multifoliaterose comments on Efficient Charity: Do Unto Others... - Less Wrong

130 Post author: Yvain 24 December 2010 09:26PM

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Comment author: multifoliaterose 24 July 2011 01:14:40AM *  2 points [-]

In the US, the lowest income bracket gives a <a href=http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/22/magazine/22FOB-wwln-t.html>larger percent</a> of their income than any other bracket. I haven't seen numbers on whether this includes people on the brink of not having their basic needs met, but I bet a lot of them have been there at some point.

Note that it's possible that a substantial fraction of these donations are made to community organizations (churches, etc.) and so may effectively serve as membership dues. Despite this I think that this statistic makes a good rejoinder to middle/upper class people who claim that they can't afford to give.