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Can Billionaires Save the World? E-mail
Written by David Neubert   
Monday, 16 April 2007

Jeffery Sachs thinks so. He ran some numbers for the World Bank and came up the solution.

Quoted in the Financial Times of London, he said, “There are 950 billionaires whose wealth is estimated at $3.5 trillion [$3,500bn]. An annual 5 per cent ‘foundation’ payout would be $175bn per year – that would do it. Then we don’t need the G8 but 950 people on the Forbes list.” He continued, “Maybe private philanthropists will champion solutions to individual problems rather than the G8.”

Mr. Sachs failed to notice that the same $175 Billion/year would also cover costs of the ongoing Iraq War. Maybe the U.S. government could ask the world's billionaires for help.


Philanthropy 

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written by Gillian , April 19, 2007
In the first of the BBC Reith lectures (see BBC website) Sachs quotes the cost of the Iraq War this year as $650bn, compared with $4bn the US allocates to poverty in Africa.

If the figure IS $650bn, you'd need a lot more billionaires to cover that cost! Still, maybe you'd need a few cakestalls as well. As they say.


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David Neubert
About the author:
David Neubert ran the largest trading desk in the world.
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 26 April 2007 )
 
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