When Bill Gates, the billionaire and former CEO of Microsoft (MSFT) – Get a free report commented on ethics on Reddit on January 13, people listened.
He spoke, in his Ask me anything thread, on a wide range of topics.
One wonders, what does a billionaire care about the world in which he lives? A skeptic would say that it is not necessary. But there may be some other thoughts.
Maybe a philanthropist really feels, given the wildly quirky place he finds himself in, how to make the world a better place to live.
There may not be a better example than Gates when considering this discussion.
So what is Bill Gates thinking?
Gates was asked about his interest in farms.
“I have invested in these farms to make them more productive and create more jobs. There is no grand scheme involved; in fact, all these decisions are made by a professional investment team,” he said, according to Entrepreneur.
Gates then commented on wealth in general and hinted at the burden of wealth.
“As for the very rich, I think they should pay a lot more taxes and they should give away their wealth over time,” he said. “It’s been very rewarding for me and it’s my full-time job.”
“I’m surprised taxes haven’t gone up more,” he continued. “For example, capital gains rates might be the same as ordinary income rates. I know things are tough for a lot of people.”
This sounds like someone who is interested in the interests of the global community and is venturing into a public policy debate. And one who is humble about his accumulated wealth.
He then talks specifically about ethics and why a billionaire should be mindful of his place in the world of finance and capitalism.
“Being rich can easily put you out of touch,” he says. “I think the incentive to start new companies is still a good thing. Even if they raise taxes, it wouldn’t prohibit anyone from being worth a billion, but that’s just an opinion. I’ve been very lucky.”
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
A large part of Gates’s post-Microsoft life has been running a foundation to promote health and wellness in parts of the world that need it.
“For more than 20 years, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has been committed to addressing the greatest inequalities in our world,” the foundation’s website says. “We cannot achieve our goals on our own. We work together with businesses, governments and non-profit organizations, with each partner playing a specific role in accelerating progress.”
This kind of commitment to ethics and world affairs has a pretty good backstory. Gates says he told his father eight words that changed his life in one fell swoop.
“One day, we read a newspaper article about millions of children in poor countries dying from diseases, such as diarrhea and pneumonia, that are easily treated in richer countries,” the foundation says in its website. “That blew our minds. As new parents, it hit us especially hard. If there’s anything worse than child death, we told ourselves, then surely it’s preventable child death.”
The eight words? “Dad, maybe we can do something about it.”
