Bill Gates and Warren Buffet: Knowing the Difference

IT SEEMS STRANGE that a socialist like myself would choose as two of his heros Bill Gates and Warren Buffett. But maybe there is a connection, somewhere, that isn't loose. The fact is, by giving away half their respective fortunes, both men were acting like socialists. Now, of course, the conservative capitalist crowd is going to object to this assertion. They're gonna want to categorize this good behavior on the capitalistic side. Charity, generosity, philanthropy are part and parcel of capitalism, you can just hear the con-caps saying. All great financial giants practice philanthropy. Carnegie, Vanderbilt, Rockefeller, the whole lot. They all gave their fortunes away to the rest of us. Well, true, for the most part. Not all wealthy folks are civic minded, but a good many indeed are. And, in every instance, when they are, they are turning into socialists the very moment they do so. As the ink pen is hovering over the rectangular piece of paper, Bill Gates is a capitalist. During the few seconds during which ink is being applied to paper, a mysterious spiritual transfiguration is occuring. Upon completion of the writing, after the forty billion dollar check has been writ, Bill Gates emerges as a socialist, perhaps to soon return to the realm of capitalism, perhaps to revisit socialism later. Its that simple. There is absolutely nothing in any economic text book conjoining altruism and capitalism. According to the books and the professors, capitalism involves capital, investment, supply, demand, and many other business and economic concepts, but not generosity. In capitalism, there is no redistribution of wealth. Socialism, however, is just the opposite. IN socialism, it doesn't matter who makes what, who earns what, who deserves what. Its only concern is: who needs what? The arbitrary redistribution of wealth, through the government, or through grass roots citizen behavior, is part and parcel of socialism. Bill Gates and Warren Buffett are great men because they are great capitalists, and great socialists, and they understand that there is a time and place for one, and a time and a place for the other, and that the trick is to know the difference.