To understand wealthy Americans’ “virtue in sharing,” consider The 2010 Bank of America Merrill Lynch Study of High Net Worth Philanthropy. Conducted by Indiana University’s Center on Philanthropy and released November 9, this fascinating document (recommended by the National Taxpayers Union’s Andrew Moylan) finds rich people doing what Senator Sanders asked.
This survey included 801 respondents who made at least $200,000 and/or enjoyed at least $1 million in net worth, excluding housing. The average respondent was worth $10.7 million.
Among these multi-millionaires, 98.2 percent contributed to charity, versus just 64.6 percent of the general population. The wealthy typically gave away about 8 percent of their incomes in 2009. This figure has slipped as the economy has slid. In 2007’s survey, the rich donated between 9.3 percent and 16.1 percent of income.
In 2009, 26.8 percent of Americans volunteered with charitable organizations. However, 78.7 percent of wealthy people volunteered — nearly triple the national figure. The average rich respondent volunteered 307 hours. Rather than merely write checks, the average wealthy American last year gave to charity the equivalent of 38 eight-hour shifts.
The Center on Philanthropy’s researchers valued each hour of voluntarism at $20.85. So, the average rich American’s 307 volunteer hours equaled $6,400.95.
“High net worth households play an important role in the philanthropic landscape,” the Bank of America study concluded. “They give between 65 and 70 percent of all individual giving and between 49 and 53 percent of giving from all sources, which includes giving from corporations, foundations, and both living and deceased individuals.”
...Nonetheless, some remain utterly unimpressed with America’s wealthy. According to Cape Cod cops and fire investigators, on November 24, an arsonist torched a $500,000 house under construction in Sandwich, Mass. On December 2, an arson attempt almost destroyed a Marston’s Mills home. At both crime scenes, someone graffitied “F— the rich.”
On December 14, Clay Duke opened fire on a Panama City, Fla., school board meeting before fatally shooting himself. His online “last testament,” linked to left-wing websites, including WikiLeaks and mediamatters.org, and echoed today’s anti-rich themes.
“I was just born poor in a country where the Wealthy manipulate, use, abuse, and economically enslave 95% of the population,” Duke wrote. “Our Masters, the Wealthy, do as they like to us.”..