21st century — the age of charity

Simon Jenkins The Hindu Thursday, Jun 29, 2006

When the world's second richest man gives most of his money to the world's richest man we do well to count our spoons. Warren Buffett has given $31 billion to Bill Gates to add to his $29-billion foundation. Mr. Gates replied with a quote from Adam Smith on the virtue of philanthropy. He omitted another quote from the great man, that merchants "seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public." What is going on?

The 19th century was the age of capitalism, the 20th the age of socialism. The 21st is to be the age of charity, or so we are given to hope. But as Margaret Thatcher said in her sermon on the Good Samaritan, "Remember, he had to earn his money first." Greed is back, but it is greed with acquired nobility.

Truly large fortunes are fiendishly difficult to dispose of...The geeks of the Internet and high finance may be very rich, but the 21st century appears to have given them a conscience. These children of the 1960s have taken many a short cut at the margin, but they preach freedom and love and are choosing to give back to society rather than to their heirs. They mean well.

But they share one enemy — modern government in all its forms. In Mr. Buffett's words, only a fool gives his money to a treasury. What would once have seemed a slander now seems a platitude. Whether such people will run a better planet, who knows? But they clearly mean to try. - Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006