On Thu, 10 Oct 2019 18:02:10 -0700 Greg Newby <gbnewby@pglaf.org> wrote:
Can there be such a thing as an "ethical billionaire"?
Sure, if you allow making massive donations to charities, building out a national park system in Chile, and funding health research to qualify as "ethical."
It doesn't matter if a criminal 'donates' a percentage of what he steals. He remains a thief. As a matter of fact those people 'donate' part of 'their' loot only because doing so helps their ability to commit crimes. It's good 'public relations', that's all.
I didn't immediately find any American billionaires who gave it all away. Even the billionaires above seem to argue that money corrupts. Yet they manage to keep a moral compass, of some sort.
a moral compass pointing to evil, yeah.
Actually, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation does quite a lot of good work, too.
no it doesn't.
wikipedia says they gave $28B, as of 2013: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_%26_Melinda_Gates_Foundation
28 billions used to promote american imperialism.
- Greg