If Bill Gates donated his entire will...

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In another thread we got to talking about people like Bill Gates, the mega-wealthy. Bill was cited to have 58 billion, which people mentioned could put 10 million families at a great deal of financial ease.

The question I have - if he were to sign off his entire will, which would you prefer? That he sign it over to various charities of his choosing or directly to the government?

Charities would just spend more than half in their own beaurocracy and fund raising events the rest tends to get stolen en-route to the beneficiaries.. so I'd say the Gov. but only if there's a transparent commission set up for the purpose of spending that money on nationwide, socially beneficial infrastructure (aka trains, schools, hospitals).

I would prefer that it goes to creating a supranational agency committed exclusively to Mars exploration, science, exploitation, colonization and terraforming. That's just me though
The government will likely find some $6000 shower curtains to spend it on

or donate it to the open source software foundation

Better to just find one person with the intelligence drive and selflessness to distribute it in the most useful way. Basically a selfless bill gates to distribute the others money.

Why would you give it to the government? They'd just use it to kill people and line the pockets of their corporate overlords.

58 bill is pocket money for the gov really... but if its set with a comission designed to spend it on designated projects it'd be used only for that.

otherwise I'd be among the first to be marching on DC channeling my inner egyptian....

Interesting responses, and even more interesting regarding the government preference.

See, I'd argue the opposite for partly the same reasons but then partly thrust and direction. I thik that Bill Gates would make much better choices on how the money is spent and delegated, for what went to charities he'd also be looking at - I'm sure - which charities function the best, which ones will drink his dollar and give 10 cents on each to the cause, with charity he has choice though.

What worries me on the government scale, the way the budget is right now, that money would go to them, it would disappear into the budget, and little if anything would change. People would likely end up wondering how 58 billion in stored labor dissipated into thin air. Gov't it seems makes decisions to spend 50 billion more or less quite often.

Those of you who said government did specifically say put a commission on it. Do you think they would? Which particular characters in Washington DC would you find to be trustworthy of overseeing it and not turning it into pocket change for pork?

Another scary thought - what exactly is transparent?

I just remember being floored and having my blood boil when I saw back in late 2008 in the midst of the mortgage, maybe fifteen or twenty of the absolute top experts on a particular news show - all saying different things about what caused the crisis. That alone make feel sick enough that I almost decided to go back for a masters in economics.... at least until I saw there was little benefit.

I would say charity would do a better job with the money, depending on the charity. Even then, the most incompetitent charity does a better job than the Federal Government.