ABSTRACT
Nothing grates on me more than hearing that Bill Gates or some other successful person needs to “give back” to society. I would say that building a company that employs tens of thousands and creates products that underpin millions more jobs around the world qualifies as one heck of a contribution to society. Having made billions doing so, Mr. Gates is perfectly within his rights to spend it any way he wishes. Still, we should recognize that the billionaire who opts to place his money into a venture-capital firm that may finance the Microsofts of tomorrow is making a contribution to human well-being at least as large as that of the billionaire who gives his money to charity. And if he makes more billions in the process, more power to him. He now has even more money to give away or, if he chooses, to invest in creating new businesses.
