"could their be a third way, which involves having faith and karma"
I agree with your right to do whatever you want with your giving, but I don't personally believe in faith and karma. I don't need a justification for giving my property away, not giving my property away, or using my property differently from how other people think I should.

I have a friend who inherited a family farm. Several times developers have tried to buy it. It would be worth much more as commercial and residential space than has a farm. So every month he keeps it as a farm, he's forging the returns he could get from developing it or selling it and investing the wealth in profitable enterprises. The farm has been in his family for 150 years, and he wants to keep it.

Pressuring him to sell it and invest in something else, sell it and give the money to the poor, or keep it despite the low returns are all equally wrong. It's his choice.

"is there anything else in AS where AR has a character give something away?"
I can't think of any positive examples of giving in AS either. Hank Rearen giving his wife the bracelet isn't really giving if it's marital property, but it's representative of how I think of giving in the book. He wasn't looking for something in exchange. He just wanted the personal joy for himself of sharing the product of his work with another person. He didn't get that joy because she rejected the "gift". He was looking for someone whom he could give such a "gift" who would appreciate it.

I also think of Roark in The Fountainhead. He consistently forwent money in favor of his own art. He didn't mind that much if other people took credit for and profited from his art. Art was his interest. He seemed more pleased when a young man on a bike appreciated his work than he was when he got paid. He was totally giving away his work as his gift to the world, but not in a self-sacrificing way, but because that's what he really wanted to do.

Well, but Galt did make Dagney clean his house in the Gulch in exchange for her room and board. Other than the jewelry that Reardon gave Dagney, is there anything else in AS where AR has a character give something away ?

Not that your giving something away with out return of equal value...It would depend upon what is valuable to you at the time...you assess the risks and decide...will you see the outcome you wanted or hoped for.
Mankind or "Conscious Human Beings", just like each cell in our bodies, place first our own survival, our own wants, needs and desires...if at anytime those conditions are met...we are more than likely to share any abundance; like offering a surprise visitor at supper time some food...most times we willfully, with no qualms, offer that person something to eat...that just what "Humans" do naturally.

Yes, I can see both points of view so I don't know which takes precedence in Objectivist philosophy -- That if you don't have the option to do whatever you want with something, including giving it away, then you don't really own it in the first place. Or only "value for value" is advocated in Objectivist philosophy which would preclude ever giving away something if equal value is not received in return. OR, could their be a third way, which involves having faith and karma; that the giver will be repaid, at some undetermined time and by an undetermined person in the future ??

Oh you ole capitalist! hahahahahah

Now might be the time to buy!

I haven't been back for a long time. Maybe next year.

Want to buy 56 acres on a mountainside, with a little house?

You have a point there...

That figures...

Share that link with this guy: https://www.galtsgulchonline.com/post...

I love going to West Virginia on vacation.

Yes, bummer. Hate to say it, but another reason not to live in WVa. Nice to visit though.

Charity is fine if the giver chooses to give it. Even if it has impact on the giver, and they choose it, and choose to accept the consequences of their gift, that is on them. Free choice is charity, forced action is looting. By that, then what would be call it if someone were told they couldn't give, because someone else decided it would impact them, and didn't allow it? Would that still be a form of theft, by taking away their choice?

Yes, he got paid. The sisters say it was lower than it should've been, but I have no metric for the payment, or even the date. Think it was the early 70s.
Army Corp of Engineers probably. They are Nazis in reviewing your projects, but not so critical of Government ones.

Jbrenner shared a link on this that was helpful. You might want to take a quick look at that. I think your answer dovetails nicely into it. Thanks !

Ah, that is helpful. So, to summarize, charity is fine as long as it does not negatively impact the giver. Is that correct ?

Sorry to hear that, Thoritsu. The homes of most relatives of Melbourne's talk radio show host flooded in that same valley.

A good summary is at
http://aynrandlexicon.com/lexicon/alt...

I believe it comes down to choice and the reason behind that choice. example: donating to a project because it will create value or helping those that will appreciate it and make good use of it and conditions will improve; as opposed to nothing changing for the better and the perpetuation of the status quo.

So much for the civil engineering involved...seems to me they do more damage than what they might fix accidentally.
Just curious, was your grandfather compensated to the loss of land?

What is the strict Objectivist perspective with regard to giving donations ??
I donate to many things, but thought that it was an exception to Objectivist philosophy. Can anyone clarify ?

The reason my aunts' houses flooded is because the highway was moved (119 I think), and they moved the Elk River/Little Sandy Creek a ways, consuming ~50 acres of my grandfather's farm. There has been flooding recently. This isn't the first time, but never in the last 100 years. How do we know? We've been there longer much than that. Yay for imminent domain.

Fortunately my mother got the dregs (way up the hill) in the inheritance, since she had moved away and was the youngest. The best went to the oldest brother's family, right next to the river!

How true...

If it is as devastating as Old Ug says, then where's the outcry like it was for Katrina? Oh wait, I forgot, that only happens when a Republican is president.

No, my friends were ok but they are helping out in the community...most effected were not the entitled type...many town centers and businesses are effected. It's really bad there.
I get what you mean. I only donate to Mercury One, Hillsdale College for the work that they do and My local Veterans organization...when I can, which is not often.