Monday, December 12, 2011

LAD #21

Carnegie wrote this excerpt from Wealth on how the wealthy can and should distribute their money.  He begins by describing how distribution of wealth has always been an issue of mankind, and that the current methods are much better for both the wealthy and the laborers.  The next section describes how the wealthy can use their wealth.  They can either leave it to family when they die, leave it to public when they die, or while alive they can donate it for charitable purposes.  It then says that history shows that leaving excessive sums for descendants, particularly sons, has shown to prove detrimental to the continuance of the family wealth.  It then says that leaving it to the public after death is merely a selfish way of disposing the money hoarded during your lifetime, and that this money should have been put into circulation years earlier.  This leaves donating money as the best option, which can also help to significantly decrease the gap between the wealthy and poor and create a society close to Communism. Carnegie concludes by saying it is the duty of the wealthy to give back to the poor to help them do things and function in ways they would not be able to do so themselves