{"id":26476,"date":"2020-04-05T12:57:00","date_gmt":"2020-04-05T16:57:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/philip.greenspun.com\/blog\/?p=26476"},"modified":"2020-04-02T17:18:16","modified_gmt":"2020-04-02T21:18:16","slug":"robert-kraft-is-the-andrew-w-mellon-of-our-age","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/philip.greenspun.com\/blog\/2020\/04\/05\/robert-kraft-is-the-andrew-w-mellon-of-our-age\/","title":{"rendered":"Robert Kraft is the Andrew W. Mellon of our age?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Pre-plague, our government was trying to put billionaire Robert Kraft<\/a> in prison under the theory that it is legal to pay a woman by the month<\/a> (half his age!), but not legal to pay a woman by the hour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now that the plague is here and, despite spending many $trillions on exotic medical procedures since the SARS outbreak<\/a>, we forgot to buy any masks or ventilators. Who is helping to patch up the hole that we created? Robert Kraft! “New England Patriots plane brings back more than 1 million N95 masks from China”<\/a> (USA Today<\/em>):<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Patriots and government officials needed to overcome several bureaucratic and logistical obstacles. The plane remained grounded for less than three hours while the supplies were loaded. The crew did not exit the plane; otherwise, they would have been forced to quarantine for 14 days upon entering China. Flight crew members needed expedited visas that were processed quickly through a cooperative Chinese consulate in New York.<\/p>

\u201cI\u2019ve never seen so much red tape in so many ways and obstacles that we had to overcome,\u201d Patriots owner Robert Kraft told the WSJ. \u201cIn today\u2019s world, those of us who are fortunate to make a difference have a significant responsibility to do so with all the assets we have available to us.\u201d<\/p>

Kraft, Baker, the U.S. State Department and others wrote to the Chinese government and consulate between March 24 and March 30 to obtain permission to pick up the masks and the proper permits, the WSJ reported.<\/p>

According to the WSJ, the Kraft family paid nearly $2 million \u2014 roughly half the cost \u2014 for the masks.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

This reminds me of Andrew Mellon<\/a>. A rich guy who became Secretary of the Treasury under Republican presidents, he became Target #1 for FDR. From TIME<\/em>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyond tax rates, a broader New Deal tax philosophy took its toll. Tax authorities had once drawn a clear line between tax avoidance \u2014 the use of legal deductions \u2014 and criminal tax evasion. Roosevelt blithely blotted out that line, conflating evasion with avoidance. Anyone who seemed to pay too little became a target of F.D.R.’s prosecutors. One of those targets was Andrew Mellon, Treasury Secretary under Warren Harding and Hoover. Roosevelt’s Treasury Secretary, Henry Morgenthau, told prosecutor Robert Jackson, a future Roosevelt appointee to the Supreme Court, that when it came to Mellon, “you can’t be too tough.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Wikipedia says that FDR’s prosecution of Mellon, for tax fraud, lasted from 1933 until after his death in 1937: “Months after Mellon’s death, the Board of Tax appeals handed down a ruling exonerating Mellon of all tax fraud charges.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Roosevelt was demonizing and trying to imprison Mellon, what was he up to? Donating his art collection and his money to create the National Gallery of Art<\/a> (independent today and not part of the Smithsonian).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kraft has a ways to go before donating the same percentage of his $billions to the nation that Mellon did, but can we say that he is on track to be our next Mellon?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Related:<\/p>\n\n\n\n