Sneak Peak at This Week’s Column

Here’s the first and last paragraph of this week’s column, which is scheduled to go online tonight.

GATES AND BUFFETT: 1000 TIMES WORSE THAN KEN LAY
Why Enron Chief Was Better Than “Philanthropists”
Bill Gates, Warren Buffett and Ken Lay–all thieves. Compared to the world’s two richest men, however, Lay was small potatoes. So why are we praising them, and kicking Lay while he’s down–six feet down?
[…]Consider a burglar who boosts your TV and then, thinking better of it, donates it to an orphanage. His act of generosity beats the alternative–keeping it for himself. But you’d probably prefer that he’d returned it to you, or better yet, never stolen it at all.