me_irl

I haven't read the book personally (only seen the guy talk about it), but this book is all about that: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winners_Take_All%3A_The_Elite_Charade_of_Changing_the_World

These people have shaped the world in a way that makes people believe that we need philanthropy, and that we rely on their "kind-heartedness", when in reality it's just shit that we should be doing through taxes (that these people don't pay).

I guess the book came from a speech he did, quoted in the wiki:

The Aspen Consensus, in a nutshell, is this: the winners of our age must be challenged to do more good. But never, ever tell them to do less harm.

The Aspen Consensus holds that capitalism's rough edges must be sanded and its surplus fruit shared, but the underlying system must never be questioned.

The Aspen Consensus says, "Give back," which is of course a compassionate and noble thing. But, amid the $20 million second homes and $4,000 parkas of Aspen, it is gauche to observe that giving back is also a Band-Aid that winners stick onto the system that has privileged them, in the conscious or subconscious hope that it will forestall major surgery to that system – surgery that might threaten their privileges.

The Aspen Consensus, I believe, tries to market the idea of generosity as a substitute for the idea of justice."[4]