I don't want to ever hear from another wealthy person requesting

[Skidmore]

funds for a charity. There are people in this nation being slowly sucked in to the swamp of poverty because the wealthy are being handed as much as their little dinky hearts desire. Not a peep out of the upper class--old money or new. Do you hear anyone step forward and say that their tax cut could be used to educate several young people, or by medication for several old people, or pay for physical therapy for several others? Do you hear anyone step forward and say that that money could be better used to build water treatment plants, repair primary or secondary roads, build public schools? They take the fruits of the working man's labor in the workplace and out.

[BJW]

1. Bill Gates' Dad is saying exactly this!

[zalinda]

2. So are a number of celebrities n/t

[cynatnite]

3. I've heard several celebs openly complain about it...

They know they don't need it and point to other areas where this money would do the most good.

[dogday]

4. People starve while the

rich enjoy their gold toilets....

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

5. there are socially responsible rich people

David McCall comes immediately to mind. He and his wife Penny started a non-profit in Harlem to help young people learn how to start and set up a business, and were active in getting supplies to refugees when no organization would pay for them. An example is the satellite phone system they helped set up in Kosovo so that refugees who had left could phone home to their villages and find out if the relatives left behind were ok. They even went to the Balkins to personally help set it up. On a trip down a muddy mountain road, their jeep lost traction and plunged down the mountain, killing them. I'm sure if they were alive today they would be appalled at what the rich are getting, and I'm also sure they would give most of their 'breaks' away to help the less fortunate.

You can read about David and Penny at this webpage of mine:

http://www.geocities.com/ayeshahaqqiqa/heroes.html

[Beaverhausen]

6. Would you donate if Joe Blow asked you to?

Celebrities get involved in causes because the cause will get more attention if they do.

[Skidmore]

7. At the present time, no. I would go in with some close friends

and neighbors locally though.