Sunday, April 10, 2011

Fungibility and nonnegotiables.

Let's say I'm a billionaire pacifist. Upon my death, my will leaves a $10 billion trust fund which will donate to the Department of Defense in recognition of the American military's humanitarian relief efforts in places like Haiti, Pakistan, Indonesia, et al.

I put in a codicil mandating that none of the trust fund money is to go to weapons or munitions.

Have I betrayed my pacifist principles?

Apropos of this.

2 comments:

  1. Dale, don't you know there's a magical wall within these institutions that prevents funds earmarked for one purpose to subsidize others. Or at least that's what all the Planned Parenthood people keep telling me, and people who are okay with murdering unborn children would surely never lie.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi, Dale!

    But money is FUNGIBLE. You can't really separate ten billions given to the Dept. of Defense for charitable purposes from money budgeted for buying weapons and miliary equipment. The gift merely frees up MORE money for buying weapons.

    And I don't have a high opinion of pacifism, anyway!

    Sincerely, Sean

    ReplyDelete

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