Warren Buffett's kids

The NY Times has an interesting article about the children of the second richest man in the world. There are three of them, and each will inherit "only" about $1 billion, now that Warrenn Buffet gave most of his loot to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. And that billion bucks won't come in cash, but will instead go to each child's charitable foundation.

(I've been reading Vonnegut's "God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater" again, and it, too, is about the use of a charitable foundation to avoid taxes.)

But the article is a peek into the philanthropy of the very rich (or their families), and it's odd in that it treats the giving of one's money as if it were professional basketball:

"That will propel them, along with a larger foundation named for their late mother, into the top ranks of philanthropy...

The younger Buffetts, given their current interests, could emerge as powerful forces in the areas of early childhood education, safe drinking water and the well-being of Native Americans."

Propelled into the top ranks, eh? Powerful forces? Interesting.

And as far as each child's philanthropic interest, I suppose it's good to have focus.

One other gem - the activities of Buffett's son, Howard:

"He lives ... near an 800-acre farm he owns, and spends much of his time traveling the world to photograph wildlife and poor people."