Wealthy Business Owners on "Giving It All Away"

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ON THE SUBJECT OF the WEALTHY giving it all away
Bill Gates and Warren Buffet are showing the world what it should mean to be wealthy. 

Warren Buffett, Melinda and Bill Gates

Recently they invited several other Billionaires to a secret dinner hosted by non other than 95 year old David Rockefeller. Among those present were Oprah Winfrey, Michael Bloomberg, Ted Turner and George Soros. The theme of the evening was on the Global economic status and Philanthropy. The general goal of those present was to give away 50% of their money. Warren Buffet is actually planning on giving away 99% of his money. His attitude being even with keeping his 1%, more than all of his needs are being met.

Of course we would tend to think "it's easy for them to give so much away, they're filthy rich". However I would like to point out the fact that although most Billionaires give away huge sums of their wealth, and America leads the world in giving by a landslide, as we should. There lacks a concerted effort on behalf of a consortium of Billionaires to focus on this as a goal. Even 50% represents trillions that can go towards needed efforts...such as AIDS research, Melinda Gates goal of eradicating Malaria, stopping child slavery and sex trade, Ecological solutions to what is happening in the Gulf, poverty and so on, that can be better served by the private community rather than leaving it up to governments who history has shown has never solved the problems, they only help foster them and make them worse.

So while we have a government hellbent on creating a United States of Europe, while Socialist Europe is flailing about, flurting with financial ruin, we have two proud American's in Buffet and Gates who are showing the world what it really means to be an American. By not only having the testimony of how they gained their wealth, from nothing up to their current vast empires, exhibiting the power of American ingenuity and free enterprise, but also being able to directly address the problems of society without the bureaucratic red tape of government or world dictatorships clogging and siphoning away all the money.

But studies also have shown that it is perfectly natural for people with wealth to give away money. Be it from guilt or a genuine care for their fellow man, it seems to be wired into the DNA of the wealthy. An interesting book I recommend that talks about this subject is called "The Soul of Money" by Lynne Twist . Even the vilified John D. Rockefeller gave away enormous sums of his money to charity and his church back in the late 1800's.

One of my favorite proverbs is Prov 13:22 "A good man leaves an inheritance for his children's children, while the wealth of the wicked is stored up for the righteous."

We all have tremendous opportunities before us everyday to make something of what we have been given by our creator. May we be good stewards with our abilities and wealth that follows.

Devin T. Burke
CEO, Universal Cargo Management, Inc.