Episode 70: Foundations of Deceit

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(This episode is part of the series The Powell Movement.)

Why reinvent the wheel? If it's round, it rolls. And the legal entity chosen by many previously discussed Unusual Suspects, the legal format that has benefited many a billionaire and corporation over the years whether or not they had Powell-y machinations of society in mind, has been the philanthropic foundation. Many not only rolled with foundations… they rocked them.

In this Episode 70: Foundations of Deceit, I take a longish look at how billions of dollars are protected from taxation and other liberal meddling, while simultaneously allowing those billions to warp our society one foundation at a time.

In this episode, I read from Thomas Picketty's Capital in the Twenty-First Century, and from Jane Mayer's Dark Money. I also threw out some historical numbers I found on a website run by The Tax Foundation.

And once again, D. L. Myers helped me out by reading from The Memo Itself. He is a poet and reader of weird poetry. Many of his readings, both of his own poetry and the work of others, can be found at his online video channel.

Musically, I threw in three from Podington Bear's album Yearning. In order, you heard "Infant," "Yellow Line," and "Squiggly Line." KMFDM and Henry Giroux opened the show, and Mistle Thrush once again backs the close.

Oh, and Dr. Evil got into the episode somehow. He seemed (Jim extends a pinkie to one corner of his lip as the camera zooms in) appropriate!