Born on 3rd base post #2

In this second half of the book I noticed a distinct shift from justifying and framing the fight against inequality to actionable advice for readers whether they are in the 99 percent or top 1 percent.

Collins started this section by showcasing some of the secrets of the “charity industrial complex.” I knew to an extent that wealthy people made charitable donations to reduce their tax burden, but I had no idea about the depth to which in went. He spoke about pseudo fraudulent behaviors within large foundations that allowed them to donate a tiny percentage of their intended charitable funds and instead spend it on expensive retreats and huge salaries for trustees. I never thought about how donations to wealthy schools influenced poor schools before this book; that tax deductable donations to affluent schools takes money away from poor schools who would have received a share of those funds through taxation. As someone who goes to a school heavily supported by its alumni body it was difficult to hear how alumni supporting their “pet charities” took away from the rest of the country. I think this quote hit home the most for me, “Charity will not address the for public infrastructure and economic opportunity.”

In the lifeguard story, Chuck decided to throw his lot in with the community and advocate for more regular supervision of the pool instead of going to a private swim club. This idea of “opting in” was a really interesting idea for me; that we should try to work to improve the communities we live in rather than turning to private institutions.  

He slipped something in towards the end of the section that I thought was clever, but I didn’t necessarily agree with. He said essentially, having a fair and progressive system of taxation is a different fight than how these tax dollars will ultimately be used. I don’t agree, I think we need to pay our taxes, but we should also have dramatic tax reform to remove huge military spending and wasteful bureaucracies.

I enjoyed reading about his actions within his own community to create a support network that would make them stronger as a whole. The idea of keeping business local started to make sense when he said that $48 vs $14 dollars would stay in a community when a business was local.

Finally, I liked that he was able to recognize that we all have a responsibility as Americans to be do our part to make our communities a better place. The "one percenter" in all of us as he called it.