Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, the richest and second richest person in America, and perhaps the world, are often described as admirers of Andrew Carnegie’s famous 1889 essay “The Gospel of Wealth.” Carnegie’s treatise, an American classic, provides a moral justification for the concentration of wealth that capitalism tends to create by arguing that immense wealth leads to well-spent charitable contributions and support of the arts and sciences.
比尔·盖茨和埃伦·巴菲特名列美国富豪第一和第二，可能也是全球富豪前两名。他们时常被人说成是卡内基著名的1889年“财富的福音”一文的崇拜者。卡内基的这篇论文是美国经典之作。它认为大量财富可以导向慈善捐款的善举以及对艺术和科学的支持，因而为资本主义所趋向创造的财富集中提供道义上的理由。简而言之，卡内基认为，巨大的个人财富导致伟大的文明。