A Kinder, Gentler Bill Gates?

When the world's richest man talks, people tend to listen. That's why I was so excited to see Mr. Microsoft, Bill Gates on the cover of the Wall Street Journal yesterday,calling for a new kind of capitalism.

In a speech in Switzerland, Gates presented his plan for "Creative Capitalism." which would help serve poorer people as well as wealthier people. Now, Billionaire Bill isn't abandoning his belief that capitalism is the best economic system. But he does say that he has grown impatient with the shortcomings of capitalism. Specifically, that advances in technology, health care and education tend to help the rich and bypass the poor.

Where this goes, who knows. But it's exciting to see one of the world's most powerful (and richest) men talk this way. I have always admired Bill Gates for the sheer amount of money he and his wife's foundation gives away every year. But if this concept of "Creative Capitalism" catches on, it would cement his legacy and go down as his greatest accomplishment to date.