Gates is one side of the coin. He was a producer and clearly directly hired a huge number of workers. Many of his employees got rich since the company had stock options. Indirectly, whole markets and industries were created around his products. Compared to Soros, who has made a fortune manipulating politics and betting on the markets' response.
I just read yesterday where Gates said, basically, that money isn't what motivated him, and that there is no useful difference between being a millionaire and a billionaire because there aren't things to buy that will enrich your life that cost billions. barfo
With his wealth, he could buy just about anything. Including a space shuttle. A millionaire can't. At $100m, you can own your own private jet and pay pilots. Like AlGore does.
Bill Gates might not care about a shuttle, but Bronfman does. Maybe an exact replica of the Eiffle Tower would make him happy.
The problem is finding somebody strange enough to give you what would make you happy. Money (a lot of it) would help the search.
The problem is when you want to use govt. to reach out and touch someone very far away from you, who has little to do with you, because your observation leads to a bad decision.
The problem is when you want to use govt. to reach out and touch someone very far away from you (financially), who has little to do with you (self absorbed), because your observation leads to a bad decision (fair taxation?).
