Congress Encouraging Charity

tee bee

Not. I knew that headline would get your attention, though.I was enjoying a leisurely read of yesterday's paper, getting into the finer points of Warren Buffet's unprecedented and unsurpassed pledge in Monday's Sacramento Bee (they picked up the Yuki Noguchi article from the Washington Post).

"The amount that Buffett is giving is record-breaking," said Stacy Palmer, editor of the Chronicle of Philanthropy, a District-based newspaper covering the nonprofit world. "The fact that he's giving to the Gateses is unprecedented," she said, because most families have donated to causes in their own name."

It's a pleasant look into the conscience of the uber-rich, until this passage:

Giving away massive amounts of money comes with its own challenges, experts said yesterday, and such large gifts could attract the attention of Congress because foundations aren't regulated.

"We haven't seen that kind of influence all in one pot," Palmer said.

Heaven knows the nation's coffers haven't seen any benefit from that money when it was earned, then when it was invested, and again every time it made a profit.

I hope this isn't true, but the reality is that a politician who isn't chasing tax dollars to control isn't long a politician.

CP @ GMC.