Not sure what to make of this…
The world of philanthropy got a huge financial boost today as more than 30 American billionaires pledged to give away at least half of their fortunes to charitable causes, signing up to a campaign launched by Warren Buffett and Bill Gates.
As the article states, Buffett alone is worth $47 billion.
What, though, has prompted this? Have they finally realised that their children will have a secure future without having to worry about a thing with a fraction of that? Did these guys get out a calculator and realise that they could never spend it all?
Of course, not to put a dampener on the gesture, the pledge isn’t binding, but well, it’s a start. Maybe the next step is to make people realise they don’t need to amass these large fortunes in the first place.
I tell you what though, if Warren Buffett can persuade these guys to give away half their fortunes, maybe David Cameron should have word with him to get some of our rich people to help out with his Big Society plans.
It would of course be far better if these super rich actually paid their fair share of taxes on their ill gotten gains. More so in the UK perhaps?
That would be the ideal, but getting rich men to get other rich men to pay their proper taxes…? We can but dream.