Monday, June 26, 2006

Sullivan, Buffett, and Gates

Andrew Sullivan | The Daily Dish: Gates and Buffett: "Can we offer three cheers? Here we have two of the richest men in the world who are essentially channeling their vast resources to help others. I'm particularly impressed by their lack of interest in handing over their entire fortunes to their biological offspring. Money quote from the Washington Post:

'Neither [late wife] Susie nor I ever thought we should pass huge amounts of money along to our children,' said Warren Buffett, who said he plans to give away his remaining stock holdings after his death but that he has 'quite a bit of cash' he still plans to leave to those close to him. 'Our children are great,' he told Fortune. 'But I would argue that when your kids have all the advantages anyway, in terms of how they grow up and the opportunities they have for education, including what they learn at home - I would say it's neither right nor rational to be flooding them with money.'

Nepotism is indeed a corrosive element in a democratic society; dynasticism is poison to democracy. . ."

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