By
Kerry-anne Mendoza
The man who has benefited most from capitalist economics has come clean about its inability to deal with the most pressing issue of our time: climate change. In an interview with Atlantic, the Microsoft magnate argued: ’the private sector is in general inept’ as a tool to manage catastrophic changes to our climate that would threaten life on earth.
Gates argues that governments have
the key role to play in developing technologies for a sustainable world,
chiefly by a heavy investment in research and development. He argues that it
should then be the role of private companies to pay the costs of rolling out
those technologies – pledging $2bn of his own $79.2bn net worth to do just
that.
So, why can’t we trust the private
sector to invest in the right things at the right time? Gates argues:
“Well, there’s no fortune to be made.”“Yes, the government will be somewhat inept,”“But the private sector is in general inept. How many companies do venture capitalists invest in that go poorly? By far most of them.”
The factors that prompt a profit-driven corporation to invest are different than those of the state. Climate change is an area where it would be an illogical investment from the corporate view, but where the state has a clear and logical role.
When Atlantic put to Gates that the
major stumbling block in developing a state-driven resolution was the nature of
US politics. First, that the GOP-controlled houses cry socialism at far lesser
provocation than this, and second, that there is no consensus that climate
change even exists. The billionaire had a different view on the problem:
“If you’re not bringing math skills to the problem,then representative democracy is a problem.”
In short, there are times when
ill-informed public mood cannot be allowed to prevent the state taking action
on scientifically-proven risks. This is such a moment, argues Gates.
“When people viewed cancer as a problem, the U.S. government—and it’s a huge favor to the world—declared a war on cancer, and now we fund all health research at about $30 billion a year, of which about $5 billion goes to cancer. We got serious and did a lot of R&D, and then we got the private sector involved in taking that R&D and building breakthrough drugs.”
Gates argues the same needs to
happen now on climate change, from every major government on earth.
“Realistically, we may not get more than a doubling in government funding of energy R&D—but I would love to see a tripling, to $18 billion a year from the U.S. government to fund basic research alone.”
Bill Gates is not arguing that there
is no place for Capitalism in the world, but that only socialism can save the
planet. Anyone who is willing to overlook the significance of this argument,
especially from this man, is making a serious mistake.
Author Kerry-Anne Mendoza is an independent journalist. She is well
known for investigative reports on politics, economics and social policy and is
author of Amazon best-seller "Austerity: The Demolition of the Welfare
State and the Rise of the Zombie Economy". She has been traveling to and
reporting from the Middle East for 13 years, most recently reporting from Gaza
during Operation Protective Edge, and making the film 'Palestine: What Hope
Peace?' After a career as a management consultant holding senior positions in
Banking, Health and Local Government - she gave it all up to live in a tent at
Occupy London and has been writing ever since. She is based in the UK.