By Abe N. Margallo

In 1995, the world’s second richest man, Warren Buffett, so it is said, made the following remarks:

I work in a market system that happens to reward what I do very well - disproportionately well. Mike Tyson, too. If you can knock a guy out in 10 seconds and earn $10 million for it, this world will pay a lot for that. If you can bat 360, this world will pay a lot for that. If you’re a marvelous teacher, this world won’t pay a lot for it. If you are a terrific nurse, this world will not pay a lot for it. Now, am I going to try to come up with some comparable worth system that somehow redistributes that?

Then Buffett concluded that “society has a big claim” upon those with such a “peculiar talent” as an astute investor as him, a knock-out artist as Mike Tyson or an ace baseball slugger.

On another instance Buffett actually has opened up: “There’s nothing material I want very much.”

About a decade later, or in June 2006, Warren Buffett gave away approximately US$30.7 billion to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, established by the world’s richest man Bill Gates, making the donation the largest in charity history.

If Buffet is after efficiency, he’s probably right in putting his historic endowment literally in one basket but I think he’s off in implying that society does not have a claim on the talent of a marvelous teacher or a terrific nurse. (more…)

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