Turning to Philanthropy</p>
<p>One in every 825 households earned at least $2 million last year, nearly double the percentage in 1989, adjusted for inflation, Mr. Wolff found in an analysis of government data. When it comes to wealth, one in every 325 households had a net worth of $10 million or more in 2004, the latest year for which data is available, more than four times as many as in 1989.</p>
<p>As some have grown enormously rich, they are turning to philanthropy in a competition that is well beyond the means of their less wealthy peers. The ones with $100 million are setting the standard for their own circles, but no longer for me, said Robert Frank, a Cornell University economist who described the early stages of the phenomenon in a 1995 book, The Winner-Take-All Society, which he co-authored.</p>
<p>Fighting AIDS and poverty in Africa are favorite causes, and so is financing education, particularly at ones alma mater.</p>
<p>It is astonishing how many gifts of $100 million have been made in the last year, said Inge Reichenbach, vice president for development at Yale University, which like other schools tracks the net worth of its alumni and assiduously pursues the richest among them.</p>
<p>In an earlier Gilded Age, Andrew Carnegie argued that talented managers who accumulate great wealth were morally obligated to redistribute their wealth through philanthropy. The estate tax and the progressive income tax later took over most of that function imposing tax rates of more than 70 percent as recently as 1980 on incomes above a certain level.</p>
<p>Now, with this marginal rate at half that much and the estate tax fading in importance, many of the new rich engage in the conspicuous consumption that their wealth allows. Others, while certainly not stinting on comfort, are embracing philanthropy as an alternative to a life of professional accomplishment.</p>
<p>Bill Gates and Warren Buffett are held up as models, certainly by Dr. Glassman. They are going to make much greater contributions by having made money and then giving it away than most, almost all, scientists, he said, adding that he is drawn to philanthropy as a means of achieving a meaningful legacy.</p>
<p>It has to be easier than the chance of becoming a Nobel Prize winner, he said, explaining his decision to give up research, and I think that goes through the minds of highly educated, high performing individuals.</p>
<p>As Bush administration officials see it and conservative economists often agree philanthropy is a better means of redistributing the nations wealth than higher taxes on the rich. They argue that higher marginal tax rates would discourage entrepreneurship and risk-taking. But some among the newly rich have misgivings.</p>
<p>Mark M. Zandi is one. He was a founder of Economy.com, a forecasting and data gathering service in West Chester, Pa. His net worth vaulted into eight figures with the companys sale last year to Moodys Investor Service.</p>
<p>Our tax policies should be redesigned through the prism that wealth is being increasingly skewed, Mr. Zandi said, arguing that higher taxes on the rich could help restore a sense of fairness to the system and blunt a backlash from a middle class that feels increasingly squeezed by the costs of health care, higher education, and a secure retirement. The Federal Reserves Survey of Consumer Finances, a principal government source of income and wealth data, does not single out the occupations and professions generating so much wealth today. But Forbes magazine offers a rough idea in its annual surveys of the richest Americans, those approaching and crossing the billion dollar mark…</p>
<p>To this day, teaching tugs at Mr. Moon, whose parents immigrated to the United States from South Korea. He steals enough time from Metalmark Capital to teach one course in finance each semester at Columbia Universitys business school. If Wall Street was not there as an alternative, Mr. Moon said, I would have gone into academia.</p>
<p>Academia, of course, turned out to be no match for the job offers that came Mr. Moons way from several Wall Street firms. He joined Goldman Sachs, moved on to Morgan Stanleys private equity operation in 1998 and stayed on when the unit separated from Morgan Stanley in 2004 and became Metalmark Capital.</p>
<p>As his income and net worth grew, the Harvard alumni association made contact and he started to give money, not just to Harvard, but to various causes. His growing charitable activities have brought him a leadership role in Harvard alumni activities, including a seat on the graduate school alumni council.