How JK Rowling lost her billionaire status

An article from The Huffington Post explains that "JK Rowling, the first female novelist billionaire, recently lost her exclusive status because of some very good deeds."

Forbes explains that, "New information about Rowling's estimated $160 million in charitable giving combined with Britain's high tax rates bumped the Harry Potter scribe from our list this year."

In his book, Dignity & Decency, psychotherapist Sterlin Lujan cites Rowling's generosity as his response to the common argument that, "Under anarchy, the poor and impoverished suffer the most due to this disorder caused by freedom since no one will help them because everyone is greedy."

Lujan elaborates:

Already — without government — millions benefit from the generosity of kind people. To say that the poor and infirm will continue to suffer under anarchy is to say that people are incapable of helping. The argument suggests that without authority, people suddenly become less philanthropic — that people need a government gun to their heads to force them to share. More frighteningly, this position suggests that only the angelic men with political power maintain the ability to aid the suffering. But government consists of criminals, not angels.

J.K. Rowling is proof of this. Despite the British government stealing (through taxation) probably half her wealth, she still donates hundreds of millions of dollars to charity. Imagine how generous she’d be if the Ministry of Magic didn’t keep raiding Gringotts.

John C.A. Manley

PS I've recently started reading Sterlin Lujan's Dignity and Decency: Rhapsodic Musings of a Modern Anarchist and can't recommend it enough. It's a quasi-poetic and deeply human look at why we would be healthier, wealthier and more cooperative without any monarchs, politicians, bureaucrats, presidents or government functionaries restricting our actions and stealing our income. You can purchase a copy through my blazing bookshop (check out the awesome cover).

John C. A. Manley is the author of Much Ado About Corona, All The Humans Are Sleeping and other works of philosophical fiction that are "so completely engaging that you find yourself alternately laughing, gasping, hanging on for dear life." Get free samples of his stories by becoming a Blazing Pine Cone email subscriber.