What the Hell is Wrong With Income Inequality?

Libertarians usually do the right thing, Lily. But we do it because we want to, not because we are forced to.



Bob

Philanthropy

Since 2000, David H. Koch Charitable Foundation has pledged or contributed more than $750 million to cancer research, medical centers, educational institutions, arts, cultural institutions, and public policy studies.[4][22] Since 2006, the Chronicle of Philanthropy has listed Koch as one of the world's top 50 philanthropists.[23]
Medical research

In 1992, Koch was diagnosed with prostate cancer. He underwent radiation, surgery, and hormone therapy, but the cancer returned every time. Koch believes his experience with cancer has encouraged him to fund medical research. He says, "once you get that disease and I've had it for 20 years almost, you become a crusader to try to cure the disease not only for yourself but for other people."[16] Koch says that his biggest contributions go toward a "moon shot" campaign to finding the cure for cancer, according to his profile on Forbes.[4] Between 1998 and 2012, Koch contributed at least $395 million to medical research causes and institutions.[24]

Koch sits on the Board of Directors of the Prostate Cancer Foundation and has contributed $41 million to the Foundation, including $5 million to a collaborative project in the field of nanotechnology.[25] Koch is the eponym of the David H. Koch Chair of the Prostate Cancer Foundation, a position currently held by Dr. Jonathan Simons.

In 2007, he contributed $100 million to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to help fund the construction of a new 350,000-square-foot (33,000 m2) research and technology facility to serve as the home of the David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research.[26] He has given a total of $185 million to MIT since joining the MIT Corporation in 1988.[24]

$20 million to Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore. The building he financed was named the David H. Koch Cancer Research Building.[27]
$30 million to the Memorial Sloan–Kettering Cancer Center in New York[28]
$25 million to the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston to establish the David Koch Center for Applied Research in Genitourinary Cancers[29]
$15 million to New York-Presbyterian Hospital Weill Cornell Medical Center[30]
$5 million to the House Ear Institute, in Los Angeles, to create a center for hearing restoration[23]
$25 million to the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City[31]
$100 million, the largest philanthropic donation in the history of New York-Presbyterian Hospital, beginning a $2 billion campaign which will conclude in 2019 to create a new ambulatory care center and renovate the infrastructure of all of the hospital's five sites.[32]

Arts

In July 2008, Koch pledged $100 million over 10 years to renovate the New York State Theater in the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (now called the David H. Koch Theater),[33] and has pledged $10 million to renovate the outdoor fountains at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.[34]

Koch has been a trustee of the American Ballet Theatre for 25 years[35] and has contributed more than $6 million to the theater.[36]
Education

Koch contributed $7 million to the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) show Nova,[37] and is a contributor to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., including a $20 million gift to the American Museum of Natural History, creating the David H. Koch Dinosaur Wing and a contribution of $15 million to the National Museum of Natural History to create the new David H. Koch Hall of Human Origins, which opened on the museum's 100th anniversary of its location on the National Mall on March 17, 2010.[38] In 2012, Koch contributed US $35 million to the Smithsonian to build a new dinosaur exhibition hall at the National Museum of Natural History.[39]

Koch also financed the construction of Deerfield Academy's $68 million Koch Center for mathematics, science and technology,[40] and was named the first and only Lifetime Trustee.[40]

Koch gave $10 million to the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory[41] where he was honored with the Double Helix Medal for Corporate Leadership for supporting research that, "improves the health of people everywhere".[42]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_H._Koch#Philanthropy

perhaps it not so good for the economy either, the erosion of the middle class....

“It’s going to be hard to maintain strong economic growth with such a large proportion of the population falling behind,”



www.nytimes.com/2014/02/03/business/the-middle-class-is-steadily-eroding-just-ask-the-business-world.html?src=me&_r=0

The middle class is eroding because of stupid actions on the part of the government. Every year, the government takes more and more money from the middle class to that politicians pay back the power groups that backed them in the elections. We're reaching the end of the road here. Soon there will be no money left fot the politicians to steal.

Philosopher kings are not necessary. Libertarians are pledged to cut the size and scope of the government. It's hard to give out favors, government contracts, and government money while you are doing that.

Bob

Just off the top of my head...