Abstract
Bill Gates should have run for President of the United States. Not only would he have been a candidate with some legitimate claim to the Internet, but his call for a major increase in funding for new defence systems would have been supported by the general public, both at home and abroad. The founder of Microsoft himself spent US$1.44 billion last year to support the fight against global health threats from infectious diseases such as AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis (TB). This contribution from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation was more than one-quarter of the total amount that all industrialized nations together raised for this cause.