"Ethics of Inheritance"

Inheritance is a hotly debated topic as we have obviously planned to discuss tomorrow in class. I found some information regarding Bill Gates and Warren Buffett. Both men feel that it would do their children more harm than good to leave them an overly generous inheritance. Both men feel their kids should have to earn what their parents have.

Bill Gates is leaving each of his children $10 million which is a tiny fraction of his multi-billion dollar worth. The rest is going to various charities. Warren Buffett intends to leave most of his worth to charity.

Let's put ourselves behind Rawls' veil of ignorance. If we place ourselves in the original position what principles can we say are truly justified regarding inheritance? Only these principals can give answers to questions such as:

• If one child is better at managing money than another do you leave both the same amount of money?
• If one child is a waitress and another a doctor do you leave both the same amount of money?
• Should a wealthy person be required to leave a certain amount of money to charity?

How would Libertarians or Utilitarians answer any of these questions?

A key point to remember here is one thing we learned in class yesterday - fair and equal are not the same thing.

To reference this article go to www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/colyrmn/yrmn081.htm

Thanks guys! I'll see you tomorrow.