Uncaring rich may stifle Buffett-Gates

• Source: Global Times
• [21:11 September 05 2010]
• Comments

Illustration: Liu Rui

By Harvey Dzodin

Flush with success, two of the world's richest men, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, are taking their hit show on the road in China later this month trying to get the country's billionaires to sign on to their Giving Pledge, which specifies that at least half of their fortunes be given to charity.

I wish them lots of luck and advise them not to hold their breath or to place any bets in Macao on the immediate success of their well-intentioned China visit.

Gates, along with his wife, Melinda, and Buffett met with great success in the US when they announced their initiative this summer when 40 billionaires, including Michael Bloomberg, Barry Diller, Larry Ellison and David Rockefeller, signed the pledge. The effort could generate $600 billion in charitable giving.

China, it would seem, is the next best place to succeed in such an effort. This year according to the Forbes list of the richest people, China has the second-highest number of dollar bil-lionaires in the world after the US, 117 of them.

However, numbers don't tell the real story when it comes to philanthropic contributions. Cultural and legal differences suggest to me that Gates and Buffet will find it extremely hard going here.

Perhaps the Gates and Buffett should look at their visit as seed-planting time rather than a bountiful harvest.

Wang Liwei, founder and publisher of the Beijing-based magazine Charitarian, confirmed my suspicions. He said that aside from times of great national emergency, such as the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake, when the entire nation grieves and the government actively encourages contributions, those who can afford to give usually don't because there is little incentive to part with their wealth.

Only when the public spotlight is focused on giving or not giving enough will those people who can give be motivated by self-interest. They want to be seen as good citizens and avoid criticism for giving too little, such as the slating Vanke CEO Wang Shi received for his 2 million yuan ($293,644) contribution.