Re: What's Wrong With Billionaires?

That is seems to me depends on whether you want to paint a broad brush to include everyone in one grand stroke, or you want to look at each individual who is wealthy, and see what they have done it seems to me. For instance Rockefeller made a whole lot of money, but as a result, there are organizations which are using that money, like the Rockefeller Foundation, who has done a great deal to make the world a better place to live in....probably a lot more good, then whatever evil we attach to the name. There is Bill Gates, who has allocated a great deal of his wealth, in pursuing the illusive dream of helping people. Howard Hughes was a wealthy man, yet the medical foundation he founded, is using that wealth to solve many of the worlds medical problems. We have the Hewlett Packards in the world, who also allocated a good deal of their wealth, to help other people. Of course then we have those like those two sisters (forgot their names right now) who seem only interested in having a good time. Or we have George Soros who seems to spend his money to support a political movement, when he could spend the same money actually trying to make peoples lives a little better. And of course we have those Hollywood types, who may not be billionaires, who don't seem to match their concern for the common man, by spending some of their accumulated wealth to help the common man that they seem so concerned about.

"Capitalist Pig" <cochon-capitaliste@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:1174332687.777209.249960@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
COMMENTARY





By ARTHUR C. BROOKS
March 19, 2007; Page A13

The world's super-rich are getting increased attention of late,
courtesy of a new report in Forbes Magazine listing the world's 946
billionaires. The list starts with Bill Gates (worth $56 billion), and
reaches down to those with "just" one billion, such as Arkansas
chicken magnate Donald Tyson.

The wealth of these people is so vast that it is difficult to
comprehend. The New York Times helps out by noting that Larry Ellison,
founder of Oracle and the eleventh-richest man on the list, would need
to spend $30 million per week, or $183,000 per hour, just to avoid
increasing his wealth.

What could explain these billionaires' will to accumulate such
unspendable fortunes -- and to keep on earning more, year after year
(and most of the Americans on the list did earn their money, as
opposed to inheriting it)? It might appear that the rich are deluded,
because virtually every study of the subject has shown that money by
itself does not bring happiness. Worse yet, many charge that the
wealthy accumulate money simply so they have more than others. Some
economists believe that wealth acquisition in the developed world is
nothing more than a social arms race.

These explanations for the acquisitive tendencies of the world's
billionaires (and all the rest of us, for that matter) are convenient
for social critics and tax collectors, but they ignore an explanation
that doesn't reflect quite so poorly on the rich: What people hunger
for is not money per se, but success at creating value. Money just
tends to come along for the ride.

Consider a few brief facts. According to the General Social Survey,
about 30% of American adults say they are "very happy" in their lives.
At the same time, about half the population say they feel "very
successful" or "completely successful" in their work lives.

Happiness and perceived success are intimately linked: If you feel
very successful, you are twice as likely to be very happy than if you
don't feel very successful -- even after accounting for differences in
income, as well as education, age, race, sex, religiosity, and other
characteristics. In fact, while people who feel successful earn about
a third more than others, on average, income by itself creates no
happiness at all. Above the level needed to get by, money is just an
expedient measure of the value we feel we create.

Do the world's 946 billionaires need a spiritual awakening of some
sort so they gauge their value and success more transcendentally than
with cold, hard cash? Perhaps. But there are good reasons to hope they
don't wake up anytime soon to the reality that earning another billion
is less satisfying than enjoying the morning sun.

First, the super-rich have the ability -- and increasingly the
willingness -- to be super-givers as well. Bill Gates is an obvious
example: Through philanthropy, he has turned his attention to giving
away the vast wealth he has accumulated, proving that giving money can
signify as much success to a person as accumulating it can.

Second, as long as a fortune is earned (as opposed to stolen, squeezed
from governments or otherwise extorted from citizens), pecuniary
acquisitiveness is directly related to the comfort of others. Larry
Ellison's company has created tens of thousands of jobs, introduced
technology that has benefited all parts of the economy and paid
billions in taxes. When Mr. Ellison measures his success with money,
he spills opportunity and economic abundance onto all of us, directly
or indirectly.

Better than convincing today's 946 billionaires (and the rest of us)
to stop chasing filthy lucre, or looking for creative ways to
confiscate it, we should understand this wealth as an enabler of
everyone's success, and through increasing philanthropy, as the fuel
for social good.

Mr. Brooks, a professor of public administration at Syracuse
University's Maxwell School of Public Affairs, is the author of "Who
Really Cares: The Surprising Truth About Compassionate
Conservatism" (Basic Books, 2006).


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