Spoiled by Dollars

Two of the richest men on the planet, American billionaires Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, decided to seriously change the face of philanthropy. In the “generosity auction” started by the U.S., they called on multimillionaires to donate half the wealth that they earned without much toil — to charity.

The founder of Microsoft, Bill Gates, who was the wealthiest man in the world for 16 years until losing this “honorable position” last year, is also widely known among other things for writing checks for various donations, the total of which amounts to more than $20 billion. His colleague on the “golden list,” the head of the investment funds, Warren Buffett, gave only $6.5 billion to philanthropy, but after the death of his wife, Susan, he changed his charitable plans and decided to give at least another $30 billion to “good deeds.” American journalists — who with admirable willingness tracked a series of secret meetings in a narrow circle of American billionaires — discovered that Gates and Buffett are not going to stop at their accomplished results and are calling for their “colleagues in monetary happiness” to part with half of their wealth.

Nevertheless, there is no need to rush in this noble cause: According to their idea, large donations can be made after death by adding the corresponding item in a will and establishing a time frame for their heirs’ inheritance. By some estimates, the total amount of donations could exceed $600 billion.

In fact, dinners in close circles of the world’s richest people, including David Rockefeller, Michael Bloomberg, George Soros and other wealthy individuals, have been held for more than a year, but until recently, one could only guess at what the “cash society” discussed at the table. As it turns out, the goals of the elite community are in fact very noble — to spend at least half of their income on charity. Their backstage conversations were about how to implement such ambitious plans that are unprecedented by the general public.

In addition, serious discussion of practical questions took place about how charitable organizations will arrange for the disposal of the “golden rain” that will be shed on them in the near future and how to control the cost of the funds. The development of additional motivation for parting with their wealth happened to be just as important. Among the mentioned ideas, there was even the possibility of recognition through the issuance of a special Presidential Medal of Honor.

At the Gates-and-Buffett-initiated campaign to dramatically increase the rates of charitable giving, at least four multimillionaires responded. Among them are Eli Broad and his wife, Edith — two of the most famous art collectors — who will allocate to charity 75 percent of their nearly $6 billion wealth. Media magnet Gerry Lenfest and his wife, Margaret, have already given $800 million, representing 65 percent of their wealth, to help the needy. Others wishing to allocate their funds for humanitarian needs also include venture capitalist John Doerr and well-known businessman John Morgridge.

Rossiskaya Gazet Note:

In total, according to Forbes Magazine, the U.S. has 403 billionaires. Their combined wealth is estimated at $1.2 trillion.