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U.S. NEWS A7
Tuesday 1 December 2015
US Financial Front:
Giving and getting grief: For the rich, increasingly common
MICHAEL HILL Music and movie mogul David Geffen speaks during the for-naming transactions Weill-Paul Smith’s College.
Associated Press Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony in New York. can be mutually benefi- Outraged alumni cried
To give is to gain a heap of To give is to gain a heap of grief if you’re a mega-rich donor cial. Benefactors get their foul. The deal was likened
grief if you’re a mega-rich these days. In recent months, a hedge fund billionaire was name in history books — or to bribery and a betrayal
donor these days. denounced for his $400 million gift to the already wealthy at least on Google Maps of the college’s history.
In recent months, a hedge Harvard University, Geffen took flak for gifts that plaster his — and recipients get cash A court eventually ruled
fund billionaire was de- name on a Manhattan concert hall and a Los Angeles school, infusions for pressing proj- that the bequest that es-
nounced for his $400 million and the wife of a Wall Street banker was roasted for trying to ects. tablished the college
gift to the already wealthy put her name on a small Adirondacks college. For instance, New York’s barred the name change.
Harvard University, David Lincoln Center received Weill chose not to give the
Geffen took flak for gifts (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow) $100 million toward mas- $20 million.
that plaster his name on sive renovations for Avery Alumni took to Facebook
a Manhattan concert hall causes, has been accused All Watch David Geffen Fisher Hall from Geffen in to excoriate the proposal,
and a Los Angeles school, of a bit of each after two Light His Money on Fire.” a deal that renamed the underscoring the role so-
and the wife of a Wall recent gifts, including $100 Placing a rich person’s venue to David Geffen cial media can play in am-
Street banker was roasted million this month to create name on a building in re- Hall this month. But that plifying controversies. Best-
for trying to put her name the Geffen Academy at turn for a big donation is happened only after Lin- selling author Malcolm
on a small Adirondacks UCLA to serve the children an established practice coln Center paid $15 mil- Gladwell started one such
college. Even Bill Gates, of faculty, among others. in the philanthropy play- lion to the family of Fisher, debate this summer af-
who has given billions to The gift — aimed in part at book that can be a way a philanthropist who died ter hedge-fund billionaire
battle diseases, is taking attracting top talent to the to honor a loved one or in 1994, to clear the way to John Paulson gave $400
lumps in a new book titled college and its medical encourage other dona- the renaming. million to Harvard’s School
“No Such Thing as a Free school, which is named for tions. While mocked re- Geffen’s gift was lauded of Engineering and Applied
Gift.” Geffen — has generated cently as “Philanthro-me” as transformative by Lin- Sciences by tweeting: “It
Scorn for the rich and pow- critical headlines like this and “Egonomics” by social coln Center administrators came down to helping the
erful dates at least to the one in L.A. Weekly: “Let’s commentators, money- and elsewhere criticized poor or giving the world’s
Gilded Age heyday of as self-aggrandizing. But richest university $400 mil it
Rockefeller and Carnegie, the reaction was muted doesn’t need. Wise choice
but experts who track phi- compared with the buzz John!”
lanthropy say the spate of saw started this summer by Paulson’s defenders argue
indignation this year is not Joan Weill, the wife of bil- the donation will fund ben-
surprising when even aca- lionaire former Citigroup eficial innovations and, be-
demics and presidential CEO Sanford Weill. sides, it’s his money.
candidates rail against the She offered $20 million to Sharp critiques of the “1
privileges of the so-called 1 Paul Smith’s College in percent” have been com-
percent. New York’s Adirondacks — monplace since the first
“We’ve always had this but only if the small college Occupy Wall Street protest
very mixed attitude toward changed its name to Joan four years ago.q
very wealthy people giv-
ing their money away,” American pending home sales edge up in October
said Leslie Lenkowsky, an
Indiana University profes- This photo shows a home for sale in Coral Gables, Fla. The JOSH BOAK mortgage rates boosted
sor who studies philanthro- National Association of Realtors released, on Monday, Nov. AP Economics Writer sales for much of the year,
py. “It’s a long, drawn-out 30, 2015, its October report on pending home sales, which are WASHINGTON (AP) — but rising home values and
controversy. Our concerns seen as a barometer of future purchases. Slightly more Americans limited inventories have
about equality and in- signed contracts to buy limited further growth in
equality are bringing it (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky) homes in October, in a the closing months of
back to the surface to- modest rebound that sug- 2015.
day.” gests the real estate mar- The number of signed
Critiques vary, but they ket has crested. contracts advanced in
tend to revolve around al- The National Association the Northeast and West,
legations of vanity for seek- of Realtors says its sea- while dipping in the Mid-
ing credit, futility for giving sonally adjusted pend- west and South.
to less-deserving benefi- ing home sales index rose Pending sales are a ba-
ciaries or simply acting like 0.2 percent to 107.7 last rometer of future purchas-
an arrogant rich person. month. The index has in- es. A lag of a month or
Media mogul Geffen, a creased 3.9 percent over two usually exists between
prolific philanthropist for the past 12 months. a contract and a com-
the arts, AIDS and other Healthy job gains and low pleted sale.q
