What is $113 Billion

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I am talking about Bill Gates. Right now, according to Forbes, he is the 4th richest man in the world and he has pledged to give away virtually all of his money eventually. Granted, it is a bit of a misnomer. He intends to have accomplished this by the time he is dead—or nearly. So, he will still enjoy riches nonetheless. And there is nothing wrong with that. He clearly earned every penny he has ever made. He wants to donate it all to his own foundation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation which has supported causes like world hunger, disease control, climate change and other issues. I am not going to say anything bad about his efforts or the causes of the foundation. It's his foundation. It's his money. And perhaps some good can come out of it. Besides, passing the money down simply means the money will be spent mostly frivolously on fast cars, vacation homes, jewelry and lavish lifestyles. But it got me to thinking. If Bill Gates decided what he was going to do was change every single life in America? The world? Could he do it? What's $113 billion really? If he gave it all to US. What would that be worth? Less than a hill of beans. If he gave it all away to JUST Americans, each American would get a check for $322.85. If he gave it to every single living person in the WORLD, everyone would get a check for $14.13. $113 billion is, of course, a lot of money. But its real impact is not as great as it may seem when you broaden the scale. Even in terms of the impact of the foundation's efforts, while his cause is entirely noble, and I won't say is not the right thing to do... Its impact will be little if anything in the big picture.