Reverse Socialism that works

Instead of taking away the wealth of the rich and giving it to the poor—which is basically socialistic—Bill Gates and Warren Buffett beat Obama to the punch and decided to give it away. Now how absurd does that sound, both giving up parts of two huge fortunes, and the fact that the President would even consider a Socialist government? He wouldn’t, and his critics who accuse him of this know it.

But the part about Buffett and Gates is true.

America’s richest two people are attempting to persuade their ultra-rich peers to anti-up half of their fortunes to charity. Sort of flies in the face of the “ME” generation, doesn’t it? If only the Forbes 400 come through, there would be $600 billion in the pot. It sounds great, as long as they don’t let the politicians get their hands on it. And we might also exempt much of the greedy business community.

The two philanthropists should also be looking at the sports field, where football, basketball and baseball players are signed for ridiculously high salaries. As an example, Kobe Bryant, of the Los Angeles Lakers, who just won the NBA championship, is paid over $23 million a year. I don’t care if sports careers are short, one year of Bryant’s salary would last most people a lifetime.

Next, they will want to summon the predators of Wall Street, like AIG management, who sucked the very blood out of American consumers. At least, the athletes earned it honestly. Gates and Buffett might want to increase the anti from 50 percent of Wall Street’s take to at least 95 percent considering most of these ill-gotten gains.

There are others that could be called before the court of humanitarianism, but you get the idea. There are those who need help, and it sounds like Warren Buffett and Bill Gates are on the right track. They even have a site, GivingPledge.org, where participants can pledge 50 percent of their net worth. By the way, Buffett is pledging 99 percent. How much would you pledge?

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