The Giving Pledge
A – The Giving Pledge 1) The giving pledge is a growing trend among rich families and individuals in America. It includes that the rich people, who want to join the trend have to donate at least half of their wealth to charity. The people who make the pledge, have all that in common, that even though they give away half of their fortune, they still have more money than they can spend in a lifetime. In text two “My Philanthropic Pledge” Warren Buffet writes subjectively about the trend, and the reasons why he has make the pledge. He advocates the pledge, and encourages other wealthy people to do the same.
One major argue he uses is that even though the supporters have to give away half of the fortune, it doesn’t necessarily means they have to change their lifestyle, but they can change thousands of people’s lifestyles for the better. It can mean life or dead for the poor and suffering, while it means little or big yacht for the rich. All in all, the attitude is very positive about the pledge, and as I wrote before, does Buffet advocate the trend with examples from his own life. He is the founder of “The Giving Pledge” and has self agreed to donate 99% of his fortune to charity.
The attitude and tone is very different in text tree “The rich want a better world? Try paying fair wages and tax” written by Peter Wilby. Just by reading the headline you can sense the aggressive tone, and know how Peter Wilby sees the trend. He stands as an opponent to the pledge. One of his points is that “the poor is written out of their own story” – he thinks that the poor have no influence on what the money the wealthy ones have donated is used on, and what the money really should go to, to help them as much as possible.
Another main argue he uses is, that to make permanent change in developing countries, the initiative and alteration has to come from the inside – in other words, there has to be a form for revolution, to make the changes permanent. He also accentuates that the charity given by Warren Buffet, Bill Gates and other rich people place them in a very good light. And that would maybe even bring them even more money, because the people who make them rich (their customers) would think good thoughts about wealthy people who give money to charity.
Wilby therefore thinks that rich people, who have enough money to make the pledge, should spend their money on paying taxes, stop lobbying against taxation, spend there money on better conditions for their employees and should lay their focus and money on stopping production of products in a way that damages the environment. 2) At first while reading text one “Band of billionaires pledge to give to charity” written by Jon Swartz, the impression is that the text is very objective. The headline seems objective and informal, and the tone and language the text is written in is very formal.
But then, while reading further on, when you think about the intention of the text and the circumstance, some hidden opinions appears. The circumstance is that Gates, Buffet and other billionaires have agreed to give at least 50% of their fortune to charity, and they call on other billionaires to do the same. If the focus thereafter is the intention of the text it is clear that Jon Swartz wants to set the billionaires in a good light. That can be seen by the way he highlights who has given money, how much they gave, why they did it and when they did it.
Besides that there is not any counterarguments why you should give money to charity, it is only pictured like a very decent and good thing to do. To increase that intention, Jon Swartz has only quoted people who support and advocates the pledge. 3) Taking my starting points in text two “My Philanthropic Pledge”, I will state my own opinions to “the giving pledge”. I can only agree with Warren Buffet that charity is a great thing to do. If I were rich, I would do the same thing. If I could live, and live fantastically, for 1% of my fortune, while ther people around the world were suffering and starving, I would give the remaining 99% of my wealth to charity. Give the money to people who need it much more than I would. I think that is the only right thing to do. I can see the point in the argue Peter Wilby uses, that to make remaining changes, it has to come “from the inside” of the state. But I don’t think we are to sit and watch people die and suffer until that for happens. The money the wealthy people are willing to spend on charity can help a lot of people.
Therefore it is a step on the road to a better world, and I think it is very generous and large of them to give away their fortune. One major point where I don’t agree with Wilby is when he mixes taxes into the whole thing. Of cause the rich people must pay taxes, and I do to think they should ensure that their production is not polluting. But I do not think there should be paid taxes of charity money, because the people who really need clean water, vaccines, educations etc. should get as much as possible for the money.
