Planet Money reports that good samaritan citizens of Greece and the United States can now direct their charity dollars to a worthy cause: the national debt. The National Bank of Greece has established a “Solidary Account,” while the U.S. allows citizens to conveniently donate online. Just wondering: what kind of person is most likely to avail him/herself of this opportunity?[%comments]
Directing Your Charity Dollars to the National Debt
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Not sure what kind of person would in general, but I did always think that Obama should have devoted his Nobel prize money to help paying off the national debt.
I just gave. I think the federal government distributes dollars on my behalf (Social Security, Medicare, common defense) a lot better than I do during my daily life.
It seems to me that this is like taking a stack of bills and giving it to a guy who uses cash to build his fire. Sure the guy will be warmer because of your donation, but I can’t help but think that there are people and organizations who could put that stack of bills to much better (read: efficient) use.
I would be interested in how many of the donors evaded taxes beforehand.
I rather redirect some of my funds towards kicking out the current bums who have run up this debt, and installing some fiscally responsible legislators (I’m not sure these exist, but I have some hope).
You can choose to donate by using a credit card? That doesn’t seem to make much sense. Lower the national debt and increase your own. Sounds like a fantastic plan.
Hardly a “worth cause” since the government is inherently inefficient at providing for the public good and merely displaces private sector activity.
To answer the question the kind of person donating will be left leaning and in my opinion not that smart.
Good samaritans or not, we will all pay eventually.
Of course, our leaders could begin to tax and spend intelligently, planning for America’s future rather than just for their own re-election. In other words, they could stop behaving like children.
Or our citizens could start voting for actual leaders willing to tell us hard truths rather than pandering, fear-mongering windbags who tell us that we can have it all for free. In other words, we could stop behaving like children.
Fat chance.