One of the best things I read was an 1889 essay by Andrew Carnegie called The Gospel of Wealth. It makes the case that the wealthy have a responsibility to return their resources to society, a radical idea at the time that laid the groundwork for philanthropy as we know it today.

In the essay’s most famous line, Carnegie argues that “the man who dies thus rich dies disgraced.” I have spent a lot of time thinking about that quote lately. People will say a lot of things about me when I die, but I am determined that “he died rich” will not be one of them.

  • MTK@lemmy.world
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    20 days ago

    How nice, live as the 0.0000001% that owns the world and make up most of the big evils in the world from the age of 34 to the age of 70 and then from 70 to 90 transition to the top 0.0001% and “not die rich”

    A real sacrifice, what a philanthropist, brave.

    I’m just here being a top 25% fully aware of my privilege for being born in a rich country and working in a well paying job, and I still donate more then him in terms of percentage of my net worth. (Bill gates donates about 0.8-1.6% of his net worth annually, I donate about 5-10% annually) and I truly believe that no one should be a billionaire.

    • GalacticGrapefruit@lemmy.world
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      19 days ago

      Me, bottom 10%, making coffee for a paycheck and scavenging my new pair of pants from a dumpster: Yeah, man, you said it.

      • demonsword@lemmy.world
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        18 days ago

        Me, bottom 10%

        bottom 10% of mankind are most likely starving and homeless, definitely not on lemmy

        • GalacticGrapefruit@lemmy.world
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          3 hours ago

          hehehehe You know, it’s hilarious that you say that. Nobody ever realizes that they’re talking to a starving homeless person on the internet when they meet one, do they? Believe it or not, quite a few of us do have jobs. Not all of us are disabled or addicted. That is the problem with the society we live in. We’re invisible until we talk to you.