Closing the Wealth Gap.

[Sapplicant]

Reading things like this really gives legs to the belief that the greedy are a dying breed.

Hopefully many, many more will follow in their footsteps. Luckily, the Saudi Royal family is already obliged by the Koran.  ;D

 

[Ignatius J. Reilly]

from the same article ...........

Along with speaking to about a quarter of the wealthiest people in the United States about The Giving Pledge, Gates and Buffett hosted a dinner with Chinese billionaires in Beijing in September in a bid to promote a culture of philanthropy in China. The pair plan to visit India in March.

Interesting how this is being promoted in China and India. I wonder if it will catch on over there.

 

[a_majoor]

Greed and avarice are part of human nature. For every Bill Gates who chooses to give away his fortune, there is an Al Gore ammassing private jets and mansions while telling us not to do so. Multi billion dollar scams like the Chicago Carbon Exchange or the recently defrauded Danish one (lost about $7 billion) run above board while organized crime rakes off billions below. Political fraud is rampant (check out the tens of millions of dollars of TARP and Stimulus funds going to non existent congressional districts, GM's accounting peek a boo to claim they "paid off" the US government loan, or closer to home the still missing millions from ADSCAM, or the more recent revelations of fraud and corruption in Quebec.)

The best way to close the wealth gap is to close off the avenues of approach for kleptocrats, most especially the ones in Government. Even changing to a flat or single tax system in Canada (eliminating tax exemptions and thus the ability to manipulate the tax code) is estimated to save about $3.5 billion in preparation costs alone, money that can stay in private hands to be used for savings, investment and consumption (and is the resources that can create about 70,000 full time jobs). That will go a long way to reducing the "wealth gap".

 

[Edward Campbell]

from the same article ...........Interesting how this is being promoted in China and India. I wonder if it will catch on over there.

It would not be a very Confucian way of giving charity. I will not bother to go and consult Mencius but, from memory, charity is found in one's heart not, particularly, in one's purse.

There is a story of two rich merchants, each had a junior relative in need. One merchant went out and, with some display, à la Gates and Buffett, presented a substantial gift. The other chose a less direct, less public route and gave a somewhat larger gift to his younger brother and instructed him to dispense the money to less prosperous members of the family, including the targeted member who was in real need. You will be able to guess that Confucius found the second rich merchant to be a worthy gentleman, despite being "in trade," while he chided the first for depriving his poor relative of what little face (dignity) he had left.