Re:I can almost see (Score 1)

That is a very kind thing for Branson to do. Judging from all the venom I have evoked from folks, my attempt at hyperbole was not taken as such. I do not in fact believe that the uber-wealthy do a lot of "spurious frittering away of wealth" - that ain't how you get, and stay, rich. Nor did I wish to imply that Sir Richard or any other multi-millionaire was *by default* a Bad Person (or that Soros, et al were Good People). I am sure every mega-billionaire has done some helping out of his fellow humans - as you have noted. However, I do think many could do more. To use someoene else's far more elequent prose - Donella Meadows, one of the great thinkers on sustainability, wrote once in her Pulitzer nominated column: ...the top 20 percent of the wealthy in the United States could give over $100 billion a year more than they now do (that's twice what I assumed the billionaires could give to end world poverty), and their fortunes would continue to grow. Read the whole piece here: http://www.pcdf.org/meadows/billionaire.html