Sir Richard Branson on Giving

One of my favorite shows on TV is "Charlie Rose" on PBS. I know of no better interviewer than Charlie. His questions open up the interviewee on many levels. Backdrop drenched in black... high-polish wood table... short cylindric glasses of good ole' H2O... The simple set accentuates the content. Where I live, it airs on PBS channel at both noon and midnight each day. Of course every episode is available for free, in its entirety online at www.charlierose.com

A few days ago, Charlie had Sir Richard Branson, CEO of Virgin. They spoke of global environmental issues, the Elders, and many other issues.

I draw your attention to his comments on charitable giving... The total conversation, available here, is about 33 minutes. If you scroll to 18:30 on the counter, it begins the part about his work and views on development work. As I listened, it was the part beginning at 19:49 that I thought readers of this blog might find quite interesting.

I realize [capitalism] is the only [economic] system that works. But it obviously has it faults. people like myself end up with extreme wealth.. so it is not a fair system... and therefore enormous responsibility comes to those people who are the recipients of that kind of wealth...

Then Charlie suggested maybe Branson would be in favor of government redistribution, through heavy tax on the richest people, to balance this out. To this, Richard replied:

I'm not sure that would work. It sounds right and fair, but the state is not that good at redistributing money. So it means that those of us who have got money really have to use it properly and put it to good use... you must employ great businesses, tackle problems in the world and as a result I'm sure the individual will get far more satisfaction.

On giving large portions of his wealth to his children after he dies, Branson said he was undecided:

Maybe I should hurry up and make up my mind before it is too late.