Opus 2014-159: From Gates to Gore, part 1 of 3

We hear a lot about the greedy rich but all rich people are not the same.  Let’s compare Bill Gates, George Soros and Al Gore.

The one who has touched most of our lives is Bill Gates.  In case you live in a cave that does not have an internet connection, Gates is the driving force behind Microsoft.  Its products run most of the government and businesses in the world that use computers.  Anything that does not have a little bitten apple on it probably runs on a Microsoft product.  He may not be the richest man in the world this week, but he comes close.  He has not gotten rich by raising prices but by volume of sales.

I don’t like his politics.  I don’t like some of his business practices.  I avoid his products as much as possible.  He is a modern Robber Baron.  Understand, I mean that as a compliment.  He has become incredibly wealthy by improving a product, marketing a product and driving the price of that product down regularly.  My first computer, with no hard drive, no wifi, 64k memory and weighing in at about 30 pounds cost $2,700.  My latest laptop cost under $600.  People line up to work for him because he pays well for people who know what they are doing.  In spite of all the bad press in the liberal academic circles, that is what the 19th century robber barons did too.  Life was better because of them.  Bill Gates created wealth for himself, thousands of employees, millions of investors and a better life for billions of people.

Society is better off with this type of rich person.

To be continued...

homo unius libri