Bill Gates, one of the greatest entrepreneurs of our time, is retiring in his 50s to direct his massive charitable giving. But he is far too young for such a move. If he were 20 years older, I would applaud too. But I know a little of what the feds have done to Microsoft since the antitrust attack, and the resulting bureaucratization of a great firm now concerned about being too innovative and too successful in serving consumers. The resulting stumbles have been painful to watch, even for a Mac guy. Then there is the insane liability a CEO faces thanks to Sarbanes-Oxley. I cannot blame him, but I fear that Gates’s departure is not a good thing for the cause of the market, that is, for the commonweal.

The Best of Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.