In late June of this year, the media announced that Warren Buffett, the world’s second richest man, was about to give away the bulk of his fortune to the Gates Foundation run by Bill Gates, the world’s richest man. Since the Gates Foundation already had over $30 billion dollars, the Buffett gift will bring the total to over $60 billion dollars.
I suppose we should all be grateful that the money is not going to be put to such an evil and dangerous use as the Soros fortune, but Buffett has already set up other well-endowed trusts that are to be run by his offspring and used for purposes that Media Class Leftists will applaud. We are told that the Gates Foundation will target malaria, AIDS and raising education standards in the USA though Gates has yet to take over from staffers, as he has not relinquished control of Microsoft. Since the Media reports all of this as a ‘good thing’ it seems churlish for this website to make a few cynical comments, but then we take the view that charities the Media Class smiles upon are unlikely to be in the interests of the ordinary decent people of the Western World.
Lets start at the beginning! Neither Gates nor Buffett could have made their fortunes by being nice. Nice people fall by the wayside in the high-tech world and nice people are lucky if they make just enough to fund retirement as a result of investing their hard-earned savings after taxation. It is the view of this writer that only people with insider knowledge make real money in the stock market, and in the high-tech field getting to the top means squashing the competition. Still, good luck to Gates and Buffett, as in the course of their ruthless efforts they probably benefited society, even if inadvertently. This is the way it is with international capitalism and the system they represent is better than socialist alternatives.
But Gates and Buffett have not been concerned about the sick and poor whilst amassing colossal fortunes and neither of them halted their money making at the point where they had become fairly rich. Their interest in “doing good” has blossomed into action only after getting to the very top. There is a yardstick for measuring “doing good” and it has to do with personal sacrifice. Albert Schweitzer and Mother Theresa come to mind, though there are tens of thousands of anonymous people like them around the world. The Salvation Army is full of them and many religious denominations and some secular organizations quietly work with the poor and the sick without recognition by the Media.
Gates, Buffett and their respective families will not be going without ANYTHING as a result of this latest charitable giving. Indeed, the Buffett offspring are well taken care of and will also have jobs for life administering the Trusts. They will find that every important and influential door will be open to them amongst the great and the good, the politicians and the famous entertainers.
There is no evidence that Gates and Buffett are bad people or are bent on working to bring about evil ends. They are not in the Soros league! Neither is there any evidence that either of them has any real experience of actually “doing good”. Reducing malaria in Africa may be achieved by throwing more money at the problem but it seems likely that the culture and politics of Africa are at the root of all the continent’s health problems. I doubt that Gates and Buffett have any experience of tackling Africa’s political and cultural problems, and so far, the world’s experts have all failed. However, being even more cynical, I doubt that malaria is really anything more than a smokescreen to obscure our seeing that this is all about AIDS. The Media Class cares deeply about AIDS, and for good reason. Until this disease is defeated, the sexually permissive and perverted practices that so many media people are addicted to, is hugely risky. I cannot help thinking that AIDS will preoccupy the Gates Foundation rather than malaria, diabetes, cancer and the many other deadly diseases that afflict mankind in both Africa and the rest of the world.
It has been said that Gates also wants to do something to improve education in the USA. One wonders why both he and Buffett didn’t commit all their charitable wealth to the needy in the USA. The media tells us at every election time, that poverty is widespread in this country, especially amongst minorities. This is usually a polite way of saying that African Americans are not getting a foot on the rung of the ladder to prosperity. Most experts and politicians agree that this has much to do with them not getting an adequate education. Since Democrats and the Leftists in the media put this educational failure down to lack of funding of public education, then surely $60 billion might solve the problem. Gates and Buffett owe something to the country that has enabled them to amass their wealth and the teachers unions would surely welcome another infusion of funds!
During recent election campaigns Buffett has advocated tax increases for us. He believes that we should all be happy to pay more taxes and he even said the he would not mind paying more tax himself. Here was his chance to put his money where his mouth has been and to give his wealth (all of it) to the IRS. Instead, none of his amassed fortune will reach the US taxman.
Continuing in a cynical vein, I wonder if Gates hopes to win over the Media Class both for his unpopular company and for himself and his wife. Microsoft has always had a bad press, rather like Walmart, but Gates’ new role will surely soften this treatment of his company, just as Ford’s promotion of homosexuality is reaping media benefits. Gates himself surely has a problem. Here he is, the richest man in the world and still fairly young, but like many successful business people he lacks charisma. If you did not know he was the richest man, would you notice him at a party? I doubt his conversation outside of the topic of computer technology is riveting. Now, with the power of his charity he will be able to appear in public not only with Bill Clinton, but also with Bono, Koffi Annan and most of Hollywood. He can walk away from his daily company duties and instead of sinking into social obscurity, stay in the news, rubbing shoulders with everyone who matters.
I predict that the money the Gates Foundation pours into Africa and AIDS won’t have much success in solving Africa’s health problems, but it will provide the Gates and Buffett families with star status in the Media world. What more could a rich man want?