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Philanthropy on a Large Scale

Written by

John Hunter

in

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Warren Buffett and Bill Gates are two of the richest people on the planet (though many are gaining on them recently). Both have pledged to give away nearly all (over 99%) of the money they have earned to charity. Both have spoken out against the harm to children and society (and the capitalist system) when huge wealth is provided by lottery of birth to a few instead of provided to those who earn the money.

Melinda Gates goes public

Ray French, Melinda’s dad, stretched their budget to pay for all four children to go to college. An engineer, he started a family business on the side, operating rental properties. “That meant scrubbing floors and cleaning ovens and mowing the lawns,” Melinda recalls.
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Melinda and Bill will very likely give away more than $100 billion in their lifetimes. Already the foundation has disbursed $14.4 billion – more than the Rockefeller Foundation has distributed since its creation in 1913 (even adjusted for inflation).
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Bill, who is nine years older than Melinda, plans to spend more than 40 hours a week on philanthropy, leaving 15 or so for his duties as chairman of Microsoft.
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Early on she and Bill agreed to focus on a few areas of giving, choosing where to place their money by asking two questions: Which problems affect the most people? And which have been neglected in the past? While many philanthropists take the same tack, the Gateses, who love puzzles, apply particular rigor. “We literally go down the chart of the greatest inequities and give where we can effect the greatest change,” Melinda says. So while they don’t give to the American Cancer Society, they have pumped billions into the world’s deadliest diseases – most importantly AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis – and failing public high schools in the U.S.

Charity is important. As is understanding that capitalism is about people earning their wealth not getting it from Mom and Dad. Unfortunately many politicians don’t know what capitalism is and think that providing huge inheritances to some kids of rich people is capitalism. Providing resources to those that didn’t earn them is the opposite of capitalism. They need to learn. If they oppose capitalism and would rather assure the kids of the rich get huge inheritances that is fine, they just shouldn’t get away with claiming they support capitalism.

Related: Estate Tax Repeal (a very bad idea) – Helping Capitalism Make the World Better – charity links – Multi-millionaires giving to charity not creating later day idle nobility

Comments

2 responses to “Philanthropy on a Large Scale”

  1. altiusmike Avatar
    altiusmike

    Charity is marginal and anyone who says it is important or fundamental to capitalism doesn’t understand the issue of morality. Altruism is the morality of Marxism and all other forms of collectivism. Capitalism is based on the sanctity of an individual’s right to their own life and the fruits of their labor – which naturally extends to their disposing of it as they see fit upon their death. It’s unfortunate that some of our most celebrated capitalists don’t get this. Bill Gates and Warren Buffet should be praised for their productivity and not their charity. In fact, they’ve done so much more for the poor and needy by making the profits they have. See Ayn Rand….

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  2. curiouscat Avatar
    curiouscat

    In the post, what is said to be fundamental to capitalism is that those that earn the money deserve it not those that inherit money. If there were no need for government taxes would not be needed, and thus there would be no need for inheritance taxes. Given a need for tax revenue the inheritance tax is the most capitalistic tax (much better than income tax and even than sales tax).

    Second on morality and economics. The idea that morality is not part of the business world went about with the robber barrons a long while ago. The moral principles that take hold are those of the society, not some that spring forth from the philosophy of capitalism. It is silly to say that moral failures such as exploiting children, selling dangerous products, polluting the groundwater… are anti-capitalist.

    Charity is rightly praised as the good and proper action of those who gain much from society.

    Adam Smith was the Professor of Moral Philosophy at Glasgow University in Scotland from 1752-1764.

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