And Then the Billionaire Paid Off $550 Million of Our Debts

Imagine being worth $2 billion. Would you give away $550 million? That's a quarter of your wealth, more money than I could spend in several lifetimes. Yet that's how much Evan Spiegel, the CEO of Snapchat., and his wife have donated to a charity in California. Specifically, they donated to Undue Medical Debt, an organization that buys Californians' medical debts and expunges them. A noble act. I'm not one to tell you that billionaires shouldn't exist, or what is or isn't fair in a system I don't control. But one thing I've come to see over the years is that public good deeds are rarely what they seem. Whether it's a feel-good story on the news, a TV show pimping your house, or another turning your house into a mansion, there's an underlying truth that often gets obscured by the appearance of a good deed. Bill Gates, who was once the richest man in the world, pledged to leave almost all his money to charity. Over the years this story has been repeated, and I'm the last person to tell…