Adam Smith also believed in a society where rich people would endow institutions for everyone to enjoy. Now that we believe that is solely the rule of the state, that assumption is gone.
If I ever struck it rich I'd build the biggest, best cat shelter you've ever seen.
https://tao-stiftung.org/projects/animal-shelters-in-berlin/...
Good luck then! :)
Philanthropic organizations have been forced into corners trying to solve very hard problems (like eradicating diseases and global warming) rather than helping people day to day.
You can go through a decent life never directly benefitting from a billionaire's money, but you can't do it without a helpful government institution.
http://adamsmithslostlegacy.blogspot.com/2007/10/disengenuou...
>>believed that the the rich should spend their wealth for the good of everyone
He believed the rich did this without any intention, while pursuing their own interests:
[The rich] consume little more than the poor, and in spite of their natural selfishness and rapacity…they divide with the poor the produce of all their improvements. They are led by an invisible hand to make nearly the same distribution of the necessaries of life, which would have been made, had the earth been divided into equal portions among all its inhabitants, and thus without intending it, without knowing it, advance the interest of the society, and afford means to the multiplication of the species.
He even wrote:
I have never known much good done by those who affected to trade for the public good
And this is despite his belief that altruism was a moral good:
To feel much for others and little for ourselves; to restrain our selfishness and exercise our benevolent affections, constitute the perfection of human nature.
His reasoning was that self-interested market activity benefited society because the free market kept actors responsible:
The real and effectual discipline which is exercised over a workman is that of his customers. It is the fear of losing their employment which restrains his frauds and corrects his negligence.