Finally, charity cloaks corporate greed. A corporation that dispatches teams of lobbyists to drive down the tax rate still expects to be applauded for the money it spends, say, planting trees (or perhaps cutting them down—it's so hard to keep these ideologies straight). When a thief, having stolen your wallet, hands you back carfare, it's tough to mutter much of a thank-you. Similarly, nice as it is that Bill Gates gives money to libraries, a decent country would tax Microsoft at a rate that lets cities buy their own books.
[Ed.: Mr. Cohen has also told readers that supporting charities wasn't worthwhile, because it made the state more likely to abandon public projects, and that it is unethical to fire or report a temp worker whose shoddy performance makes everyone else look bad.]
