3 ms·
> This sounds like Bill Gates. He's chosen humanitarian endeavours that he wants to focus on. I believe its good to have someone who can deploy significant capi
by Xcelerate 3y ago
> This sounds like Bill Gates. He's chosen humanitarian endeavours that he wants to focus on. I believe its good to have someone who can deploy significant capital on multi-decade projects.
We could consider the counterfactual situation. If this money went to the U.S. government instead of Bill Gates, would it have accomplished more for humanity than from his efforts as an individual?
And to your point, even if this is the case for one billionaire, how does the outcome change if you aggregate the humanitarian utility of wealth across all billionaires vs the totality of that wealth going to various governments?
- matwood 3y ago> If this money went to the U.S. government instead of Bill Gates, would it have accomplished more for humanity than from his efforts as an individual? BillG has ~120B net worth and the US spends ~6.5 trillion/year (in 2022). So it would cover just under 2% of the US yearly budget. Doesn't seem very significant considering that would be a one-time payment.