Just more layers to peel off from the same basic concept: greed. His description of how unacceptable it is when it looks transactional but how it is fine, and even expected, if it comes from the traditional ways of indirect corruption summarises it rather well.
Living in fear everyday, just in different ways. I think that has an impact in someone's life.
Considering how this could possibly be a public good, the most obvious way is that money into these institutions produces knowledge that then produces benefits in wider society. This fits mostly with the definition:
> In economics, a public good (also known as a social good or collective good) is a good that is both non-excludable and non-rivalrous, in that individuals cannot be excluded from use or could benefit from without paying for it, and where use by one individual does not reduce availability to others or the good can be
It is true that in some cases education produces knowledge which itself becomes non-excludable and non-rivalrous, or that knowledge produces some other good which is both those things, but the multi-million dollar donations to Ivy-league colleges made by the super-rich so that their children participate in elite networks is pretty tenuously tied to this mechanism of 'education as a public good'.
The US's strategy of funnelling the power through visible, legal channels with some levels of consistency is by far the best. If they want their kids in prestigious universities then that is what will happen. There isn't an alternative where the powerful shrug sheepishly and let their position erode.
Let's tax the rich more and give everyone access to higher education, even the playing field out. Yes you can redefine what rich means, and what poor means, over time through policies.
That last part sounds like almost a threat regarding what rich people might do if you block their corrupt behavior. That's already a sign there's a problem with the power dynamic here.
Someone getting in by buying the institution a new building isn't denying anyone access to higher education. In fact, since the institution has a new building it is likely it is increasing access to either education or research opportunities.
> Let's tax the rich more and give everyone access to higher education...
30% of the US does get a degree, so higher education isn't exactly an elite marker.
[2-4 years of time] X [70% of the US that doesn't have a degree] is an enormous number of hours. If someone is not going to use it then they have better things to do than academics. The risk of most of that 70% just looking back at a couple of wasted years is pretty high.
I suppose in fairness it might work out, but even now there are a lot of people getting degrees who havn't managed to parley it up into better outcomes. But it is likely to be a terrible plan, expensive and with marginal positive outcomes.
I mean you can literally witness it with your own eyes right now when you look at the US on the world stage. Compare the quality of governance and selection of candidates to a country like Singapore, or hell even China whose ruthless political apparatus weeds out people who don't perform quite effectively.
There’s a spectrum of “rich successful” people, many are rich but not “successful” in the way you like to believe, spend 5 minutes around them and it’s easy to know.
Also, what’s up with that “less-brilliant children” saving face statement?
I don't know if that is reasonable to say, or if it is like talking about "trickle-down economics".
Further, it's not a good idea to prevent rich entities in particular from being effective at it because with enough resources, they will be effective anyway. So the ineffective prevention mechanisms will just end up being regressive and/or even more corrupt at the end of the day.
They rate USA 3/4 for corruption (Section C2 [0])
Comparing other similar nations for corruption
Australia 4/4 Canada 4/4 New Zealand 4/4 United Kingdom 4/4
[0] https://freedomhouse.org/country/united-states/freedom-world...
Compare vs. China https://freedomhouse.org/country/china/freedom-world/2020
America enjoys a reputation of being a rather non-corrupt country. To large degree, this is true: bribing scandals are rare, and most Americans would be completely aghast at the idea of passing an envelope under the table to the official who is responsible for issuing building permits.
Instead, the corruption in the US operates through completely transparent and legal means. Instead of cash-filled envelopes, you see campaign contributions, board seats, consulting jobs for children, and, yes, donations to designated causes. All of this is just How Things Are Done, and people are so used to them that they no longer even consider it corruption.