As the recession whacked the economy, charitable giving by even the wealthiest Americans took a substantial hit, according to a study released Tuesday.The conservative philosophy of limited government asserts that charity, philanthropy, faith-based orgs, etc. should take care of people in need rather than the government. There are a lot of problems with this idea (starting with the fact that conservatives frequently determine that certain people aren't deserving of charity), but perhaps the most obvious is that charitable giving declines in times of greatest need. So.
Although 98.2% of high net worth households donated to charity in 2009, they gave substantially less than in the years before, according to a survey for Bank of America Merrill Lynch by the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University.
Average charitable giving by wealthy households sank 34.9% [last year]. In that same time, the unemployment rate rose to 9.3%, up from 5.8% in 2008.
Ideology fail.
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