Bill Gates is unable to defend the way the capitalist system operates. He declared capitalism “flawed” because it channels more resources to curing minor ailments such as male baldness than to addressing the diseases that destroy millions of lives every year. He told a conference that it was an indictment of the economic system that dominates most of the planet that more money is spent on research to reverse hair loss than on tackling scourges of the developing world such as malaria. He acknowledged the socialist charge against capitalism when he said “Our priorities are tilted by marketplace imperatives.”
It is indeed the driving force of capitalism to put profits before peoples needs.
Every year $2bn (£1.3m) is spent worldwide on surgical procedures for hair loss according to the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery. By contrast, in 2010, just $547m was spent on malaria research according to the World Health Organisation. About $1bn was spent on the search for a cure for HIV/Aids. Pharmaceutical companies have long been criticised for ploughing money into developing “lifestyle drugs” and neglecting research that could save the lives of the world’s poorest.
Malaria is estimated to have killed 660,000 people in 2010, most of them African children. About half of the world’s population is at risk. Yet commercial research teams around the world are working on ways to stimulate the follicles in the heads of bald men. Drugs firms have been eyeing huge profits from selling treatments to the four in five men who will experience hair loss by the time they reach the age of 70.
Global Forum for Health Research estimates that only 10 per cent of worldwide expenditure on health research is devoted to the problems that afflict 90 per cent of the world’s population
Of course, Gates is not the only capitalist to recognise that they are the beneficiaries of a skewed system. Hedge-fund manager George Soros (net worth $19.2bn, or £12.7bn) argued as far back as 1997 that “the untrammelled intensification of laissez-faire capitalism and the spread of market values into all areas of life is endangering our open and democratic society”. Richard Branson (net worth $4.6bn, or £3bn) argued in 2011 that capitalism had “lost its way” and suggested that profit should not be big business’ sole driving force. Warren Buffett (net worth$53.5bn £35.4bn) has said that the free market disproportionately benefits the rich.
Perhaps someday they may just conclude that for the sake of the welfare of humanity instead of forlornly hoping for a fair capitalist system, they will seek to abolish capitalism itself to solve the worlds problems.
It is indeed the driving force of capitalism to put profits before peoples needs.
Every year $2bn (£1.3m) is spent worldwide on surgical procedures for hair loss according to the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery. By contrast, in 2010, just $547m was spent on malaria research according to the World Health Organisation. About $1bn was spent on the search for a cure for HIV/Aids. Pharmaceutical companies have long been criticised for ploughing money into developing “lifestyle drugs” and neglecting research that could save the lives of the world’s poorest.
Malaria is estimated to have killed 660,000 people in 2010, most of them African children. About half of the world’s population is at risk. Yet commercial research teams around the world are working on ways to stimulate the follicles in the heads of bald men. Drugs firms have been eyeing huge profits from selling treatments to the four in five men who will experience hair loss by the time they reach the age of 70.
Global Forum for Health Research estimates that only 10 per cent of worldwide expenditure on health research is devoted to the problems that afflict 90 per cent of the world’s population
Of course, Gates is not the only capitalist to recognise that they are the beneficiaries of a skewed system. Hedge-fund manager George Soros (net worth $19.2bn, or £12.7bn) argued as far back as 1997 that “the untrammelled intensification of laissez-faire capitalism and the spread of market values into all areas of life is endangering our open and democratic society”. Richard Branson (net worth $4.6bn, or £3bn) argued in 2011 that capitalism had “lost its way” and suggested that profit should not be big business’ sole driving force. Warren Buffett (net worth$53.5bn £35.4bn) has said that the free market disproportionately benefits the rich.
Perhaps someday they may just conclude that for the sake of the welfare of humanity instead of forlornly hoping for a fair capitalist system, they will seek to abolish capitalism itself to solve the worlds problems.
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