More United Extortion

There is a fair amount of discontent in my office about United Way, apparently. We have a rah-rah session at the end of the drive next week when the execs will make fools of themselves so the rest of us feel better about contributing our paychecks towards the company's propaganda efforts. People are scheming about how to get out of it already. I may go, just to see one or two people from our other office. I don't get out there much.

I've noticed that no one directly approaches me about United Way. When the raffle ticket sellers come by, they skip my office for some reason. I don't know why. Anyhow, the pledge card mysteriously showed up on my chair while I was on vacation. I looked it over briefly before filing it in the appropriate location. I note that the United Way believes in progressive giving. If your annual salary is up to 10,000 dollars you should give out 0.6% to the extortionists.

Excuse me while I gag. Nothing personal, but I thought the point of charity was to help those less fortunate than yourself. If you make $10K a year, you are not making much. Keep your money because you damn sure need it. The idea that United Way is hitting up poor people is beyond me, but i am a simple creature at best. If you make $10K a year and feel that you can afford to give to charity, do it up. But I think United Way telling you how much you should be giving strikes me as slighty creepy.

Those folks making more than $50K a year should be giving up 2.0%, apparently. I don't see why that same 0.6% doesn't suffice, but the rationale for progressive taxation has always been a little obscure to me, so why should I understand it when applied to charity? Anyhow, I have better organizations to give my money to than United Way, so it ain't my problem.