&gt; In no way is Gates a part of the problem ...<p>But he is, by amassing and using power that should be democratic, whether or not that was his intent. Doing good things with that power only makes one an &quot;enlightened oligarch&quot;. Though to be fair to him, I don&#x27;t know what he should do - at least lobby for higher taxes for the super-wealthy, and economic policies that don&#x27;t result in such conncentration of power - Bill Gates of all people can&#x27;t claim to be a helpess, innocent bystander.<p>I&#x27;ll add that his power, even well-intentioned, can distort things for the worse. For example, there was (maybe is) a problem in some African nations where foreign AIDS (and&#x2F;or malaria or TB) funding was so much greater than local health care funding that they hired away all the talent and net more people were dying from a lack of basic health services.<p>In fairness, there is a middle ground. Realistically money always will provide some power, some people will have more than others they have a right to use their money as they choose, and it&#x27;s great if they use it to help others. However, when that concentration of money becomes so great that it undermines democracy, then it&#x27;s gone too far.<p>&gt; He innovated, created tens (hundreds?) of thousands of jobs, and one of the biggest companies on the planet. ...<p>A side point but let&#x27;s not whitewash Microsoft&#x27;s history, which wasn&#x27;t all bad, but wasn&#x27;t unicorns and rainbows either.