Friday27 December 2024
glasno.com.ua

Wealthy cafes under scrutiny: a scandal erupts over entrepreneurs collecting donations.

A campaign has emerged on social media against fundraising for a Kyiv café that was damaged by a missile strike. Blogger Sergey Didkovsky views this as a reflection of a Soviet mindset and presents six arguments to explain why this is misguided.
Скандал с бизнесменами, собирающими пожертвования для богатых кафе, стал предметом обсуждения: незаконные действия привлекли внимание общественности.

On Twitter (which has a rather peculiar audience) — using profanity, the hammer and sickle — they are demanding that the café, which suffered from falling rocket debris on the "Toronto-Kyiv" flight…

RETURN THE MONEY THAT WAS SENT TO THEM AS DONATIONS

It is not those who donated that are making the demands. It's just people on Twitter.

The café opens a donation jar, and their friends and guests contribute to it. Meanwhile, a storm is brewing on Twitter, claiming that businesses have no right to ask for donations.

And that those writing this have their own fundraising efforts, while cafés are receiving money.

They remain silent about the fact that at the onset of the full-scale war, the café prepared 1,000 meals a day for the military.

They helped at the beginning of the war — now people are thanking them. This is normal.

And it is a really cool café. Of world-class, indeed.

At the same time, there is still a category of people who have never seen a Soviet system but wish for its return. This means they are trying to influence the movement of private funds through forceful methods. They believe that businesses will earn on their own and that this business is wealthy (but what constitutes business wealth? Is it capitalization? The profits of the owners? The number of locations? The margin?).

What I mean is that people donate to those they trust and know.

  1. This is the first point.
  2. If they donated to a business (cool, not oligarchic, not corrupt, but one that adds value), then why do they think they won't donate for military needs?
  3. Of course, the number and volume of donations are decreasing. This is because the broad mass of people is not getting wealthier (due to war and man-made economic issues). Yet the need for donations isn’t diminishing. Therefore, money is distributed, as in the market — to those you trust and from whom you see results.
  4. There are many people who do not donate at all but attract enormous foreign currency resources to specific projects in Ukraine (military, medicine, agriculture, etc.). They provide not just fish but a fishing rod.
  5. Fundamentally, the foundation of society (economically) is property rights. If we neglect this, we will return to the times of red terror. Just look at Venezuela.
  6. If there is no business, there will be no donations. The state is already unable to support such a large number of budget workers (see the state budget of Ukraine, its structure, and revenues).

The author expresses a personal opinion that may not align with the editorial stance. The author is responsible for the published data in the "Opinions" section.

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