He's going to give his wealth away to charity, he propped up Goldman Sachs stock a few years back, wrote the recent editorial for the New York Times, and now he's helping out Bank of America. Aww...


I realize this sounds sarcastic, but I'm really not.

You know who I miss? The philanthropists of the 19th and early 20th century. The ones who founded colleges and campaigned for public education. Today's rich are much richer in both relative and absolute terms, but far less philanthropically inclined. How many rich & powerful people you can name who are passionate about charity? Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, ...? (I can hear a counter-argument, that it's crass to talk about it, and I disagree. They should talk about it. They should compete on who can give away more money, who can make the biggest difference.) Where's the next Peter Cooper?

The production of wealth is not the work of any one man, and the acquisition of great fortunes is not possible without the co-operation of multitudes of men. ... A good human intelligence feels bound to use all its powers to accomplish the greatest good [for] the greatest number. ... I have endeavoured to remember that the object of life is to do good.