Change Through Charity

[Big Guy]

A few years ago, billionaire Bill Gates decided that he had made enough money so was looking into another direction to focus his interests. He experimented with philanthropy, found it pleasing and met a soul mate in Warren Buffet. Between the two of these folks they had enough money to purchase a couple of countries. They decided to pledge at least half their assets (just a few $billion) to give to charity.

It seemed to make them feel good so they created "The Giving Pledge" where fellow billionaires would pledge a minimum of 500 million or half their worth or whatever,;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Giving_Pledge

It has since become more popular with many, many more billionaires making the pledge. The current number is astonishing and building quickly:

http://givingpledge.org/

I think that it appears to be a very good thing and am not in the least critical but am interested in the psychology of the initiative. I have always believed that if you have power then you seek money and conversely if you have money then you seek power. All of these people have lots and lots of money - enough money if there is such a thing.

While it does not appear to be significant on the surface, what greater power can one have than the power of choosing who lives and who dies?

This organization is now in a position to decide where and when $trillions whose lives will be saved and whose will not.

What is the criteria for distribution to be and who is going to decide the criteria? Will there be a religious influence or political or cultural or need based or ....? Will there be a body to investigate and evaluate what the consequences of pouring money into any particular area will result before the money moves?

To the best of my knowledge, this is the first time that a very few humans can create profound changes based strictly on their ability to create wealth.

I hope they get it right the first time.

[Freddy]

Im not sure this is what they meant as, trickle down economy.

Why not sink it all into research? At least it would be helping the world and people who have invested a lot of money into education wouldn't be flipping burgers at McDonald's.

Instead they want to makea bad world population problem even worse.

Edited June 23, 2015 by Freddy

[Moonlight Graham]

When you're worth 70 billion like each of those guys, losing half of it won't change your life in any noticeable way. But still, kudos for them. I'm glad they care about more than just making money.

[PrimeNumber]

It states in their FAQ that each individual family chooses where and how they pledge their wealth, the real message is the promise to do so.