Elite Traveler May-June 2017

INFLUENCE WEALTH MANAGEMENT

elite traveler MAY/JUNE 2017 52

Alec Marsh and DavidMiliband on international philanthropy

The editor of London-based wealthmanagement magazine Spear’s talks toDavidMiliband, head of the International Rescue Committee, about why helping others is in all of our best interests

International philanthropy of treasure, time and expertise can do things that governments can’t. It can be innovative… and it can help people that governments might not get a popular mandate to help that those of us who have had the good fortune to have been born in relatively wealthy countries, we recognize that this interconnected world demands our attention.” As a shining example of international philanthropy he lauds Microsoft founder Bill Gates, whose expansive global efforts include working to eradicate the scourge of malaria. How ambitious is that? So what problem is out there that you would be interested in fixing? How big are you prepared to think, in terms of tackling a global issue? Well, if you’re Miliband, pretty big, it seems. “I guess the way I would frame the challenge is that we need a philanthropic option to help shape not just the country that people are born in, but global systems,” he explains. In other words, international philanthropy can and should help offset the imbalances of globalization and therefore stop the ‘little guys’ on Main Street – be they at home or abroad – from coming after us with pitchforks and burning torches. On the centenary of the Russian Revolution of 1917, this isn’t a bad message for the rich of the world to hear. “Fear tends to manifest itself much more quickly than greed.” So wrote the great American man of letters and observer of the human condition, Philip Roth. Let’s hope that he’s right. Alec March is the editor of London-based wealth management magazine Spear’s . spearswms.com

Where do you stand on the fear versus greed debate? Which emotion is stronger in driving markets or investor decision- making? And of the two, which is more dangerous when given free rein, or unfettered by its contrary opponent? “Greed is good,” was Gordon Gekko’s maxim in Wall Street . But for many of us, fear goes one better. So get ready for dose of fear from none other than David Miliband, the former British foreign secretary and one-time co-architect of Tony Blair’s New Labour project. Miliband, now president of the New York-based International Rescue Committee (IRC), has a stark warning for the world’s rich, or as he puts it, “the beneficiaries of globalization.” “Throughout human history,” Miliband warns, “excess leads to revolt, and that’s what you’re seeing at the minute.” Quoting a statistic that since 2008, 93 percent of the income gains in the US have gone to the top one

percent, he declares, “You’re asking for trouble, really, with that. The great danger is that the goose of globalization that’s been laying these golden eggs… because they’ve not been properly distributed… that people end up killing the goose.” It’s not quite grammatically correct, but the underlying message is all-too clear. Miliband goes on to warn that “de-globalization” could well pave the way for even worse outcomes. “We’ve seen from the 1930s the dangers when nations turn inwards,” he says, drawing on the horrors of Nazi Germany. “When trade is blocked. And it must be a real danger that the first half of the 21st century becomes a de-globalization age.” World War III, anyone? So what’s to be done? Miliband’s answer is that the rich need to give more to charity and good causes – whether it’s money or their expertise. Furthermore, this charitable giving must not just be spent at home on our fellow citizens, but must be distributed

further afield, so that the concentrated wealth of globalization is truly shared globally. Note, if you will, that there are around 30 billionaires in Africa compared to more than 500 in the US alone. And here’s the crux of the issue. Miliband believes that this international philanthropy of treasure, time and expertise can do things that governments simply cannot. It can be innovative, where the former tends to be conservative, and it can help people that governments might not get a popular mandate to help. But just because the typical voter might not care about a particular situation, that doesn’t invalidate the urgent need to do something about it. “We’re trying to help people whose names you will probably never know, whose stories you can only imagine, whose countries you may never have visited,” Miliband explains of the vital work the IRC charity does. “And that seems to me to be really important,

Photo Fred MacGregor