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June 26, 2006

Georgia on my mind

TBILISI, GEORGIA -- I'm listening to Warren Buffett give a fascinating press conference as he discusses how he plans to give away almost all of his $44B fortune. I admit that there's a bit of disappointment that Warren won't endow something big at Wharton or Columbia, the business schools he and I both attended. But really, Warren couldn't have chosen a better cause. His letter to Bill & Melinda is worth a read. Interestingly, this means that about 1/3 of the profit of Berkshire Hathaway (which has major interests in Dairy Queen, NetJets, Pamered Chef, Clayton Homes, Helzberg Diamonds, and Geico), will go to charity.

A Korean newspaper has an interesting commentary:

Among American entrepreneurs, there is a venerable tradition to accumulate fortunes ruthlessly but, once successful, to give back to society unsparingly. Examples include Andrew Carnegie, John Rockefeller, Henry Ford and Paul Getty. The vitality and health of the American capitalism that leads the world originates here.

Korean business culture, by contrast, keeps records only when companies make money but none about how the money is used thereafter, while a pre-modern state power forces donations of private property by applying pressure through public opinion. Perhaps it is because of this climate that charity on the scale practiced by Buffett and Gates seems a kind of miracle.

The idea of private charity is a uniquely American concept. In Europe, government taxes everyone and forces them to pay for the government's philanthropic (read: welfare) efforts, so there's no need to give more. Most Asians I've met seem to have no idea why Americans give money away. When we were raising money for the Columbia class gift, a couple of non-Americans wondered aloud why they'd give money to the school after paying $85,000 tuition. I hope Buffett's message on the importance of giving back to society sets an example for the world.

***

This doesn't leave much time to talk about Tbilisi, which is a fabulous and beautiful city almost on par with the world's A-list cities like Krakow or Riga. Tbilisi was founded in the 400s and reached its zenith in the 1200s, when Georgia's position along the Silk Road made the city wealthy. Yet it all came crashing down in 1220 when Ghengis Khan's Mongol army sacked the city, and Tbilisi fell asleep until the Russians reunited the old Kingdom in the early 1800s.


Tbilisi spreads out along the Mtkvari River.

Today the city has an elegant shabbiness. Although considering that the city has recently been wracked by civil war, gang violence, and a refugee crisis, it's pretty impressive. The buildings combine graceful elements of late Byzantine, neoclassical, Victorian, or art nouveau with giant porches one typically sees in India and points east. (By contrast, Yerevan was laid out in 1924, after the better architectural styles like art nouveau faded, and its buildings tend to be more Soviet-style.)


An example of a typical shabby but graceful old building on a small side-street. Notice the elaborate 2nd-floor porch. I'll get pictures of some of the more flamboyant buildings later.

There still isn't much middle class, but unlike Yerevan, Tbilisi men don't have a creepy veneer of false machismo that they wear by driving big Mercedes with dark-tinted windows. The women here also dress a bit more modestly. Like Yerevan, there's a building boom here that demonstrates the strengthening economy but threatens to mar the newer parts of town with buildings barely more attractive than the 1960s-vintage Soviet krushchevas (sp?) they're replacing.


Cafe culture isn't nearly as developed here as in Yerevan, but a handful of small restaurants line streets of old town.

I will write more in a few days about this, but I think that Tbilisi could become a major tourist hub in a few years. It probably won't be the next Tallin, Prague, or Dubrovnik (all beautiful cities with far too many tourists), but Tbilisi has the history, beauty, and transportation needed to be a great destination. Its success will depend on Georgian authorities' ability to reduce further the armed robbery epidemic created by Abkhazian refugees here and to expand the almost non-existant air links here.


The Metekhi Church stands on a bluff that has hosted notable buildings since the 400s, including an early church, a palace, and a prison (where Maxim Gorky spent time). The bridge was the site of forced conversion to Islam in 1226 and 1522; those who chose to remain Christians were free to do so at the bottom of the river.

Posted by adrianjo at June 26, 2006 02:11 PM