Sat, Feb 11 2012

TO THE EDITOR: Billionaires: A good thing or a bad thing?

Mon, Mar 19 2007 09:00 CET 276 Views

Sir
 
Last week Forbes unveiled that there are now 946 billionaires in the world at large, substantially more than last year. But is this a good thing or a bad thing? There are many who say it is and many who say that it is not, so who is right?

When one looks at the world's super-rich, one finds that their giving, other than by Bill Gates, Warren Buffett and very few others, is small compared to their vast fortunes (the 946 combined have $3.5 trillion in personal wealth). Indeed, as their wealth increases year-on-year they are even richer as the years come by, even after giving.

To put this in perspective, Lawrence J Ellison, founder of Oracle, last year was worth about $16 billion and this year $19.5 billion. In this respect in 2006, Ellison needed to spend more than $67 million a week simply to keep from accumulating more money than he already had, without not mentioning him trying to spend the $16 billion that he already holds. Even greater this year is Carlos Slim Helu, whose wealth grew by a staggering $19 billion in 2006.

Therefore, on these facts, most billionaires appear to only do things for themselves and to forget that we are a species like all others that are born as a dying species, and from day one we have just a mere finite life, no matter who we are. Therefore, if human nature and humanity means anything at all, people should not just look to amass great wealth, but also to substantially use this money for making for a far better future world. In this respect to leave the world a better place than when they themselves were born.

In my mind, for billionaires to be a good thing for the sustainability of humankind, they should adopt the same humanitarian traits as those of Gates and Buffett, who have/or are giving away their vast fortunes to good causes (more than $90 billion). Indeed, these two "very special" individuals give away their money to global matters that change the lives of millions and where they are not interested in their own satisfactions or ways of life. Now is that not what even Christ, Mohammed and Moses "all" had in common, or am I wrong?
 
 
Dr. David Hill, chief executive
World Innovation Foundation Charity
Bern, Switzerland

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