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“It is thus necessary that the individual should finally come to realize that his own ego is of no importance in comparison with the existence of the nation, that the position of the individual is conditioned soley by the interests of the nation as a whole.”

- Adolf Hitler -

You would think, of all people, a German would appreciate the dangers of a powerful state. 

I guess not.

Speigel Online reports that Germany’s super-rich have rejected an invitation by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett to join their ‘Giving Pledge’ to give away most of their fortune. The pledge has been criticized in Germany, with millionaires saying donations shouldn’t replace duties that would be better carried out by the state (emphasis added):

Peter Krämer, a Hamburg-based shipping magnate and multimillionaire, has emerged as one of the strongest critics of the “Giving Pledge.” Krämer, who donated millions of euros in 2005 to “Schools for Africa,” a program operated by UNICEF, explained his opposition to the Gates initiative in a SPIEGEL interview.

SPIEGEL: Forty super wealthy Americans have just announced that they would donate half of their assets, at the very latest after their deaths. As a person who often likes to say that rich people should be asked to contribute more to society, what were your first thoughts?

Krämer: I find the US initiative highly problematic. You can write donations off in your taxes to a large degree in the USA. So the rich make a choice: Would I rather donate or pay taxes? The donors are taking the place of the state. That’s unacceptable.

SPIEGEL: But doesn’t the money that is donated serve the common good?

Krämer: It is all just a bad transfer of power from the state to billionaires. So it’s not the state that determines what is good for the people, but rather the rich want to decide. That’s a development that I find really bad. What legitimacy do these people have to decide where massive sums of money will flow?

SPIEGEL: It is their money at the end of the day.

Krämer: In this case, 40 superwealthy people want to decide what their money will be used for. That runs counter to the democratically legitimate state. In the end the billionaires are indulging in hobbies that might be in the common good, but are very personal.

SPIEGEL: Do the donations also have to do with the fact that the idea of state and society is such different one in the United States?

Krämer: Yes, one cannot forget that the US has a desolate social system and that alone is reason enough that donations are already a part of everyday life there. But it would have been a greater deed on the part of Mr. Gates or Mr. Buffet if they had given the money to small communities in the US so that they can fulfil public duties. 

My God, where do I begin?

• Kramer says that the donors, by donating money they could keep if they so chose, are “taking the place of the state.” – Your money belongs to the state.
• Kramer laments that it’s not the state that determines “what is good for the people” and questions the legitimacy of Gates and Buffet “to decide where massive sums of money will flow.” – You cannot do what you want to do with your own money.
• Kramer is upset that “40 superwealthy people want to decide what their money will be used for” and says that this runs “counter to the democratically legitimate state.” – It’s undemocratic for someone to spend his money the way he sees fit.
• Kramer concludes that “the US has a desolate social system” and that is “reason enough that donations are already part of everyday life there.” - Charitable donations are a bad thing about America. A good and well run country, like Germany, doesn’t need charity because the state handles everything.

These statements are astonishing, especially coming from a German whom one would expect to be wary of a powerful state.

Adolf Hitler was right when he said,

How fortunate for governments that the people they administer don’t think.

And when he said,

The day of individual happiness has passed.

And when he said,

Why nationalize industry when you can nationalize the people?

Related Posts:

• The Giving Pledge: Instead of Private Charity, Why Not Give it to the Government?
• A Little Bit of History Repeating
• Happy Birthday Hitler
• Taxing the Rich Because You Can: The Beginnings of Totalitarianism

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