According to the Wall Street Journal, Bill Gates, the king of greed, will issue a call for "kinder capitalism" in Davos this week. The man the journal calls "famously competitive" suddenly wants to stop bankrupting people and aid the poor. Mr. Gates whose practices were, if not illegal, then at the very least unethical, is ready to teach us how to be kinder and gentler towards our fellow human beings. It reminds me of these cartoons showing Bill and his cronies waterboarding would-be competitors. Now Darth Vader himself reveals his soft touch. Surely he must think it is just another episode of Star Wars ?
Gates has won praise as an innovator despite the fact that neither he nor his company ever innovated anywhere. Everything they marketed they got from somewhere else. If anything, Gates and Microsoft have smothered nearly all innovation and done everything they could to stand in the way of industry cooperation. Now "The Man" will show us how to work together to "find a way to make the aspects of capitalism that serve wealthier people serve poorer people as well."
Maybe he should start by cleaning up Guiyu, the e-waste capital of the world. That would only be proper since a large part of the mess is his doing. By colluding with Intel to make PC's obsolete in the shortest possible time, he helped create a mountain of trash that is polluting a huge region and poisoning its people. And what for ? Is your new excel any better than the 1990's version ? It is certainly a lot more bloated.
And when it comes to creating quality, I always remember the words of an auto-industry CEO who said that if they made cars that crash as often as Windows, they would be out of business. More than anything Microsoft took to heart the lesson that Henry Ford so famously put forth when he sent his engineers to junkyards to find left-over parts of the Model T. Anything that survived longer than the duty cycle of the car was obviously over-engineered and could be replaced by something of lesser quality. It is one lesson Mr. Gates never forgot.
Gates the man whose company asks "where do you want to go today," which really means "where do WE want you to go today," is going to take us on a humanitarian mission into Africa. He has put aside some of his billions in a foundation named after him and his wife Melinda. With assets in excess of $30B they are going to save the world and spread a kinder capitalism. The billion points of light, anyone ?
Here is a good fix: "companies should create businesses that focus on building products and services for the poor." Products like Internet Explorer no doubt ? That is probably the real reason Microsoft gave it away for free. To save the world from the evil doers at Netscape who only wanted to extort the poor. Or Windows for PDAs and cell phones, so the poor can use the internet and GPS and locate the nearest supermarket and not waste any unnecessary driving.
If Bill Gates really wants to save the world he should start at home. Rather than riding into Africa as a white knight in shiny armor, he could try plugging the ever widening gap between the rich and poor at home. He could start by paying more taxes, rather than using every loophole to sequester money so he can dole it out himself. Isn't that the real reason for philanthropy ? To stroke his already super-inflated ego.
He could move out of his $50 million palace and start living in a more environmentally sustainable home. No doubt his mansion could house most if not all of Seattle's poor and provide them shelter and warmth. He could sell his cars and ride a bicycle to work. He could refrain from flying and adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. He could use his wealth to set aside part of the Amazon rain forest and help protect biodiversity.
If Mr. Gates really wants to lead, let him lead by example and not by words. Talk is cheap, even when you happen to be a billionaire.
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