As I've mentioned on my previous blog, I'm friends with a diverse number of individuals, some of whom are way to the left of me, others even farther to the right (to be fair, I'm not as centrist as I used to be). A number of us, the leadership group of CFI Naples, carry on a wide-ranging email conversation at all times - there are roughly a score of us, six or seven of whom weigh in regularly on whatever the topic of the hour happens to be.
The most recent exchange related to "cradle-to-grave" socialism versus corporate welfare. One member of our group said that when the government helps a company, the stockholders (you and me, if we choose) benefit. He then went on to say, "How do you invest in Midnight Basketball?" What follows is my reply:
The way we invest in Midnight Basketball is by paying taxes or, as I'd much prefer, giving money to charity.* Our return on investment is when the kids involved don't carjack us; instead, some of them will go to college and one of the companies you mentioned will hire them to invent a breakthrough product that will make our lives better and bring the stockholders a nice fat profit.
*What I'm trying to have a little, tiny influence over through my nonprofit efforts is to increase the total dollar amount that individuals and corporations donate. With sufficient funds from the private sector, there would be no need for the government to provide most social services. Not only can the citizen ("nonprofit") sector often operate more efficiently than the government, but by choosing where we'd like our money to go, we are applying the strength of the market to said programs. If people want to invest in midnight basketball or food stamps, they can. If they'd rather invest in Junior Achievement and cancer research, then they can do that instead.
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