re: #79 teleskiguy

If I was a billionaire I’d donate like 30% to the U.S. Treasury and give the rest away to things I like. I’d open schools in Bamyan, Afghanistan so I could teach little kids how to ski and read and write. I’d build new high speed quads at the ski area in Dizin, Iran. Schools in deep rural Africa, infrastructure, the whole nine.

I’m seeing all this wealth in the United States that could go to good things. But the wealth is going to methods to create even more wealth. How far does it go? How much wealth does one man, woman or family have to have before it’s enough? In the United States, the answer to that question is ‘as much as you can get, there is no limit.’

A lot of the new, high tech wealth has been active in philanthropy(Social Venture Partners, etc.). They handle their philanthropy like a business, which has its share of problems….but the Gates’ and some of his employees have been modeling more philanthropic behavior.

One key is getting people to switch over from asset accumulation mindset to making a difference mode early. Most people don’t do that until their late 50s or 60s….it’s trying to do it early…