On Modern Philanthropy, And Why We Don't Have A Modern Florence
A Trillion-Dollar Industry Deserves a Better Engine — Renaissance Philanthropy – A brighter future for all through science, technology, and innovation
With a new wave of philanthropic capital on the horizon, the most pressing binding constraint on that capital won't be the will to give it away; it will be the operational capacity to do so well.
Renaissance Philanthropy – A brighter future for all through science, technology, and innovation
Renaissance Philanthropy is a nonprofit that designs, incubates, and manages time-bound, thesis-driven philanthropic funds for science, technology, and innovation. Led by Tom Kalil and Kumar Garg, the organization has catalyzed $533M in philanthropic capital since 2024.
Italy's Radical Solution to Extreme Inequality
America's Growth Ponzi Scheme | Strong Towns
The American pattern of development creates the illusion of wealth. Today we are in the process of seeing that illusion destroyed…and with it the prosperity we have come to take for granted.
Why The Rich Think The Poor Are Lazy
Pluralistic: America and “national capitalism” (18 Feb 2025) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow
Thomas Piketty's 2013 unexpected bestseller (a 750 page economics book translated from French!) Capital in the 21st Century, offers a very convincing explanation of our political decay, and it continues to serve this purpose as the decay undergoes alarming acceleration:
annotations: A propos de la super-implication des super-riches dans la politique américaine
Blog de sciences économiques et sociales de Martin Anota. Traductions, revues de presse.
Is America Encouraging the Wrong Kind of Entrepreneurship?
In a 1990 paper, “Entrepreneurship: Productive, Unproductive, and Destructive,” late economist William Baumol argued that not all entrepreneurs are equal: there are both “productive” and “unproductive” endeavors. Most people think of all entrepreneurship to be what Baumol referred to as the “productive” kind, where the companies that founders launch commercialize something new or better, benefiting society and themselves in the process. Baumol was worried, however, by a very different sort of entrepreneur, the “unproductive” ones who exploit special relationships with the government to construct regulatory moats, secure public spending for their own benefit, or bend specific rules to their will — in the process, stifling competition to create advantage for their firms. Two recent trends indicate that this may be happening in the U.S. today: rising profits, especially those earned by the largest businesses in the economy, and suggestive evidence of an increase in efforts to shape the rules of the game. Baumol may have been ahead of his time. If the U.S. is going to tackle its many problems, we are going to have to find ways to encourage would-be entrepreneurs to start innovative, productive businesses, rather than dedicating their efforts to co-opting government in order to secure economic advantage.
Mercantilisme et capitalisme de la finitude : aux origines de l’Empire Trump | Le Grand Continent
Les seigneurs de la Silicon Valley s'installent dans l'État américain : un nouveau pouvoir disrupte le libéralisme et la démocratie. Vivons-nous un moment inédit ? Il y a quatre cents ans, une start-up de la City – la Compagnie des Indes – se lançait déjà dans une entreprise de conquête mondiale similaire. Pour expliquer Trump et Musk, Arnaud Orain renoue avec les fils de cette histoire, en forgeant un concept : le capitalisme de la finitude.
The Effective-Altruism Comeback
Out of the spotlight, the movement has been preparing for the soon-to-be AI rich to donate billions.
Preface | The World After Capital
Since publishing the previous version of The World After Capital, I have met with people across the political spectrum to discuss the ideas from the book. When I present these in person, I emphasize that the ideas are neither left nor right but forward (credit to Scott Santens who first used this phrase about Universal Basic Income). My writing, however, at times has alienated readers who identify as being more on the right. In this new edition, I am therefore making an extra effort to emphasize how both my diagnosis of where we are at and my suggestions for how to move forward do not map onto the existing political divides. Instead this is a new way of understanding our challenges and opportunities that can be the basis for movements and parties that are not trapped in Industrial Age ideology.
The revolution will not be funded: beyond the non-profit industrial complex
Introduction : the revolution will not be funded / Andrea Smith -- The political logic of the non-profit industrial complex / Dylan Rodríguez -- In the shadow of the shadow state / Ruth Wilson Gilmore -- From black awakening in capitalist America / Robert L. Allen -- Democratizing American philanthropy / Christine E. Ahn -- The filth on philanthropy : progressive philanthropy's agenda to misdirect social justice movements / Tiffany Lethabo King and Ewuare Osayande -- Between radical theory and community praxis : reflections on organizing and the non-profit industrial complex / Amara H. Pérez -- Native organizing before the non-profit industrial complex / Madonna Thunder Hawk -- Fundraising is not a dirty word : community-based economic strategies for the long haul / Stephanie Guilloud and William Cordery -- "We were never meant to survive" : fighting violence against women and the fourth world war / Ana Clarissa Rojas Durazo -- Social service or social change? / Paul Kivel -- Pursuing a radical anti-violence agenda inside/outside a non-profit structure / Alisa Bierria -- The NGOization of the Palestine liberation movement : interviews with Hatem Bazian, Noura Erekat, Atef Said, and Zeina Zaatari / Andrea Smith -- Radical social change : searching for a new foundation / Adjoa Florência Jones de Almeida -- Are the cops in our heads and hearts? / Paula X. Rojas -- Non-profits and the autonomous grassroots / Eric Tang -- On our own terms : ten years of radical community building with Sista II Sista / Nicole Burrowes ... [et al.]
Systems: How the Ultra-Wealthy Think About Money - Anil Dash
A blog about making culture. Since 1999.
The Joy of Becoming Worthless…except to each other — Douglas Rushkoff
My last piece, The Intentional Collapse, seems to have agitated a few people. I know it came off a bit dark. I talked about how the Uber wealthy believe the world as we know it is ending and that there won’t be enough essential resources to go around, so they need to take control of as much money and stuff and land as possible in order to position themselves for the end of days.