Thirty-eight philanthropists

America's richest people are giving up their fortunes. How will Abramovich, Prokhorov and others respond?

“Russian billionaires Mikhail Prokhorov and Roman Abramovich came up with a sensational initiative, which became known simultaneously in London and Moscow. Occupying the first numbers in the list of the richest people in Russia, according to the magazine ...

“Russian billionaires Mikhail Prokhorov and Roman Abramovich came up with a sensational initiative, which became known simultaneously in London and Moscow.

Occupying the first numbers in the list of the richest people in Russia, according to Forbes magazine, Abramovich and Prokhorov decided to give half of their fortune to charity. It is assumed that most of this money will go to the fund to support Russian rural libraries. At their call, another 38 Russian oligarchs made the decision to give up half of their fortune, including Elena Baturina, Alexei Mordashov, Oleg Deripaska.”

What is it, a midsummer night's dream under the influence of 40-degree heat and burning from peat bogs? And why did you all think it was nonsense? Why can't this kind of real message appear in our press? We have copied 100 percent of American TV entertainment talk shows and series with varying degrees of success. And who prevents the captains from following the example, even if not a show, but just big business?

In America, gentlemen Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, ranked 2nd and 3rd on the Forbes list of the world's richest people, decided to give half of their wealth to charity, and this initiative was supported by 38 more people. Of these, Michael Bloomberg, Ted Turner, David Rockefeller, Larry Ellison are individuals who require no introduction. This is a kind of moral, not legal obligation, while half of the state these people will lose not overnight, but when they want, during their lifetime or in accordance with the will after leaving the other world. And this initiative, I want to say, was treated in America not as a hoax or a bad dream, but as a norm. Although in Washington or New York in August - almost the same temperature as in Moscow, typical for this time of year.

Buffett writes about his decision in such a way that any sane person will understand it - in clear and extremely simple language: “Some material things made my life more exciting, others did not. I like having an expensive private jet, but owning half a dozen houses is an unpleasant burden for me. Very often a huge collection of property ends up with that property beginning to own you. The greatest value in my life, besides health, is interesting, diverse old friends.”

Mikhail Khodorkovsky was moving towards this understanding. It is very exciting to earn the first million. It is difficult and very honorable to earn the first billion to satisfy your own ego. Earning the twentieth billion is boring and generally pointless.

But Khodorkovsky is alone in this understanding.

America has its own madoffs that heat fellow citizens for billions of dollars. However, rest assured that not a single cent of the amounts that Gates, Buffett and 38 others give to charity will go to either support the president's friends or lobby members of Congress. The Giving Pledge, which they established, will not support any particular organization or foundation, even if it is for the noble cause of wildlife conservation. So far we are only talking about creating a fund to help people, no matter how pompous it sounds. The largest fund in the history of America - half a trillion dollars and even more.

It has become a tradition for us to talk about Americans as stupid, blinkered creatures who do not want to deviate even half a step from accepted norms and attitudes. Yes, their brains are really turned not like those of our God-bearing people. There, rich people have long and seriously thought about helping those who are less successful than them in life.