<html><body> <DIV>This is hardly new or,  perhaps, we have come full circle? Approximately 100 years or so ago Andrew Carnegie gave all of his vast fortune to charity (At least his donations built public institutions like libraries) to be followed by Rockefeller, Ford etc etc. SR</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #1010ff 2px solid">-------------- Original message -------------- <BR>From: Doug Henwood <dhenwood@panix.com> <BR><BR>>  <BR>> <BR>> What they don't say is that the US is more unequal, lots more unequal <BR>> in some cases, than the other countries. We've got more stupendously <BR>> rich people who can give money to our vast trove of stupendously poor <BR>> people. Though a lot of that philanthropy is stuff rich people love, <BR>> like museums and wings of hospitals or their names on libraries - <BR>> meanwhile, artists struggle to get by, 45 million lack health <BR>> insurance, and librarians don't have the budgets to buy books. <BR>> <BR>> Doug <BR>> ___________________________________ <BR>> http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk </BLOCKQUOTE></body></html>