TOP BILLIONAIRES
For many, every year they are waiting for the so-called Billionaires List, and for many, Bill Gates didn't lose his title as the world's richest man last year; for we know that he gave it away by plowing billions into his charitable foundation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which focuses on global health and development and U.S. education.
FORBE'S TOP TEN
And now, as Forbes will release its 2011 billionaires list on Wednesday and Gates, investor Warren Buffett and last year's richest man, Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim, will almost certainly be in the top three. But let us remeber, it would be no contest if Microsoft co-founder Gates had not already given away more than a third of his wealth to their foundation. With Gates, now currently worthing about $49 billion, behind Slim, whose fortune was estimated at $60 billion. Buffett, also a philanthropist, is now worth some $47 billion. But had Gates not given away any money, he would be worth $88 billion, but Gates and his wife Melinda have so far given $28 billion to their foundation, so far the largest in the United States.
2010 BILLIONAIRES
Last year, Forbes' 2010 billionaires list put Gates' fortune at $53 billion, but he was knocked into second spot by Slim's $53.5 billion, losing the crown for only the second time since 1995. Slim has said businessmen do more good by creating jobs and wealth through investment, " and not by being Santa
Claus," and while he has still pledged several billion dollars to charity, his efforts have been a fraction of Gates', being a philanthropist.
Buffett, who Forbes ranked as the third richest man in the world last year with $47 billion, has also pledged almost all of his fortune to the Gates Foundation and has given $8 billion to the organization since 2006.
But Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc has fared better than Gates' Microsoft. Microsoft shares now trade about where they were a decade ago, while Berkshire shares have roughly doubled. Since the end of 2009, Microsoft shares have fallen 16 percent, while Berkshire shares are up 29 percent. Slim's major companies, which include Mexico's former state telecoms monopoly Telmex, have also seen gains in their stock prices.
PHILANTHROPIC INFLUENCE PAVED ITS WAY
Gates and Buffett have joined forces to encourage other billionaires to publicly pledge to give away at least 50 percent of their wealth during their lifetimes or upon their death as part of a campaign called "The Giving Pledge".
Glen Macdonald, president of the Wealth and Giving Forum, said Gates' philanthropy had influenced the way other rich people in the United States approach their own philanthropy.
Now, 59 billionaires have joined The Giving Pledge, publishing their letter at www.givingpledge.org. The campaign does not accept any money nor tell people how to give away their wealth, it just asks for a moral commitment. For Paul Schervish, director of the Center on Wealth and Philanthropy at Boston College, said Gates' influence had been "dramatic" and likened philanthropy to a gem, saying Gates was "changing the facets by learning and teaching others."
For Schervish, "He would be the first to admit that he is not the origin of the movement, of all the ideas in the movement, for which he is a leader,"
"One of the things we're dramatically finding is (many more) people beginning foundations and endowing them at higher levels while they are still alive," he said.
TRUE WEALTH VS. EARTHLY WEALTH
For many, their utmost importance is inclined in gaining money, wealth and power, but if we are to ask the Bible, hear what it says:
"Does a person gain anything if he wins the whole world but loses his life? Of course not! There is nothing he can give to regain his life."
MARK 8:36-37 Today's English Version
What is more important than gaining wealth?
"I am the door, anyone who comes into the fold through me will be safe"
JOHN 10:9 Revised English Bible
The flock or the fold referred to is the Church of Christ,
"Take heed therefore to yourselves, and to all the flock, overwhich the Holy Spirit has appointed you overseers, to feed the church of Christ which he has purchased with his blood."
ACTS 20:28 LAMSA Translation
Let us remember that come the day of Judgment, no money or wealth can save men, as it says:
"The great day of the LORD is near--very near and coming fast! That day will be bitter, for even the bravest soldiers will cry out in despair!
On the day when the LORD shows his fury, not even all their silver and gold will save them. The whole earth will be destroyed by the fire of his anger. He will put an end--a sudden end--to everyone who lives on earth."
ZEPHANIAH 1:14, 18 Today's English Version
For our true wealth is with God, if we're His sons and daughters,
"God's Spirit joins himself to our spirits to declare that we are God's children. Since we are his children, we will possess the blessings he keeps for his people, and we will also possess with Christ what God has kept for him; for if we share Christ's suffering, we will also share his glory."
ROMANS 8:16-17 Today's English Version
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