
expenses and salaries.
[132]
I could give
this money directly
[135]
to the grassroots organization
that needs it, or...
[140]
I could make cousin Greg
the community development czar!
[143]
I'm going with cousin Greg.
[145]
More importantly,
whether or not
[147]
they give the money away,
these foundations
[149]
are only committed
to their donors' needs,
[152]
which are almost never
the things society needs most.
[155]
(all chattering and laughing)
[159]
Less than 10%
of charitable contributions
[162]
go towards addressing
basic public needs...
[166]
Here you are, boy!
[167]
Buy yourself
a chicken wing.
[171]
...while 75% of donations
over 50 million
[174]
go to things
like universities,
[176]
museums, hospitals.
[177]
In other words, things that
billionaires like you
[180]
can slap their names on.
[182]
Here you are.
[183]
Buy us a museum wing.
[186]
Why, thank you, sir.
[187]
Your name will look brilliant
next to the Jacunnings'.
[190]
But the most sinister part
is that these billionaires
[193]
are also donating massive
amounts of money
[195]
to think tanks
and advocacy groups
[198]
that focus on changing
our laws
[199]
to suit their
personal politics
[202]
and influencing
our lawmakers
[204]
to go easy on
their businesses.
[206]
You've all made
excellent points.
[208]
I'd be happy to ensure
none of our laws
[210]
will interfere
with your interests.
[212]
The result of all this
"philanthropy" is that
[215]
billionaires have
more power than votes.
[218]
Estimates say the amount
of billionaire money
[220]
put towards shaping our laws
[221]
is somewhere around
$10 billion per year.
[225]
That's more than
annual contributions
[227]
to political candidates,
super PACs,
[229]
and parties combined.
[230]
Well, that's not right.
[232]
That's not what
charity's all about.
[234]
Well, at the end of the day
[235]
these foundations aren't
about billionaires giving back.
[238]
They're about billionaires
getting something
[241]
even more important
than money.
[243]
(man)
That's right-- power.
[244]
Ah.
[245]
Gilbert,
meet Anand Giridharadas.
[248]
He's a journalist
and author of the book
[250]
"Winners Take All: The Elite
Charade of Changing the World".
[253]
Who pu--
who put him there?
[255]
What happened
to my Picasso?
[257]
Picasso?
That was clearly a fake.
[260]
Just like the missions of
[261]
some of those
billionaire foundations.
[262]
They exert massive power
over our democracy
[265]
through their
massive donations,
[267]
making their philanthropy
practically
[269]
a fourth branch
of government.
[271]
Even if a few of these
foundations do end up
[273]
helping the public
in some way,
[275]
we have to question
whether that's how we want
[277]
our society to operate.
[279]
That's right,
I'm not against
[280]
billionaires giving
to good causes.
[282]
I wanna ask why
we even have billionaires
[284]
and why we have a system
that relies on billionaires
[287]
to fund those causes.
[288]
Plus, many of these
billionaires have fought
[291]
for the public policies
that caused
[293]
our biggest social problems.
[294]
And the fact that they can
amass this kind of wealth
[297]
is what drives our incredible
inequality in the first place.
[300]
So why would we trust them
to fix it
[302]
when they're at
the bottom of it?
[304]
You know who'd be
a really bad firefighter?
[306]
An arsonist.
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