Social stratification deepens over time: while the middle class and poor spend most of their earnings, the rich spend only a small part, and save the rest. Engel's curve says that household expenditures rise with income, this is only true up to a certain point. Afterwards costs plateau and the only rise in expenditure comes from additional luxury purchases. This partly explains why the eight richest people in the world have the combined wealth of the bottom 50% of society. But luckily now when the rich run out of ways to spend, they try to find ways to give their wealth away.
In 2010, Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett began an initiative to help society's most in need and have since gathered 168 billionaires (from 31 to 93 years old) from 21 countries to contribute. The money collected helps support education, art, culture, medical care and environmental and climate change.
Recently 14 new billionaires have joined in their efforts:
1.Leonard H. Ainsworth (Australia)
President and Executive Director of Ainsworth Game Technology, a pioneer in gaming for the last sixty years. His net worth is $1.18 billion.
2. Mohammed Dewji (Tanzania)
President and General Director of MeTL Group, formerly a politician, with a net worth of $1.39 billion.
3. Dagmar Dolby (USA)
Philanthropist, window of Ray Dolby, and founder of Dolby Laboratories. An inventor of audio systems that have been in use for the last 50 years. She has a $3.6 billion net worth.
4. Dong Fangjun (China)
The President of Dongfang Huiquan Financial Holdings.
5. Kjell Inge Røkke i Anne Grete Eidsvig (Norway)
Røkke is the President of the Norweigian firm Aker ASA, which specializing in the fishing, construction, and engineering fields. They have a net fortune of $2.6 billion.
6. Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou (Monaco, Cyprus)
He created the company EasyJet at 28 years old and is now worth $1.31 billion.
7. Nick i Leslie Hanauer (USA)
Nick created Civic Ventures and aQuantive, bought by Microsoft
8. Iza i Samo Login (Slovenia)
Founders of Outfit7, an entertainment and media company they sold in 2017.
9. Dean i Marianne Metropoulos (USA)
Founders of Metropoulos & Co. with a net worth of $2.5 billion.
10. Terry and Susan Ragon (USA)
Terry is the Founder and General Director of InterSystems Corporation (a leader in healthcare technology). Susan is also a director at InterSystems. Their combined net worth is $2.2 billion.
11. Nat Simons i Laura Baxter-Simons (USA)
Founders of Meritage Group and the Sea Change Foundation, which studies the adverse effects of climate change.
12. Robert Frederick Smith (USA)
Founder and General Director of Vista Equity Partners, an investment firm concentrating on business software, data and technology, with a net worth of $2.5 billion.
13. Harry H. Stine (USA)
Founded Stine Seed. His net worth is $3.4 billion.
14. You Zhonghui (China)
President of Shenzhen Seaskyland Investment Holdings Group.
To join Gates and Buffett, you have to be a billionaire dedicated to giving away more than half your net worth to charity. As you can see, there's no shortage of takers and more and more billionaires are pledging themselves to do good. As the gap between poor and rich continues to grow, their actions promote charitable giving and encourage others to do the same. This initiative might be just only for billionaires, but it should encourage us all to think about how we can do our part.
- http://www.cnbc.com/2017/05/31/14-billionaires-signed-bill-gates-and-warren-buffetts-giving-pledge.html
- https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2017/06/01/14-billionaires-giving-pledge-bill-gates-warren-buffet/362275001/
- http://zmianynaziemi.pl/wiadomosc/8-najbogatszych-ludzi-swiata-posiada-tyle-bogactwa-co-biedniejsza-polowa-populacji
- https://mfiles.pl/pl/index.php/Krzywa_Engla
