“When I do good, I feel good. When I do bad, I feel bad. That’s my religion.” – Abraham Lincoln
I just have a couple of ripples for you this week, but they’re good ones. Both are about people who are rich doing some good. I’m not sure about you, but that always makes me feel good. Probably because when I dream of being rich, I dream of the good things I could accomplish with my money. Don’t get me wrong, I would take care of my own too, but I know I would have fun putting the money to good use.
Grease is the Word
Jimmy’s Grease Experiment
I love Jimmy Buffett. Honestly it took me a while to allow myself to love him. I know it hasn’t been quite a year, my little do-gooders, but I feel I can share a little something about myself: I have an aversion to popular things. I have no idea why, but there it is. Take me, or leave me in Margaritaville, baby. So it follows that Mr. Buffett is popular, extremely so in Florida. Anyway, now I’ve bitten the Cheeseburger in Paradise, and gained an admiration for his regular guy entrepreneurial spirit. Check this link for a story that was originally published in the oddly named Garden & Gun about Jimmy turning used cooking oil into fuel.
A Richer Buffett
The $600 billion challenge
Warren Buffett and Bill Gates are famous for giving huge amounts of money to charities. Gates has taken the whole thing a step further and made it his career. Now these two billionaires with hearts of gold are asking a bunch of other billionaires to commit 50% of their net worth to charity, either now or when they die. The best part? It looks like it’s working! The Fortune magazine piece is an intriguing read through and through, but the part that will probably stick with me the most is this: “The U.S. outdoes all other countries in philanthropic generosity, annually giving in the neighborhood of $300 billion.”
