Some billionaires want to give away some of their money, and who can argue with that? I guess after you have pampered your every whim and whimsy, the fact that your wealth is regarded by most normal people as obscene may start to gnaw a trifle. And sure you worked hard, but you know full well that you didn’t work THAT hard, and you are smart and all, but come on already. And money, surprise!, did not buy your life meaning, but wait! maybe it still can!
Everybody who doesn’t have billions of dollars has lots of advice for those who do, and I’m no exception. Not that they are seeking any from us. They are chatting with each other about this, safe in the knowledge that in their own company they won’t be besieged by the grasping fingers of the jealous.
But if they actually bother to look in the mirror, rather than only down on the charity cases, they may just possibly realize that the problem is not in the stars, but in themselves, that they are overlings. The rich have rigged the system to excessively reward the already rewarded, a process that had the side effects of creating socially corrosive inequality of both resources and opportunity, a bought and corrupted political system, a global financial crisis, and a thirty-year evasion of elite responsibility for these and all other issues. So spend your time and money fixing THOSE problems, please.
By Tom Toles | 08:00 AM ET, 05/10/2011
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/tom-toles/post/thoughts-for-your-penny/2011/05/09/AFVhqRZG_blog.html