Octopus, a 126m long yacht owned by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen (photo: Bjørn Giesenbauer)

---

In 2009, the Gates Foundation gave out $1.8bn in grants to improve health in developing countries. If it were a state, it would be the world’s 10th largest international aid donor. Its operations certainly resemble a state, complete with an eight acre headquarters in Seattle housing 1000 staff and a virtual diplomatic service in the countries it assists. Its buildings are designed to look like arms reaching out to the globe.

This is the more attractive face of plutocracy and the “new global super rich,” described by Chrystia Freeland in her new book, Plutocrats. “After a few million or something, it’s all about how you’re going to give back,” as Bill Gates puts it. But there are also less attractive facets.

A century and a half ago, Alexis de Tocqueville wrote of the United States: