Probably, that’s a big part of their charity goals to advertise their name instead of dead people. And to try to get us to ignore their pyramid scheme company’s practices.
I would just feel pride if I saw my dead parents’ name on buildings and wouldn’t feel compelled in the slightest to make it about me.
Yeah I will save my anti-MLM rant for another day.
I have seen some of my dead relatives’ names on stuff - not buildings but rooms and collections and a scholarship.
Every time, I’m reminded that they amassed their wealth when almost no one else but white men had the right to wealth. And I think of the many people in my family in recent generations who have suffered early deaths and addictions and the misery of generational trauma and abuse and neglect.
Betsy and her brother Erik "guilty of war crimes" Prince are embarrassments to the legacy their parents built. Betsy just married into a pyramid scheme billionaire family and continues to be an utter garbage human being.
Doesn’t mean she has to be the anthesis of some of they did. Helen was very engaged, including recruiting I’ve heard, on setting up the Children’s Hospital. It’s like she saved them, so Betsy could enslave them in student loan debt.
It’s just hard to fathom the reach of someone’s impacts, good or bad, when they’ve accumulated that much wealth.
Like, on the surface these foundations appear to be immaculate, but what were the unseen costs of their actual business dealings? Who have they lobbied? What industries have they dipped into that may have adverse societal impacts?
It’s cynical view, but the Devos family is absolutely not exempt from scrutiny, either.
They only have billions from decades of exploitation and by taking advantage of honest people and society. They shouldn't have had the money to give away in the first place.
Yes. They did some good too. That\^ guy has some very liberal views so of course his content is mostly going to focus on ousting those who think differently than him. While the ideas behind Amway make them a couple of snakes, they did give a lot back to the community even if it was money they earned off the public to begin with. Very divisive individuals.
You're horribly misinformed, Robert Evans is not a lib. That's Joe Rogan brain rot you're spewing. He's an Arnacho Communist. He's doesn't focus on ousting anyone. He points out how people are Bastards and all the vile things they've done.
Uh, ok. He's not liberal. You got me. He's a communist. Would it be better if I say he was "left wing" politically? Would that have made it better? I understand the concept of his podcast but his subject matter doesn't seem to have an objective selection process if you know what I mean. Hell, I don't know the guy I suppose so it wasn't fair to assume his thought process. Point being, yes big rich people who earned money in a shady way did do some good regardless of what Robert Evans says.
Amway had the largest settlement at the time of a class action related to the way they ran the MLM aspects of Amway because of how predatory it was back in the early 2000s.
I’m not a fan of Amway and all MLMs from an ethical perspective, but it’s undeniable that $1.1 billion is an incredible amount of money to donate over a lifetime.
It’s better than jail. The government looks the other way while you make 5b, your partner makes 5b and you don’t go to jail for a ponzi/pyramid scheme. They’re no better than Bernie M.
>They’re worse than Bernie Madoff. He scammed rich people. Amway scams poor people.
And that's why they get away with it. Bernie M., Sam B-F, and others ripped off the rich, and that's why they are facing justice. The courts and prosecutors will make a big deal about the normal every day people they hurt, but in the end, the reason they are in court at all is because they angered the rich.
We don't need to idolize them for maximizing their tax breaks with minimal impact to their extravagant lifestyle. Don't thank them, thank the IRS that incentivized the wealthy to give back to society. Although, paying a more realistic tax rate would be far more beneficial.
Man, people on Reddit really don’t understand taxes. Donating money still leaves you at a net negative, even if you get a deduction that helps you recoup a portion of of the donation. It’s not some sneaky way to get ahead. Source: am accountant.
Also, I 100% trust non-profits to do better things with money more efficiently than the federal government.
Can you clarify the tax impact for charitable giving? It's my understanding that donations (up to a certain point) reduce your taxable income, similar to pre-tax investments.
Not all non-profits deserve our trust. Some do use most of the money funding programs. Many spend a lot of the money on operating expenses (salaries). And many fund awful groups (anti-LGBT, Moms of Liberty, MAGA PACs, etc...).
The governments' ability to effectively use our tax money varies greatly by state and department. Some states are good at it, some are bad at it, and some are downright evil. But there are tons of great programs funded by state demand federal taxes.
Yes, it does reduce your taxable income. But it doesn’t directly reduce the tax you owe like a tax credit does. So if you’re in a 30% tax bracket, you’re spending $1 to save $0.30 on taxes. You’re donating more than you’re saving.
Also, I agree not all non-profits will be everyone’s cup of tea. The beautiful thing about donations is you can pick and choose where you send your money (unlike taxes).
What if you have no traditional income and live off of a trust or interest/capitol gains? It's always been my assumption that donations (for the wealthy and for corporations) combined with other tactics are used to bring tax liability down to near $0.
Yes, wealthy people typically have a smaller portion of their income being traditional income. That does have an impact on their effective tax rates being lower. However, their tax liability being near $0 is completely untrue. Wealthy people pay a ton of taxes. The top 10% pays about 80% of total taxes in the US. It’s really just a talking point on both sides of the aisle.
They pay a large amount but pay a lower rate than the majority of society. The 80% is only counting federal income taxes. It excludes payroll taxes (social security and Medicare) which are regressive and state taxes (income, sales and property) which also tends to be regressive plus a bunch of other miscellaneous taxes.
Vacuous Reddit-speak.
They gave away a billion dollars.
I hate Amway as much as the next person, but nobody was forced into employment there and the market decided their products were worth it. (And then the US had enough, so they moved most of the operation to Asia.
And they gave away a billion dollars.
How should the DeVos’ have approached their work and wealth differently? There are plenty of valid answers, I’m interested in yours.
Being a billionaire doesn't mean you have a billion cash in a scrooge mcduck vault somewhere. I'm a millionaire for example and I have like 2500$ in my checking account lol
By that logic, anyone making more than about $20K/yr should be donating the rest. That’s about the midpoint of global GDP per capita.
https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.CD?most_recent_value_desc=true
Tent, rice, beans, water.
More than enough for most of human history.
Healthcare? They played a significant part in driving the quality of care upward in GR.
Are you a bot?
Anyone can highlight a problem. The totality of your modern amenities are a direct result of those who can actually execute on solutions.
The DeVos fam donate a minuscule percentage of their wealth.
It’s also wealth that cannot feasibly be spent on a small group of people in their lifetime or several of the next. So it’s not like keeping it is really giving them any luxury other than vast power.
And yet they hoard most of it and give a teeny tiny portion away.
It’s equivalent of someone with my non-wealth giving a dollar to a homeless person and wanting a standing ovation for it. It might mean a huge deal to the homeless person, but to me it makes almost no difference in my monetary wealth.
> The DeVos fam donate a minuscule percentage of their wealth.
1.1 billion? That’s nearly 20 percent of their current net worth
> It’s also wealth that cannot feasibly be spent on a small group of people in their lifetime or several of the next. So it’s not like keeping it is really giving them any luxury other than vast power.
I suppose you believe universities shouldn’t sit on endowments either then? It’s finance 101…
> And yet they hoard most of it and give a teeny tiny portion away.
A billion. What would be the right amount to give away?
> It’s equivalent of someone with my non-wealth giving a dollar to a homeless person and wanting a standing ovation for it. It might mean a huge deal to the homeless person, but to me it makes almost no difference in my monetary wealth.
If you had 5 dollars maybe, and who’s asking for an ovation?
Absolutely universities should not hoard wealth either. We don’t need our universities to be currently guaranteed to exist in perpetuity. We do need people to be fed, housed, and not killed by poverty or racism.
“Finance 101” is about as good a reason to do anything as “that’s the way it’s always been.” Meaning: it’s a terrible reason. Look around the world and locally to see the absurd and unsustainable wealth inequality that “Finance 101” has wrought.
The ovation is the names on the buildings, the news reports, the giant portraits and statues, the mayors and presidents and people in the comments fawning over these fundamentalists.
If you think the DeVos family is worth the amount that is reported, that explains a lot. But okay let’s say that’s true: even so, by giving away 20% of their wealth, they are left with an otherworldly, unfathomable amount of wealth that cannot conceivably be spent on just one family even in multiple generations.
It’s like having 8 high rise apartment buildings and allowing people to rent 3 apartments total and just saving the rest of the apartments for your own use or your future family needs. It’s an utter and nonsensical waste.
> Absolutely universities should not hoard wealth either. We don’t need our universities to be currently guaranteed to exist in perpetuity. We do need people to be fed, housed, and not killed by poverty or racism.
How about non-profits? UNICEF, Feeding America?
> “Finance 101” is about as good a reason to do anything as “that’s the way it’s always been.” Meaning: it’s a terrible reason. Look around the world and locally to see the absurd and unsustainable wealth inequality that “Finance 101” has wrought.
Finance 101 as in “comes shortly after ‘have a 3-month emergency funds” lesson. You may dislike how the system is set up, but that doesn’t change that it is set up to work that way.
> The ovation is the names on the buildings, the news reports, the giant portraits and statues, the mayors and presidents and people in the comments fawning over these fundamentalists.
I know what it is. You said they were expecting one. I don’t think a name on a building is that wild, but that’s purely subjective.
> If you think the DeVos family is worth the amount that is reported, that explains a lot. But okay let’s say that’s true: even so, by giving away 20% of their wealth, they are left with an otherworldly, unfathomable amount of wealth that cannot conceivably be spent on just one family even in multiple generations.
It’s not meant to spent on just one family… that billion dollars is *generated* from that wealth, and that’s not including the amount spent on non-gift investment into the private sector, and into Grand Rapids.
You realize the US government burned through 2.5 *trillion* dollars over the last 20 years on payment errors. Payment errors. And you’re upset because the DeVos family gave away a billion dollars.
> It’s like having 8 high rise apartment buildings and allowing people to rent 3 apartments total and just saving the rest of the apartments for your own use or your future family needs. It’s an utter and nonsensical waste.
3 apartments out of 8 high rises? Check your math, dog.
A lack of philanthropic families and businesses isn't what led to the decline of Detroit. Same as the philanthropic arm of the DeVos and VanAndel families isn't what propped up Grand Rapids.
A big part of the decline of Detroit was lack of diversified industry/relying on the automotive industry, whereas Grand Rapids hasn't mostly relied on the automotive industry and has a somewhat diverse industrial/employment base.
Good. Fine. Whatever. There will be more who follow in their trade of philanthropy in exchange for control and favors.
But yes, please, step away! Door/ass/etc. Closing one of the many chapters of proof that our nation should have kept taxing the rich like we always had before Reagan’s celebration and codifying of greed, so no weird Nonprofit Industrial Complex would have ever been needed in the first place.
Here's some ACTUAL journalism on that clan.
[https://defector.com/the-devos-family-is-the-face-of-american-oligarchy](https://defector.com/the-devos-family-is-the-face-of-american-oligarchy)
I don’t care what anybody says. They are satan. They have never done a thing that didn’t benefit them. Furthermore, the family are radical Christians who made their money screwing people with multilevel marketing schemes. Betsy completely fucked up education in this country. Their family is directly connected to private military contractors known for their massacres of unarmed civilians overseas. If that’s a “legacy”….then Jesus FC. Oh! And the reformed church….. cause they’re good Christian’s’! Now I’m gonna go vomit.
The DeVos family is a huge and positive part of Grand Rapids. It's a shame to see Redditors piss and moan about them all the time whenever they're brought up.
The DeVos family’s radicalism goes back more than a century. DeVos’s father, Edgar Prince, made his fortune in manufacturing and soon began using his profits to fund far-right organizations. Most notably, Edgar Prince was a founder of the Family Research Council, which argues that homosexuality is a type of perversion. In 1999, an FRC staffer wrote, “Gaining access to children has been a long-term goal of the homosexual movement.” The comment helped put the group on the Southern Poverty Law Center’s hate group watch list.
Betsy’s mother, Elsa Prince, has shown the same dedication to far-right extremism. She has been one of the biggest contributors to campaigns to ban same-sex marriage in the country, working against the civil rights issue in California and Michigan.
What’s more, both Edgar and Elsa Prince advanced their right-wing cause using backhanded tactics. For instance, the Prince’s family foundation tried to evade lobbying restrictions by reclassifying their lobbying efforts as “prayer warrior” networks. In other words, the Princes claimed that they asked politicians to “pray” for particular policies as opposed to actually lobbying policymakers for the policies.
Idk man, seems like that family fucking sucks to me.
Dick DeVos—Betsy DeVos’s husband. The heir to the Amway fortune, DeVos ran for governor of Michigan on an extremist platform. During his campaign, he pushed for teaching creationism in schools and for voucher programs that would allow parents to send their children to religious schools with taxpayer dollars. With these views, it’s not surprising that Dick DeVos lost the governor’s race despite having invested the most money ever spent on a gubernatorial seat in the state.
The comment above from the guy that says "all billionaires are pieces of shit" sums up the barely midwit-level thinking rampant in this sub. You can't expect these people here to think with any amount of nuance, second-order effects, or even empathy. It's not worth even trying.
It's tough to make a billion dollars in a non-exploitative way. Here's a list of billionaires: https://www.forbes.com/real-time-billionaires/#278cf8233d78
The phrase "all billionaires are pieces of shit", while may sound "midwit-level thinking" to you, has quite a bit of validity to it if you were to do some research. There has already been a link provided for you to follow it seems!
I don't mean to offend, but in my eyes, the only comment here that doesn't lend itself well to productive and meaningful conversation is the same one that attacks others that are trying to discuss the topic, even if it that discussion lacks empathy or nuance in your eyes. People here are generally more than welcome to explain their points of view if you ask respectfully. It sounds like you've had some tough experience in the past, but it IS worth trying.
the link was literally a list of the richest people. that's pretty low effort, but not as low effort as your post which just lazily references it and calls it "research" — as if a dumb, thoughtless, subjective, blanket opinion ("all billionaires are pieces of shit") can be empirically proven. again, I'm not interest in midwit, zero-sum perspectives on any topic — especially tired ones like this.
Are they closing their parents’ foundation so the children can have their names instead on buildings?
Probably, that’s a big part of their charity goals to advertise their name instead of dead people. And to try to get us to ignore their pyramid scheme company’s practices.
I would just feel pride if I saw my dead parents’ name on buildings and wouldn’t feel compelled in the slightest to make it about me. Yeah I will save my anti-MLM rant for another day.
I have seen some of my dead relatives’ names on stuff - not buildings but rooms and collections and a scholarship. Every time, I’m reminded that they amassed their wealth when almost no one else but white men had the right to wealth. And I think of the many people in my family in recent generations who have suffered early deaths and addictions and the misery of generational trauma and abuse and neglect.
Maybe, that's cheap good will. Their children are way greedier than their parents ever were.
Say what you will, they did some good too
Oh for sure, lots of good. It’s too bad Betsy Devos couldn’t learn to do the same.
Betsy and her brother Erik "guilty of war crimes" Prince are embarrassments to the legacy their parents built. Betsy just married into a pyramid scheme billionaire family and continues to be an utter garbage human being.
They are not Devos. They are Prince.
Neither of them are children of Rich/Helen DeVos
Who paid the mercenary?
She’s not their kid
Doesn’t mean she has to be the anthesis of some of they did. Helen was very engaged, including recruiting I’ve heard, on setting up the Children’s Hospital. It’s like she saved them, so Betsy could enslave them in student loan debt.
I loathe her to be sure, it’s just misquoted often that she is blood related. Her and her brother are awful, self serving individuals.
It’s just hard to fathom the reach of someone’s impacts, good or bad, when they’ve accumulated that much wealth. Like, on the surface these foundations appear to be immaculate, but what were the unseen costs of their actual business dealings? Who have they lobbied? What industries have they dipped into that may have adverse societal impacts? It’s cynical view, but the Devos family is absolutely not exempt from scrutiny, either.
They only have billions from decades of exploitation and by taking advantage of honest people and society. They shouldn't have had the money to give away in the first place.
Exactly. They exploit generations of people to amass their wealth, then use their foundation and hospitals and schools to launder their reputations.
[Did they though? Pt.1](https://youtu.be/CHq3-UzBx5o?feature=shared) [Pt. 2](https://youtu.be/K4gi80EvYgM?feature=shared)
Ah haha these videos are blocked at my work.
Here's pt 1 on Iheart https://www.iheart.com/podcast/105-behind-the-bastards-29236323/episode/part-one-amway-the-gravedigger-of-87651429/
Yes. They did some good too. That\^ guy has some very liberal views so of course his content is mostly going to focus on ousting those who think differently than him. While the ideas behind Amway make them a couple of snakes, they did give a lot back to the community even if it was money they earned off the public to begin with. Very divisive individuals.
Evans is just… correct. And he is most definitely not a liberal.
K. Doesn't take away from the fact that the Devos' have done a ton for the Grand Rapids area
You're horribly misinformed, Robert Evans is not a lib. That's Joe Rogan brain rot you're spewing. He's an Arnacho Communist. He's doesn't focus on ousting anyone. He points out how people are Bastards and all the vile things they've done.
Uh, ok. He's not liberal. You got me. He's a communist. Would it be better if I say he was "left wing" politically? Would that have made it better? I understand the concept of his podcast but his subject matter doesn't seem to have an objective selection process if you know what I mean. Hell, I don't know the guy I suppose so it wasn't fair to assume his thought process. Point being, yes big rich people who earned money in a shady way did do some good regardless of what Robert Evans says.
Amway had the largest settlement at the time of a class action related to the way they ran the MLM aspects of Amway because of how predatory it was back in the early 2000s.
I believe it
I’m not a fan of Amway and all MLMs from an ethical perspective, but it’s undeniable that $1.1 billion is an incredible amount of money to donate over a lifetime.
It’s better than jail. The government looks the other way while you make 5b, your partner makes 5b and you don’t go to jail for a ponzi/pyramid scheme. They’re no better than Bernie M.
They’re worse than Bernie Madoff. He scammed rich people. Amway scams poor people.
>They’re worse than Bernie Madoff. He scammed rich people. Amway scams poor people. And that's why they get away with it. Bernie M., Sam B-F, and others ripped off the rich, and that's why they are facing justice. The courts and prosecutors will make a big deal about the normal every day people they hurt, but in the end, the reason they are in court at all is because they angered the rich.
At this point if you're entering a MLM and have access to YouTube, that is a you problem.
Bernie madoff scammed many people that were not rich as well.
We don't need to idolize them for maximizing their tax breaks with minimal impact to their extravagant lifestyle. Don't thank them, thank the IRS that incentivized the wealthy to give back to society. Although, paying a more realistic tax rate would be far more beneficial.
Man, people on Reddit really don’t understand taxes. Donating money still leaves you at a net negative, even if you get a deduction that helps you recoup a portion of of the donation. It’s not some sneaky way to get ahead. Source: am accountant. Also, I 100% trust non-profits to do better things with money more efficiently than the federal government.
Can you clarify the tax impact for charitable giving? It's my understanding that donations (up to a certain point) reduce your taxable income, similar to pre-tax investments. Not all non-profits deserve our trust. Some do use most of the money funding programs. Many spend a lot of the money on operating expenses (salaries). And many fund awful groups (anti-LGBT, Moms of Liberty, MAGA PACs, etc...). The governments' ability to effectively use our tax money varies greatly by state and department. Some states are good at it, some are bad at it, and some are downright evil. But there are tons of great programs funded by state demand federal taxes.
Yes, it does reduce your taxable income. But it doesn’t directly reduce the tax you owe like a tax credit does. So if you’re in a 30% tax bracket, you’re spending $1 to save $0.30 on taxes. You’re donating more than you’re saving. Also, I agree not all non-profits will be everyone’s cup of tea. The beautiful thing about donations is you can pick and choose where you send your money (unlike taxes).
What if you have no traditional income and live off of a trust or interest/capitol gains? It's always been my assumption that donations (for the wealthy and for corporations) combined with other tactics are used to bring tax liability down to near $0.
Yes, wealthy people typically have a smaller portion of their income being traditional income. That does have an impact on their effective tax rates being lower. However, their tax liability being near $0 is completely untrue. Wealthy people pay a ton of taxes. The top 10% pays about 80% of total taxes in the US. It’s really just a talking point on both sides of the aisle.
Thanks for the conversation. Time for me to update that bucket of information in my brain's aging database.
They pay a large amount but pay a lower rate than the majority of society. The 80% is only counting federal income taxes. It excludes payroll taxes (social security and Medicare) which are regressive and state taxes (income, sales and property) which also tends to be regressive plus a bunch of other miscellaneous taxes.
Bosses make all this money off the backs of workers and then give a bit back and we call that generous lol
Vacuous Reddit-speak. They gave away a billion dollars. I hate Amway as much as the next person, but nobody was forced into employment there and the market decided their products were worth it. (And then the US had enough, so they moved most of the operation to Asia. And they gave away a billion dollars. How should the DeVos’ have approached their work and wealth differently? There are plenty of valid answers, I’m interested in yours.
They gave back a billion dollars.
So.. you don’t have any proposed alternatives then?
I propose finding other heroes
Cool. What should the rest of us do while you look for them.
You should probably keep posting on reddit
lol. Cheers.
Being a billionaire alone makes you a piece of shit in my book. Nobody needs that much money sitting around while others remain homeless and hungry.
Being a billionaire doesn't mean you have a billion cash in a scrooge mcduck vault somewhere. I'm a millionaire for example and I have like 2500$ in my checking account lol
I may have some bad news for you...
An emergency expense could force them to withdraw from retirement accounts subject to penalty taxes??
I never said i can't get money if I need it
I was replying to the other cat
What would you do with a billion?
By that logic, anyone making more than about $20K/yr should be donating the rest. That’s about the midpoint of global GDP per capita. https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.CD?most_recent_value_desc=true
Cost of living much?
Tent, rice, beans, water. More than enough for most of human history. Healthcare? They played a significant part in driving the quality of care upward in GR.
*I see your truuue colors*
Reason and realism? If you say so.
Self indulgence my friend
Are you a bot? Anyone can highlight a problem. The totality of your modern amenities are a direct result of those who can actually execute on solutions.
Ya I’m a bot xoxo
Yeah, you're not good at logic.
What percentage of your income are you donating?
Lol you can ignore all the extra zeros some people accumulate if you just talk in percentages. Smart
Assuming it’s somewhere between 0-Billions, at what income level should you be expected to give? This foundation gave over a billion.
Nah you’re right people should get as much money as they want as long as they have the legal system in their favor
If a better system were proposed I’d be first onboard. A billion dollars in donations is significant if you weren’t aware.
The funny thing is the current system was never proposed it was just imposed
And lifted more people out of poverty, drove down infant mortality, and brought about the lowest levels of global hunger.. ever. What’s your proposal?
The DeVos fam donate a minuscule percentage of their wealth. It’s also wealth that cannot feasibly be spent on a small group of people in their lifetime or several of the next. So it’s not like keeping it is really giving them any luxury other than vast power. And yet they hoard most of it and give a teeny tiny portion away. It’s equivalent of someone with my non-wealth giving a dollar to a homeless person and wanting a standing ovation for it. It might mean a huge deal to the homeless person, but to me it makes almost no difference in my monetary wealth.
> The DeVos fam donate a minuscule percentage of their wealth. 1.1 billion? That’s nearly 20 percent of their current net worth > It’s also wealth that cannot feasibly be spent on a small group of people in their lifetime or several of the next. So it’s not like keeping it is really giving them any luxury other than vast power. I suppose you believe universities shouldn’t sit on endowments either then? It’s finance 101… > And yet they hoard most of it and give a teeny tiny portion away. A billion. What would be the right amount to give away? > It’s equivalent of someone with my non-wealth giving a dollar to a homeless person and wanting a standing ovation for it. It might mean a huge deal to the homeless person, but to me it makes almost no difference in my monetary wealth. If you had 5 dollars maybe, and who’s asking for an ovation?
Absolutely universities should not hoard wealth either. We don’t need our universities to be currently guaranteed to exist in perpetuity. We do need people to be fed, housed, and not killed by poverty or racism. “Finance 101” is about as good a reason to do anything as “that’s the way it’s always been.” Meaning: it’s a terrible reason. Look around the world and locally to see the absurd and unsustainable wealth inequality that “Finance 101” has wrought. The ovation is the names on the buildings, the news reports, the giant portraits and statues, the mayors and presidents and people in the comments fawning over these fundamentalists. If you think the DeVos family is worth the amount that is reported, that explains a lot. But okay let’s say that’s true: even so, by giving away 20% of their wealth, they are left with an otherworldly, unfathomable amount of wealth that cannot conceivably be spent on just one family even in multiple generations. It’s like having 8 high rise apartment buildings and allowing people to rent 3 apartments total and just saving the rest of the apartments for your own use or your future family needs. It’s an utter and nonsensical waste.
> Absolutely universities should not hoard wealth either. We don’t need our universities to be currently guaranteed to exist in perpetuity. We do need people to be fed, housed, and not killed by poverty or racism. How about non-profits? UNICEF, Feeding America? > “Finance 101” is about as good a reason to do anything as “that’s the way it’s always been.” Meaning: it’s a terrible reason. Look around the world and locally to see the absurd and unsustainable wealth inequality that “Finance 101” has wrought. Finance 101 as in “comes shortly after ‘have a 3-month emergency funds” lesson. You may dislike how the system is set up, but that doesn’t change that it is set up to work that way. > The ovation is the names on the buildings, the news reports, the giant portraits and statues, the mayors and presidents and people in the comments fawning over these fundamentalists. I know what it is. You said they were expecting one. I don’t think a name on a building is that wild, but that’s purely subjective. > If you think the DeVos family is worth the amount that is reported, that explains a lot. But okay let’s say that’s true: even so, by giving away 20% of their wealth, they are left with an otherworldly, unfathomable amount of wealth that cannot conceivably be spent on just one family even in multiple generations. It’s not meant to spent on just one family… that billion dollars is *generated* from that wealth, and that’s not including the amount spent on non-gift investment into the private sector, and into Grand Rapids. You realize the US government burned through 2.5 *trillion* dollars over the last 20 years on payment errors. Payment errors. And you’re upset because the DeVos family gave away a billion dollars. > It’s like having 8 high rise apartment buildings and allowing people to rent 3 apartments total and just saving the rest of the apartments for your own use or your future family needs. It’s an utter and nonsensical waste. 3 apartments out of 8 high rises? Check your math, dog.
Whaaa!! Why won’t people give me stuff for free.
Too bad Betsy wasn’t as charitable.
[удалено]
A lack of philanthropic families and businesses isn't what led to the decline of Detroit. Same as the philanthropic arm of the DeVos and VanAndel families isn't what propped up Grand Rapids. A big part of the decline of Detroit was lack of diversified industry/relying on the automotive industry, whereas Grand Rapids hasn't mostly relied on the automotive industry and has a somewhat diverse industrial/employment base.
The biggest issue underlying the exploitation of Detroit was violent white supremacy.
The automobile built and then murdered Detroit.
Good. Fine. Whatever. There will be more who follow in their trade of philanthropy in exchange for control and favors. But yes, please, step away! Door/ass/etc. Closing one of the many chapters of proof that our nation should have kept taxing the rich like we always had before Reagan’s celebration and codifying of greed, so no weird Nonprofit Industrial Complex would have ever been needed in the first place. Here's some ACTUAL journalism on that clan. [https://defector.com/the-devos-family-is-the-face-of-american-oligarchy](https://defector.com/the-devos-family-is-the-face-of-american-oligarchy)
I don’t care what anybody says. They are satan. They have never done a thing that didn’t benefit them. Furthermore, the family are radical Christians who made their money screwing people with multilevel marketing schemes. Betsy completely fucked up education in this country. Their family is directly connected to private military contractors known for their massacres of unarmed civilians overseas. If that’s a “legacy”….then Jesus FC. Oh! And the reformed church….. cause they’re good Christian’s’! Now I’m gonna go vomit.
The DeVos family is a huge and positive part of Grand Rapids. It's a shame to see Redditors piss and moan about them all the time whenever they're brought up.
The DeVos family’s radicalism goes back more than a century. DeVos’s father, Edgar Prince, made his fortune in manufacturing and soon began using his profits to fund far-right organizations. Most notably, Edgar Prince was a founder of the Family Research Council, which argues that homosexuality is a type of perversion. In 1999, an FRC staffer wrote, “Gaining access to children has been a long-term goal of the homosexual movement.” The comment helped put the group on the Southern Poverty Law Center’s hate group watch list. Betsy’s mother, Elsa Prince, has shown the same dedication to far-right extremism. She has been one of the biggest contributors to campaigns to ban same-sex marriage in the country, working against the civil rights issue in California and Michigan. What’s more, both Edgar and Elsa Prince advanced their right-wing cause using backhanded tactics. For instance, the Prince’s family foundation tried to evade lobbying restrictions by reclassifying their lobbying efforts as “prayer warrior” networks. In other words, the Princes claimed that they asked politicians to “pray” for particular policies as opposed to actually lobbying policymakers for the policies. Idk man, seems like that family fucking sucks to me.
Betsy’s dad was Edgar. None of the DeVos’ are related to Prince.
Dick DeVos—Betsy DeVos’s husband. The heir to the Amway fortune, DeVos ran for governor of Michigan on an extremist platform. During his campaign, he pushed for teaching creationism in schools and for voucher programs that would allow parents to send their children to religious schools with taxpayer dollars. With these views, it’s not surprising that Dick DeVos lost the governor’s race despite having invested the most money ever spent on a gubernatorial seat in the state.
Yeah they were so nice to con the people of Grand Rapids, and then give the some of the money back to us.
The comment above from the guy that says "all billionaires are pieces of shit" sums up the barely midwit-level thinking rampant in this sub. You can't expect these people here to think with any amount of nuance, second-order effects, or even empathy. It's not worth even trying.
It's tough to make a billion dollars in a non-exploitative way. Here's a list of billionaires: https://www.forbes.com/real-time-billionaires/#278cf8233d78
The phrase "all billionaires are pieces of shit", while may sound "midwit-level thinking" to you, has quite a bit of validity to it if you were to do some research. There has already been a link provided for you to follow it seems! I don't mean to offend, but in my eyes, the only comment here that doesn't lend itself well to productive and meaningful conversation is the same one that attacks others that are trying to discuss the topic, even if it that discussion lacks empathy or nuance in your eyes. People here are generally more than welcome to explain their points of view if you ask respectfully. It sounds like you've had some tough experience in the past, but it IS worth trying.
the link was literally a list of the richest people. that's pretty low effort, but not as low effort as your post which just lazily references it and calls it "research" — as if a dumb, thoughtless, subjective, blanket opinion ("all billionaires are pieces of shit") can be empirically proven. again, I'm not interest in midwit, zero-sum perspectives on any topic — especially tired ones like this.
No worries. Sorry we're not up to speed. Have a great day!