TED does what it's supposed to do, which is fundamentally to entertain. That, and reassure a certain class of people that someone else is solving all the world's problems so that they can sleep easy while we all drown in toxic waste.

You guys are more depressing than heroin addiction.

Waitttt... Wouldn't you rather him butt in and use his celebrity and wealth to at least try to fix big, difficult issues rather than sitting on his coffers or shitting it away into greedy self-serving pursuits?
The man has given away fortunes for many many worthy causes. And, hell, he might not be as effective as you would like, but at least he's trying. On a side note, I've worked with people from the Gates Foundation, and they were really awesome, motivated and good at what they do.

I'm not seeing very many other impressive people waiting in line for their chance. I'll take the advocates I can get.

I actually prefer it when rich dudes blow their money on Lamborghinis and whores instead of self-appointing themselves the Secretary of Education. The former doesn't affect my day to day life at all.

I would like to see Gates, Warren Buffett, George Lucas et. al. contribute to making the little people's lives better by paying more fucking taxes.

Gates Sr. put in a ballot initiative to increase state taxes on the top 5%, but it was voted down by the middle class.

His rants and raves are pretty on target, really. And this talk was more about the funding crisis than educational philosophies in general, really.