Another 17 of America’s richest people, including Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, junk bond pioneer Michael Milken and AOL co-founder Steve Case, have pledged to give away most of their wealth.
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those who pledge are committing to give away at least half of their wealth to philanthropic causes either before or after they die.
A few points and questions without comment:
- What do the critics of capitalism and the private functioning of charity have to say about this? Shall these things be ignored, just as the charitable acts of past “Robber Barons” have been ignored.
- Is it not an open question about whether this is even a good idea? I assert that Zuckerberg, Gates, Buffett do ENORMOUSLY more good in the world by trying to double, triple and quadruple their fortunes than by giving it away. Think about why. I think if I were rich, I would ask other rich dudes to sign a pledge that committed them to competing with me on who could create more wealth – not who could get rid of it the fastest.
- If the government is so awesome, I sure hope to see these moguls giving all of this money to government. After all, isn’t government the world’s most efficient, benevolent, well organized and successful charity?
- I’d like to make $50 billion, and then commit to giving half away by the end of my life. I think I could handle leaving myself and my heirs with a mere $25 billion.
#3 is a D@MNED strong point.