Truth be told _ I am a fan of Bill Gates; thus I am more interested in what he says and does than whatever comes out of politicians during the week of the World Economic Forum in Davos.
On his way from the United States to Davos last week, Mr Gates met with the press and made a surprise visit to a school in London to speak to the pupils at their assembly.
According to the press, before Mr Gates appeared, the children were reminded by one of their teachers to pay attention _ or at least pretend to do so. But it was apparent throughout the assembly that such a reminder was not needed, for the pupils were mesmerised by Mr Gates and what he had to say about himself, his thoughts and his philanthropic work. They also enthusiastically participated in the question-and-answer session. I envy the pupils, although I have read Mr Gates' two books, The Road Ahead and Business @ the Speed of Thought, and many things written about him and his thoughts.
During his meeting with the press, Mr Gates expressed strong support for higher taxes on the rich _ the so-called Buffett tax, as it is the position long advocated by Warren Buffett who often says that despite his wealth, he pays taxes at a lower rate than his secretary. Mr Buffett is not kidding. He reaffirmed his story when he and his secretary appeared before the press together last week. Although it has not been revealed how much he pays her _ many people speculate that it is around $200,000 per year _ available data show that in 2010, Mr Buffett paid income tax of 17.4% on an income of US$62.9 million, while his secretary paid at the rate of 35.8%.
Mr Buffett paid at a lower rate because most of his income came from investment while his secretary's came largely from wages. For the same reason, Mitt Romney, who is running for president of the United States, paid only 13.9% on income of $21.7 million that year. Such discrepancy in the treatment of income from different sources for tax purposes has been a principal complaint of the "Occupy Wall Street" protests that have spread to various cities across the US.
Mr Gates also was reported to have said to the effect that, had he not given his money away, he would be the richest man in the world instead of the second richest. No doubt about that, as his foundation currently has an endowment of over $33 billion, largely from his donations over the years. It in turn has given billions to various causes. This week he announced that the foundation would donate $750 million to support the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
Mr Gates also discussed his intention to further support research in food crops, focusing in particular on the second-tier staples such as cassava, sorghum and millet. These crops were neglected during earlier efforts to increase food production that led to the Green Revolution, as well as by agricultural multinationals; but they are very important to small farmers in many poor countries.
Growing more food has been championed by Mr Gates as a simple solution to riots in various countries in recent years caused by food shortages and rising food prices. That sounds simple enough. Or is it?
It is hard to doubt Mr Gates' wisdom. In this instance, however, it may not be that simple when these factors are taken into account: the world's population has surpassed 7 billion and continues to rise. The majority of the newborn live in poor countries. A billion people go to bed hungry each night. For various reasons, more land has turned into desert and water shortages are already critical, not to mention other resources.
Many people, of course, do not subscribe to the notion of resource constraints, a position advocated by scholars such as Paul Ehrlich and Jared Diamond, and apparently by Newt Gingrich, who said that if he should become president of the US, he would immediately launch a massive programme to mine the moon.
That position has been ridiculed by people like Charles Kenny, who wrote in the "Opening Remarks" column of the Jan 30-Feb 5, 2012 issue of Bloomberg Businessweek: "We're not running out of resources. Quite the contrary. And in our abundance lies a paradox."
One side of me wishes to believe Mr Kenny, but having experienced conditions created by resource constraints, another side of me continues to be doubtful. Should I soon be as lucky as the pupils of that London school, I would like to ask Mr Gates his views on the resource constraint issue, and whether he has been giving away his money in accordance with that view.
Sawai Boonma has worked as a development economist for more than two decades. He can be reached at .