The Bill Gates Problem

Reckoning with the Myth of the Good Billionaire

By: Tim Schwab

Narrated by: Tim Schwab

This program is read by the author.

New York Times Editors' Choice

A powerful investigation of Bill Gates and the Gates Foundation, showing how he uses philanthropy to exercise enormous political power without accountability

Through his vaunted philanthropy, Bill Gates transformed himself from a tech villain into one of the most admired people on the planet. Even as divorce proceedings and allegations of misconduct have recently tarnished his public image, the beneficence of the Gates Foundation, celebrated for spending billions to save lives around the globe, is taken as a given. But as Tim Schwab shows in this fearless investigation, Gates is still exactly who he was at Microsoft: a bully and monopolist, convinced of his own righteousness and intent on imposing his ideas, his solutions, and his leadership on everyone else. At the core, he is not a selfless philanthropist but a power broker, a clever engineer who has innovated a way to turn extreme wealth into immense political influence—and who has made us believe we should applaud his acquisition of power, not challenge it.

Piercing the blinding halo that has for too long shielded the world’s most powerful (and most secretive) charitable organization from public scrutiny, The Bill Gates Problem shows how Gates’s billions have purchased a stunning level of control over public policy, private markets, scientific research, and the news media. Whether he is pushing new educational standards in America, health reforms in India, global vaccine policy during the pandemic, or Western industrialized agriculture throughout Africa, Gates’s heady social experimentation has shown itself to be not only undemocratic, but also ineffective. In many places, Bill Gates is hurting the very people he intends to help.

No less than dark-money campaign contributions or big-business political lobbying, Bill Gates’s philanthropic empire needs to be seen as a problem of money in politics. It is a dangerous model of unconstrained power that threatens democracy and demands our attention.

A Macmillan Audio production from Metropolitan Books.

Billionaires should not exist

This is such a thorough assessment of the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation and it shows in great detail the absolute hubris of billionaires.

the relentless unveiling of the billionaire problem.

An excellent job of giving insight to the magnitude the issue of billionaires presents. It is difficult for people to imagine the size of a billion, it's like trying to play pinball with a bowling ball. The issue has plagued humanity, hopefully we shall address it.

This book is a must-read for anyone curious about billionaire philanthropy.

This book was incredibly well researched and eye opening. It’s a brave undertaking considering the power the Gates foundation wields to neutralize dissent in many ways. I hope it tips the scales towards a more just distribution of wealth and power. Thank you Tim!

Well researched & raises important questions

Meticulously researched, this book lays a path for further scrutiny of how the public entities are being co-opted by private interests. Bravo.

How corrupt gates is while the media who he funds looks the other way.

Gates foundation didn’t cooperate and so there is not concrete data but it’s because the foundation is not a charity but instead gates private play ground.