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Clinton’s rich friends queue to give at biggest show in town

The Clinton Global Initiative is the biggest show in town - which is saying something in a week when the United Nations holds its general assembly. Bill Clinton has lured a thousand of the world’s richest, most famous and powerful men and women to attend his three-day lovefest, each paying $15,000 (£7,400) for the privilege.

……The event, now in its third year, is like a telethon for the rich and powerful without the red noses. Although it nominally exists to encourage debate on world issues such as poverty alleviation and climate change, in reality it is a stock exchange for donations to worthy causes. In its first two years the Clinton meetings raised more than $10bn - an average of $1.7bn a day. This year the figure is likely to be surpassed: the opening day brought in several billions, including a pledge of $2.4bn from a Florida company for a green energy scheme…..

It is in this new era that Mr Clinton reigns supreme. In addition to playing host this week, Mr Clinton this month published Giving: How Each of Us Can Change the World, a paean to philanthropy. “Who’s happier?” he asks in the book. “The uniters or the dividers? The builders or the breakers? The givers or the takers?”

Mr Clinton’s book reads like a Facebook list of his friends: in his world, networking, influence and giving are inextricably intertwined. He namechecks famous politicians, celebrities and tycoons: George Bush Sr, Bono and the Edge of U2, Oprah Winfrey and her Angel Network, Andre Agassi (who was also present at the Sheraton this week), Tiger Woods, George Clooney, Richard Branson and Carlos Slim.

read the rest published by Guardian here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,2178961,00.html

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