Friday, October 05, 2007

Robert Reich's Excellent Questions

Robert Reich, Labor Secretary under President Clinton, brings up some great questions about charitable contributions to, among other things, university endowments in a piece in the Los Angeles Times this Monday.

Among the most interesting points:
"I'm all in favor of supporting the arts and our universities, but let's face it: These aren't really charitable contributions.... I see why a contribution to, say, the Salvation Army should be eligible for a charitable deduction. It helps the poor. But why, exactly, should a contribution to the already extraordinarily wealthy Guggenheim Museum or to Harvard University (which already has an endowment of more than $30 billion)?"

Read the whole thing here.

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