<i>Huff</i> "Why don't people give their money away like I want them too?" <i>Huff</i><p>"The busy Mr. Zong said he thinks philanthropy is a bad idea. He can do much more for society by running a productive business, the beverage billionaire noted.
Not every Chinese tycoon is so cold-hearted, however. "<p>So the guy thinks he can do better for people by running a business and that makes him cold hearted. Just what exactly is going on here? Who are these people to tell other people what to do with their money? Who are these people that think they know better how money should be used? Who are these people and what's their cut?<p>People that want other people to give away their money to help other people are just as selfish as the people that have the money. They want other people to do good things so they can feel warm and fuzzy knowing that good things are being done and they had a part in it, without actually doing anything at all like earning the money that did those good deeds. It's the grasshopper and the ant all over again just pointed in a different direction.
See <a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/chinese-philanthropist-donates-it-all/article1650447/" rel="nofollow">http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/chinese-philanthro...</a> for another example - a Chinese philanthropist who donated his entire fortune (more than $1 Billion) to charity.<p>A quote from him "<i>If my children are competent, they don’t need my money, Mr. Yu explained. If they’re not, leaving them a lot of money is only doing them harm.</i>"
Charity is implicitly a critique of a government's inability to meet its citizens' urgent needs. I'm not surprised that an allegedly communist government doesn't like attention drawn to problems it isn't solving yet should be.
The author overlooks the same factors that cause non-millionaire Chinese to have such a high savings rate: uncertainty about health, retirement, and social stability.<p>There's none of the social insurance that exists in North America or Europe; less than 50 years ago there were serious famines; the regime itself is only about 60 years old and the current era of economic liberalization only about 30 years old.<p>In such a environment, people will be a bit more clingy "just in case" they're going to need every last cent in an upheaval.