The Wall Street Journal has two noteworthy pieces on the Giving Pledge, the Bill Gates-Warren Buffett effort to get billionaires to pledge half their assets to charity.
Evan Newmark has a column describing the pledges as "condescending, nearly cartoonish PR exercises – the exact opposite of good leadership." He suggests the effort is somehow linked to tax increases: "in terms of public perception, is there better cover for higher taxes than America's 'wealthy' giving their money away?"
And Michael Corkery has an item somewhat capriciously singling out some people who haven't taken the Giving Pledge. He mentions a lot of people as "missing" from the list, but makes no mention of the man he works for, Rupert Murdoch, who is also "missing," but who, since he owns the newspaper, gets a free pass from this kind of pressure or scrutiny, at least in his own paper.
