14 billionaires join Bill Gates, Warren Buffett in giving away more than half their money

[binary solo]

AlfredoTurkey said:

binary solo said:

No it couldn't, and in particular the money can't solve our biggest problem, climate change because that's a political problem not a revenue problem. Indeed most of our worst problems are political not revenue. It can temporarily alleviate many problems. There are some things the money could permanently solve but putting an end to most problems is overstating things. End of they day, their money is less than half of the annual expenditure of a medium sized developed economy, like Australia.  

Most of our problems are mental illness, education and economy related. All of those can be solved by pumping money into the private sector by idealistic people who want to see improvement. But it has to be done by people like that and at a micro level. You can't just throw a billion into a foundation and expect long lasting change.

But the amount they can collectively throw into those problems is miniscule compared to the size just the problems of education and mental illness alone globally. And they are not the only problems.

I certainly aplaud them for what they are doing. But ultimately they aren't going to shift the dial by much. Because the amount they are putting in is too small even if it is very efficiently and effectively deployed. Private philanthropy has been around for as long as private wealth has existed. It does a great deal of good work. But don't be fooled into thinking it is a panacea for all that ails the world.