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The real cost is putting the money in the hands of government. Successful entrepeneurs are the engine of the economy. Government is by far the worst investor. They get around 50 cents on the dollar when they spend your tax dollars. As a charity, they are even worse, giving out 40 cents on the dollar. It's far better for Bill Gates to decide where to invest and donate than Nancy Pelosi.

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"For a non-profit organization of its size, the federal government is surprisingly efficient. Most federal employees work in big box-like office buildings, not in $300 million monuments to an architect's ego." [http://philip.greenspun.com/materialism/early-retirement/]

(Just an interesting tid-bit. I mostly agree with your comment. Though I doubt all charity are as efficient as the Melinda-and-Bill-Gates-type.)

The key point in Greenspun's sentence is, an "organization of its size." And he's right about that. It's amazing that a $3-4T/yr organization can do anything coherent at all.

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