Selfishness is philanthropic. That’s the message being sent by a series of high-profile Silicon Valley leaders, most recently billionaire venture capitalist Marc Andreessen.
Why it matters: Philanthropy has historically been framed as giving back — after making their fortune from and within society, individuals then return the favor.
- Under the new conception of philanthropy, the act of making the fortune itself is the philanthropic act. There’s no need to give any money away — feel free to go ahead and drop more than $220 million on Malibu property if you’re so inclined. Just by dint of getting rich, your philanthropic work is largely done.
The big picture: Harvard and Stanford economist Robert Barro sketched the broad outlines of this philosophy in a 2007 WSJ op-ed, focused on Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates.
- Gates, he wrote, “is kidding himself if he believes that the efforts of the Gates Foundation are likely to provide society anything like the past and future accomplishments of Microsoft.”
- Barro’s logic was then cited approvingly by […]
This article documents well the mortal bankruptcy and sociopathy of the wealth elites. This prominence of this group tells us that something has been amiss in our society over many decades. The lessons this group of individuals have learned about what it means to be a human is a failure on multiple levels. That they are looked to for their opinions on societal issues in general should scare us all. Do not forget, however, that it is this group of elites funding the current political system – democrats and republicans both. Is it any wonder that the common person holds profound distrust for so called “Representatives”?