Transcripts For KPIX 60 Minutes 20160125

11 million have signed up for it so far, but we found many may never get on board. Come on in out of the rain. Hello, mr. Hank. How are you doing . Pelley for a fortunate few, there is the health wagon. Can you breathe for me . Pelley who are these people who come into the van . They are people that are in desperate need. They have no insurance and they usually wait, we say, until theyre train wrecks. Rose billionaires dont usually like to talk about their wealth, but this group has. They and others like them have all pledged to give at least half of their incredible fortunes away to charity a half a trillion dollars, so far. Government has shown, you know, over the past couple of decades that it can no longer solve the great problems of the day. Now, these philanthropists who have incredible wealth, and also the name and the influence, are uniquely qualified right now to solve the huge problems. This portion of 60 minutes presents is sponsored by the Lincoln Motor Company and the 2016 lincoln mkc. Thats a big bull. I think thats old cyrus. 1800 pounds of do whatever the heck i want. Take the long way, huh . Thank you cyrus. Lease a 2016 lincoln mkc for 289 a month only at your lincoln dealer. [ sneezing ] a cold can make you miserable. Luckily, alka seltzer plus cold and cough liquid gels. Rush liquid fast relief to your tough cold symptoms. Fast, powerful liquid gels from alka seltzer plus they are. Do i look smarter . Yeah, a little. Youre making money now, are you investing . Well, ive been doing some research. Let me introduce you to our broker. How much does he charge . I dont know. Okay. Uh, do you get your fees back if youre not happy . dad laughs wow, youre laughing. Thats not the way the world works. Well, the worlds changing. Are you asking enough questions about the way your wealth is managed . Wealth management, at charles schwab. The access informationlows us to from anywhere. The microsoft cloud allows us to scale up. Microsoft cloud changes our world dramatically. It wasnt too long ago it would take two weeks to sequence and analyze a genome. Now, we can do a hundred per day. With the microsoft cloud we dont have to build server rooms. We have instant scale. The microsoft cloud is helping us to rebuild and reinterpret our business. This cloud helps transform business. This is the microsoft cloud. Whitaker good evening. Im bill whitaker. Welcome to 60 minutes presents. Tonight, a look at americans from all walks of life making a difference hometown volunteers helping Sick Childrens dreams come true; Health Workers bringing care to forgotten pockets of rural poverty; billionaires who share their wealth. We begin with makeawish. If you could be anything, go anywhere, or meet anyone, what would you wish for . The Makeawish Foundation has been asking seriously ill children that question for 35 years. Makeawish became famous by making dying childrens final wishes come true. A child doesnt have to be terminally ill anymore to get a wish. Last year, the organization granted almost 15,000 wishes. They cover a broad range some children get to meet famous athletes; one had much of San Francisco pretend he was batman for a day. Another chose to jump from an airplane. We wanted to find out what leads to these wondrous moments. Makeawish is a growing organization that spent more than 200 million donated dollars on wishes in 2014. Its headquartered in phoenix, has more than 60 local chapters across the country, and almost 40 more around the world. To see how wishes become reality, we spent time with some of its most dedicated volunteers in one of its most active chapters, in the Northeast Corner of arkansas. As we reported back in october, we discovered a place where, despite persistent poverty, we found inspiring generosity. Youre fine. Appreciate you so much. Whitaker they begin at dawn. One day a year, hundreds of volunteers fan out across northeast arkansas to raise money at street corners. Good morning. Thank you all. Whitaker . In schools. 5,000. Whitaker their goal . Thank you so much. Whitaker to get enough money on this one day to grant every wish for the areas sickest children. Volunteers Christie Matthews and Danna Johnson have run this fundraiser every year since 1999. Christie matthews i mean, it literally just exploded. Every year, we would add another town. Whitaker but this is small town america. Matthews theyre very small towns 600, 700 people. A handful of change at a time. Whitaker as this days donation deadline approaches, groups of volunteers race to the local Radio Station to announce their towns total down to the penny. Give me a number. 8,468. 62 cheers and applause 25,301 cheers and applause 12,054. 55 cheers and applause golly the big finish is just moments away. Stand by whitaker the total tally from northeast arkansas is the big story on the 7 00 news. What do we have here . 323,000 cheers and applause whitaker thats 323,000 enough to grant more than 30 wishes donated from places with little to spare. In harrisburg, 40 live in poverty, but this town of 2,000 still contributed 25,000. The wishes were going just to children who were dying. And thats no longer the case . Matthews we talk about it not being a last wish, but we create lasting wishes and memories that these families can take on forever. Hi, Kaden Whitaker Kaden Erickson is fighting a deadly type of leukemia. At his interview as a potential recipient, he thought his wish was a long shot. Kaden erickson my number one wish choice is to go to australia. Whitaker folks here make granting the wish a big surprise. Months after his interview, kaden thought he was getting this plaque just for being a makeawish volunteer. Erickson makeawish, october 11, 2014. Kaden erickson, your wish has. applause your wish has been granted hey, kaden, youre going to australia. cheers and applause whitaker his mother jeanne. Jeanne erickson he was just shaking the plaque. And his little legs were just doing a little happy dance in the chair. And it was. It was something pretty special. Whitaker you must have been surprised . Kaden erickson i was the most surprised ive ever been in my life. Kendra street im so excited for you, you know it . Whitaker kendra street choreographed kadens surprise. When not playing fairy godmother, shes teaching at marmaduke elementary school. Everyone at the school chipped in to pay for kadens wish; many turned out to share the revelation. Kaden erickson i get to go to australia i get to go to australia street he was excited. He was grateful. And he knew what it meant for him and his family. Kaden erickson thank you, everybody. Whitaker kaden had endured two excruciating bone marrow transplants. When he, his parents, and four siblings hit the beach in australia, they hoped hed beaten the cancer. The highlight of his trip . Kaden erickson got to hold a koala. Whitaker did he, like, put his arms around you . Kaden erickson he. It was like a hug. It was about as heavy as a baby. And it would put the claws here and the claws here, and so it was like you were getting hugged by a koala. You kind of get attached to the koalas. Whitaker did it make you forget for a while that you were sick . Kaden erickson yes. It made me feel a little bit normal, more normal than ive been for a while. Whitaker feeling normal didnt last long. Shortly after returning home, kaden learned his cancer had returned for the third time. As we settled in for our interview, his mom jeanne adjusted the medication he needs. Its pumped into his body next to his heart. Youre in quite a struggle with this disease. Kaden erickson there are some bad things in my body that are kind of stubborn. Whitaker i think youre kind of stubborn yourself. Kaden erickson thank you. I think. Whitaker kaden is so stubborn that, after deliberating for a week, he decided to undergo a third agonizing bone marrow transplant. The previous two were so difficult, his parents didnt want to force him to go through it again. How did you make that decision . Kaden erickson would i rather just die or would i have a chance of living . It was a tough decision to make. Whitaker because the therapy makes you feel bad . Kaden erickson it can make me feel bad. It can hurt me. It could do more harm than help, so im just hoping this time it will get rid of it for good. Whitaker kadens wish granter, kendra street, was devastated when she learned his cancer had come back. Street you have an attachment with your kids, and kadens one that ive really attached to. And ive gotten to keep in touch with him, and so, seeing him have to go through that again, its. Its just painful. Hes just a really amazing kid. Lets give kendra a round of applause. cheers and applause whitaker you see, kendra had survived her own fight with cancer. Back when she was in high school, she had her wish granted. Makeawish foundation is sending you to the Atlanta Braves. applause whitaker getting to meet the Atlanta Braves was thrilling, she says, but. Street not to underestimate what my wish was for me, but if i had to sacrifice having my wish to be able to give it to someone else, i would definitely be willing to give it to someone else. Whitaker being the granter of the wish is the better end of the deal. Street absolutely. You get to give that joy. You get to pass it on to someone else. Whitaker the same chapter passed it on to gavin grubbs. He suffers from debilitating muscular dystrophy, and his wish was to meet race car champion joey logano. The day we met them outside charlotte, joey took gavin for a spin. They met six years ago, and have become so close, they call or text each other every week. Joey logano can you see anymore . Gavin grubbs i cant see. Whitaker gavin was a groomsman at joeys wedding. It all began back when gavin was eight. Makeawish is sending you to the daytona 500 cheers and applause whitaker at a school assembly, gavin learned hed get his wish to go to daytona and meet his hero. Then, it got better. Logano had flown to arkansas to be part of gavins surprise. cheers and applause gavin may have a serious disease, but, as youll see, he doesnt take himself too seriously. So, gavin, tell me, you are fighting a rare form of muscular dystrophy. Grubbs yes, sir. Whitaker how does it affect you . Grubbs main thing is i dont have the strength of a normal kid my age. Obviously, i mean, im in a wheelchair, but its not all sad because, i mean, youre. When you got a disability, people give you free stuff. laughs people let you do cool things. Im not saying i take advantage of it, but yeah, i take advantage of it. laughter and sometimes i feel a little bad for taking advantage of it, but, you know, its worth it, hanging out with this idiot. laughs its okay, no pressure. Whitaker gavin gives back, too. He helps raise money for new wish kids every year. Grubbs it feels good to help other kids. Logano thats to me is maturity beyond your years. You take advantage of the stuff that com your way, as you should. But you also, you know, you give back. Whitaker makeawish began back in 1980. Sevenyearold chris greicius, dying from leukemia, told his parents he wanted to be a police officer. Arizona police made him an officer for a day. The power of his wish launched a movement. Are there wishes you cant grant . Matthews the one wish thats the hardest to say, i cant do is, can you make me well . Thats a tough one. Whitaker what does that do to you . Johnson makes you cry. Matthews breaks your heart. Street thank you so much. Thank you. Whitaker years before she became a volunteer, getting well had been kendra streets first wish. At the time, she thought her cancer was fatal. Matthews yes. Johnson she was one of those that her first wish was to make me well, so i want to live long enough for my mom to see me graduate high school. She was a senior that year. Matthews they remind you that the Little Things that we think as adults are so traumatic are so small. I mean, when you think about what these kids are going through they may not see their next birthday. Whitaker kendra saw her next birthday, and since then, 13 more. Her cancer remains in remission. At marmaduke, where she teaches, the whole school takes part in makeawish. Street they just understand the power of a wish. Its just once they saw the first wish granted here, our kids wanted to help give that to someone else. And were a tiny, tiny school thats raised. Last year, we raised 15,000. Thats incredible. It plays a huge part of who our kids grow up to be. Kaden erickson theres a crocodile in there whitaker i dont want to overstate this in any way, but did the trip to australia bolster kadens will to live . Jeanne erickson having australia with him, having those memories, talking about that, it kind of gives him fuel to fight. Kaden erickson sometimes when im sad, i can think of all the happy things i did in australia, and how amazing it was. Whitaker youre not going to let this cancer win. Kaden erickson thank you. Whitaker you saw how courageous kaden was, but unfortunately, this story has a very sad ending. The cancer was relentless. This past september, kaden died. For more about kadens family go to 60minutesovertime. Com. Woman its been a journey to get where i am. And i didnt get here alone. There were people who listened along the way. People who gave me options. Kept me on track. And through it all, my retirement never got left behind. So today, im prepared for anything we may want tomorrow to be. Every someday needs a plan. Lets talk about your old 401 k today. When agerelated macular have degeneration, amd we came up with a plan to help reduce my risk of progression. And everywhere i look. Im reminded to stick to my plan. Including Preservision Areds 2. My doctor said Preservision Areds 2 has the exact nutrient formula that the National Eye Institute recommends to help reduce the risk of progression of moderate to advanced amd. After 15 years of clinical studies. Preservision areds 2. Because my eyes are everything. We danced in a german dance group. I wore lederhosen. Man. When i first got on ancestry i was really surprised that i wasnt finding all of these germans in my tree. I decided to have my dna tested through ancestry dna. The big surprise was were not german at all. 52 of my dna comes from scotland and ireland. So, i traded in my lederhosen for a kilt. Ancestry has many paths to discovering your story. Get started for free at ancestry. Com. Whitaker more than 11 Million People have signed up for obamacare. But many others have been left out. Millions of americans cant afford the Health Insurance exchanges. For the sake of those people, obamacare told the states to expand medicaid, the Government Insurance for the very poor. But 20 states declined. So, in those states, more than three Million People are falling into a gap they make too much to qualify as destitute for medicaid, but not enough to buy insurance. As scott pelley first reported in april 2014, we met some of these people when we tagged along in a busted rv called the health wagon, medical mercy for those left out of obamacare. Pelley the tight folds of the cumberland mountains mark the point of western virginia that splits kentucky and tennessee the very center of appalachia, a land rich in soft coal and hard times. Around wise county, folks are welcomed by storefronts to remember what life was like before unemployment hit 9 . Teresa gardner the roads are narrow and windy curves, so its not easy to drive the bus. Pelley this is Teresa Gardners territory. She cant be more than 5,4, but she muscles the bus through the hollers, deaf to the complaints of a 13yearold winnebago thats left its best miles behind it. Gardner having problems seeing here. Pelley you really cant see. The wipers are nearly shot and the defrosters out cold. There you go, you can see a little better now. laughs i understand theres a hole in the floorboard here somewhere . Gardner yes, its right over there, so dont get in that area. laughs pelley the old truck may be a ruin, but like most rvs, its pretty good at discovering america. Gardner and her partner, paula meade, are Nurse Practitioners aboard the health wagon, a charity that puts free healthcare on the road. How many patients do we have on the schedule today . He was going to see what he can free up for us. Pelley the health wagon pulls up in parking lots across six counties in southwestern virginia. Yall come on in out of the rain. Pelley its not long before the waiting room is packed. Hello, mr. Hank, how are you doing . Pelley . And two exam rooms are full. With advanced degrees in nursing, gardner and meade are allowed to diagnose illnesses, write prescriptions, order tests and xrays. Stick your tongue out, ah. Pelley on average, there are 20 patients a day thats recently up by 70 . The health wagon is a small operation that started back in 1980. It runs mostly on federal grants, and corporate and private donations. Blood pressure a bit high before . Just when i get aggravated. Pelley who are these people who come into the van . Paula meade they are people that are in desperate need. They have no insurance, and they usually wait, we say, until they are train wrecks. Their blood pressures come in emergency levels. We have blood sugars come in 500, 600s because they cant afford their insulin. Pelley but why do they not see a doctor or a nurse before they become, as you call it, train wrecks . Meade because they dont have any money. They dont have money to pay for labs. They dont have money to go to an e. R. And these are very proud people. They. You know, you go to the e. R. , you get a 3,500 bill. And then what do you do . Youre given a prescription, you cant fill it. Thats why theyre train wrecks. They have nowhere else to go. Pelley glenda moore had nowhere to go but the e. R. When the pain in her leg became unbearable. Her job at mcdonalds making biscuits didnt include insurance that she could afford. Glenda moore the only doctor that would see me, you had to have 114 upfront just to be seen. Pelley what does 114 mean to your Monthly Budget . Moore oh, my gosh. Thats half of my weekly pay. I make 7. 80 an hour. My paycheck was about. After taxes, about 475 every two weeks. Pelley the pain was from a blood clot. She needed lovenox, a clot buster that costs about 500 for a full treatment. Meade was she on lovenox when she was discharged from the hospital . Pelley paula meade got the call from the e. R. , which didnt want to bear the cost. The health wagon had the drug for free, and there was no charge for some stern medical advice. Meade you are going to die if you dont quit smoking, and it could be within a week. You need to stop now, okay . pelley she took the advice to stop smoking and took lovenox, but one day she felt so bad, she went back to the e. R. Moore and they did a ct scan and an xray, and found the blood clot had went to my lung. But they also saw another mass on my lung, and then transported me to a bigger hospital. They found the lesions in my brain, so i was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer and brain cancer. Pelley what are the doctors telling you . Moore i start my treatment on monday, the brain radiation, and he seemed very. I mean, he seemed optimistic. Pelley are you hopeful . Moore i am. I have been. I dont know, i just feel very hopeful. Pelley hope, especially when the odds are long, has always been essential to survival in appalachia. The recovery from the Great Recession hasnt arrived. In coal these days, they just take the top of the mountain and you dont need many men for that. Around here, about 1,000 were laid off in the last two years. 12 of the folks dont have enough to eat. And we met them waiting for their number at zion family ministries church, where a charity called feeding america was handing out just enough to get through a week, if you stretch. 1,654 lined up, a parking lot of possibilities for gardner, meade, and the health wagon. Theyve known these people and each other most of their lives. Youve been together since eighth grade . Meade eighth grade, yes. Pelley why do you do this work . Meade because somebody has to. You know, theres people here, you know. We always. We had dreams. We wanted to move away from here. We all. You know, we did. And then, we come back and we saw the need. And actually, theres a vulnerable population here thats different from the rest of america. I mean, there are people. You can replicate this, but were kind of forgotten. Theres no one here to take care of them but us. Pelley these patients would be taken care of in the 30 states that expanded medicaid under obamacare. The federal government pays the extra cost to the states for three years. But virginia and the others that opted out fear that the cost in the future could bankrupt them. So the health wagon patients we met have fallen through this unintended gap. Do you have insurance . No, maam. Pelley have any of you tried to sign up for the president s Health Insurance plan . No. Pelley why not . Brittany phipps i cant afford it. Sissy cantrell i cant, either. Pelley Sissy Cantrell was laid off from a head start center. Shes been suffering from migraines and seizures. Cantrell i cry for no reason at all, okay. Have you been seeing a counselor . Cantrell no. Okay. Pelley she came away from the health wagon with medication. Brittany phipps works more than 50 hours a week, but thats two parttime jobs, so theres no insurance for her diabetes. So youre getting your insulin through the health wagon . Phipps i am now, yeah. Pelley and if that wasnt available, where would you get the insulin . Phipps i dont know. Pelley walter laneys diabetes blinded him in one eye and threatens the other. The health wagon stabilized him and set him up with a specialist. Hey, walter, this is dr. Isaacs. Hows it going . Walter laney its going pretty good. How have youre sugars been . Laney okay. They got my blood sugars back under control. Before this year, i was in the hospital three, four times, and this year, i aint been in none since ive been seeing them. If it hadnt a been for them, i dont think id be here today. Pelley outside the church where they were handing out food, we met dr. Joe smiddy, a lung specialist whos the Health Wagons volunteer medical director. Joe smiddy this is a third world country of diabetes, hypertension, lung cancer, and c. O. P. D. Pelley dr. Smiddy drives a Second Health wagon, a tractor trailer xray lab. I guess they taught you something about radiology and all of that in medical school. Did they teach you how to drive an 18wheeler . Smiddy i did have to go to tractortrailer school. And it took a long time. Pelley was that harder than medical school, in some ways . Smiddy it was very difficult to get anyone to insure a doctor to drive a tractortrailer. Insurance companies didnt believe me. Pelley his xray screen is a window on chronic, untreated disease, including black lung from the mines. Smiddy weve seen coal workers pneumoconiosis, emphysema, c. O. P. D. , enlarged hearts. Theres 15 of the 26 had significant abnormalities here today. Pelley just today . Smiddy just today. Pelley but when they leave your health wagon, they still dont have Health Insurance. How do they get treated for these things that youre finding . Smiddy we negotiate. We can talk to the hospital system. We dont leave any patient unattended. We raise money for them. Pelley you find a way. Smiddy we will find a way. Pelley they found a way to get glenda moore radiation for her brain cancer. But shed been a smoker for 25 years, and she died three months after our interview. You dont like this idea of receiving charity . Moore no. Oh, i hate it. My dad was in the military. And when he was diagnosed with cancer, he was taken care of. And i dont know, i just always assumed, you know, thats how it would work. Pelley do you think things wouldve been different if youd had an opportunity to go to a doctor more often . Moore oh, definitely. I know it would be different. Pelley the outreach to all the people like glenda moore costs the health wagon about a million and a half dollars a year a third of that is from those federal grants, and the rest from donations. Doctors volunteer and pharmaceutical Companies Donate drugs. But when we were with them. We got no electricity on the health side. Pelley . They sure could have used a new truck battery. There goes. Yay gardner can we give you all a free flu shot for helping us . Need a free flu shot, beaver . Nope. Okay. Pelley Teresa Gardner and paula meade apply for grants, and travel to churches praying for donations and passing the plate. Are there days you say to yourself, i cant do this anymore. Meade oh, every day. Not every day, i shouldnt say every day. There are a lot of days that you go home and you get frustrated because were writing grants till 10 00 at night. Were begging for money. And youre almost in tears because were, like, okay, what are we going to do . Because ive got a family, too. It gets frustrating, it gets hard. Pelley its enough to wear you out, teresa. Gardner were pretty beat down by the end of the day on most days, really. But we do get more out of it than we ever give. Meade when you look at it practically, you think, what in the world am i thinking . But then i have that one patient that may come in and say, couldnt bring you anything, cant pay anything, but heres a quilt i want to give you. And i mean, when they do that and theyre so heartfelt and they put their arms around you i dont know what id do without you. Youre doing a lot better. It lets you think, okay, i was put here for a purpose. Gardner and you can do it another day. Youre a blessing to us. Well, thank you all. Yall are blessing us. Gardner its them, and thats what touches our heart. Whitaker since this story first aired, meade and gardner have a new health wagon and its logged a lot of miles. Virginia still has not expanded medicaid. And this sad news walter laney has died of complications from his diabetes. Cbs money watch update sponsored by lincoln financial. Calling all chief life officers. Good evening. Emerging from sanction, irans president has business meetings in europe this week with investors worried about iphone sales, apple reports earnings on tuesday, and puerto rico is warning of gave consequences after a deal to restructure its electric utilitys 9 billion debt fell through. Im vinita fire, cbs news. So since you have at t and directv you can get our new unlimited data plan. So, were like data rich. T. I. s whatever you like get data rich. Get unlimited data when you have at t wireless and directv. My man, lemme guess who youre wearing. Everyones lookin red carpet ready. Toenail fungus . Whaaat . . Fight it with jublia. Jublia is a prescription medicine. Used to treat toenail fungus. Use jublia as instructed by your doctor. Jublia is workin it most common side effects include. Ingrown toenail, application site redness,. Itching, swelling, burning. Or stinging, blisters, and pain. Oh fight it with jublia now thats a red carpet moment ask your doctor if jublia is right for you. Visit our website for savings on larger size. Whitaker today, the wealthiest 400 americans are worth over 2 trillion. Together, its been reported they own as much wealth as the bottom half of american households combined. While resentment towards the superrich grows, there may be a Silver Lining taking shape. It turns out a lot of those rich people are giving staggering sums of money away in what is being called a golden age of philanthropy. This surge in generosity is not by accident. Much of it is the result of an ambitious and targeted campaign called the giving pledge. It was started by an influential trio bill and Melinda Gates, and Warren Buffett. Two years ago, charlie rose had the opportunity to get them together to learn more about their new club for billionaires. Membership comes with just two requirements be worth at least a billion dollars and be willing to give half of that away. Rose is it necessary to join the giving pledge that you promise 50 of your net worth . Melinda gates yes, in your lifetime or in your will. Rose or in your will. Warren buffett right. Rose are people shocked by that . Buffett i dont think so. Melinda gates were asking them to be bold. Were asking them to step out and to do something big. But a lot of them were already on their way there and just hadnt put a numeric number behind it. And i think now, also, the giving pledge has gotten going, people know thats the expectation. Buffett and we dont. We dont find a lot of people that say, i want to join if it was 40 . laughter rose some may say, im happy to give much more than 50 . Buffett oh, most of them. Most. My guess is that a very significant percentage of our. Our members, i mean, way over half are going to give a lot more than half. Rose thats certainly true of the founders. The gates have already committed to giving 95 of their wealth away; Warren Buffett, 99 . They say that kind of extreme giving is needed because the rich have been getting so much richer. Tech innovations and rising Global Markets have produced vast fortunes not seen since the industrial revolution. So what does Warren Buffett say to convince todays billionaires to give their fortunes away . Buffett incremental wealth, adding to the wealth they have now, has no real utility to them. But that wealth has incredible utility to other people. It can educate children, it can vaccinate children. It can do all kinds of things. Rose there are others, and people that i know, say, i want to give it to my children. Thats what i want to do. Whats wrong with that . Buffett i dont really think that, as a society, we want to confer blessings on generation after generation who contribute nothing to society, simply because somebody in the far distant past happened to amass a great sum of wealth. Rose so far, 115 billionaires have bought buffetts argument and signed the giving pledge. Ages range from 27 to 98. Some inherited wealth, but most are selfmade. Their businesses range from technology and social media to pizza, hair care, and home improvement. Combined pledges so far . Over a half a trillion dollars. What conditions are there . I mean, can they say, yes, im with you. Im here. But i want to give it to this institution or that institution. Buffett we dont care what institution they give it to. Bill gates yeah, in fact, were not endorsing any flavor of philanthropy. We do think were all going to be smarter and do it better learning from each other. But there is no pooling of money. We celebrate the diversity of philanthropy. Rose billionaires can be shy when it comes to talking about their money. But Warren Buffett helped convince seven who have signed the pledge to sit down with 60 minutes. They are investors Pete Peterson and nicolas berggruen, south African Mining tycoon Patrice Motsepe and his wife, dr. Precious moloimotsepe, entrepreneur sara blakely, and a. O. L. Founder steve case, and his wife jean. When did you first hear of the giving pledge . Jean case melinda called and talked to us. But we had the benefit of knowing bill and melinda for a long time, going back to our technology roots. Steve case we competed against them for many years. Jean case we did. Steve case and were happy to finally join forces. Rose you wanted to be on their side. Steve case yeah, yeah, we wanted to be on the. Aligned. Rose theyve all signed the same pledge, and they bring the same brashness to their philanthropic ambition that helped them build financial empires. Pete peterson charlie, this is a group made up largely of entrepreneurs. And they didnt make a billion dollars or 5 billion by doing the ordinary; they did it by being bold. Rose thats certainly true for sara blakely. Sara blakely well, i made all the money by making other peoples butts look a lot better. Rose i think youve missed me. In 2000, she took 5,000 in savings and started the undergarment company spanx. Now, she wants her philanthropy to be as cutting edge as her billiondollar business. Blakely i started my product that didnt exist and shook up an industry. And i want to collaborate with people and increase my chances of coming up with an idea or something that will do that for my cause, which is helping women. Rose at 42, blakely admits shes just beginning to figure out how shell help women. At 83, Warren Buffett says he wants to stick with what hes good at running his company, Berkshire Hathaway so hes given the bulk of his fortune to the bill and Melinda Gates foundation so it can be used to reduce global poverty and disease. As for the other pledgers, theyre tackling an impressive array of causes unemployment in south africa, Early Detection and treatment of brain cancer and some interests that take on a more political tone tax reform in california and the national debt. But as bill gates discovered when he left microsoft, going from making money to giving it away isnt always easy. An example of just one of the lessons hes learned it doesnt matter how effective a vaccine is; if you dont package and deliver it the right way, it will not do any good. I guess theres a learning process, too. Melinda gates absolutely. Rose because you feel like, how do you do this even if youre inclined to do it . Bill gates its almost disconcerting to switch to an area where youre back at square zero a little bit. And the measurements arent quite the same as in the business game. What youre trying to do the need to take risk, try different things, and so you need encouragement. Rose thats why buffett and the gates invite pledgers once a year to exclusive resorts like Kiawah Island in south carolina. Here, billionaires attend seminars on how to give money away more effectively. Our cameras were not allowed in, but we were shown this days agenda it included lessons on how tools Like Technology can be used to transform failing schools and, with the government cutting funding on medical research, how can philanthropists step in and help spur new medical breakthroughs. But we wondered, what else goes on behind closed doors . Will there be a conversation here about failure . Buffett sure. Jean case yes, there most definitely will be. Rose what does that. How do you phrase that . Buffett well, if you bat a thousand, youre playing in the little leagues. I mean, the. And the problems are major league. Steve case the difference in the entrepreneurial world, when you launch a company, you have a particular idea, a particular product, a particular Service Almost always you pivot, you shift. You. The market reacts to your initial idea. You make some adjustments. Its only after making a few adjustments that you see the success. We need that same mentality in philanthropy trying things, taking risks, recognizing the first try, maybe the second try, maybe the third try wont work. But if you stay at it and youre learning, youre talking to others, and youre learning together, eventually, youll break through and see the kind of impact you were hoping for. Rose jeffrey skoll, one of the first to sign the giving pledge, is using the billions he made as ebays first president to fight what he calls Global Threats not just one, but five problems hes convinced pose immediate danger to humanity Climate Change, water security, pandemics, nuclear proliferation, and the middle east conflict. I mean, is there some argument to make sometimes that. That because people made a lot of money that they may come to these problems with a certain arrogance, like, i know everything there is to know. Im so. Smart guy. Let me tell you what to do. Jeffrey skoll i think we all have a danger. Rose arrogance. Skoll . Of feeling like we know the answers. And the reality is we dont. Rose but that doesnt keep skoll from trying. In addition to his more traditional charitable giving, in 2004, he started the for profit Media Company participant, to make movies that promote his philanthropic goals. And the purpose of the movies is what . Awareness is one. Skoll to create entertainment that inspires and compels social change. And so whether that is Climate Change or dolphin hunting in japan or dealing with drug sentencing laws, every film we do has a purpose and it has a social Action Campaign associated with the movie. And we try to get people involved in the issues of the movie to try to make a difference in those issues. Rose but the problem with all of this may be that it shows how quickly charity can cross over into advocacy. Take the 2011 movie contagion. Skoll took what hed learned through his charitable work in pandemics and funded a movie to warn people that a virus could kill billions. On day one, there were two people, and then four, and then 16. In three months, its a billion. Thats where were headed. Rose and what did the movie accomplish for you . Skoll in many ways, it put pandemics back on the map, that the public realized how important our Public Health organizations are, for example. A number of politicians that had seen the movie who were ready to vote on cuts to funding to the cdc recognized that that would be a bad idea. Randall lane the public has a right to know who owns the world. Rose randall lane, the editor of the business magazine forbes, says billionaires like skoll have become so influential, he devoted an entire issue to philanthropy. Lane government has shown, you know, over the past couple decades that it can no longer solve the great problems of the day. Now, these philanthropists who have incredible wealth, the problemsolving brainpower, and also the name and the influence to be able to open doors, are uniquely qualified right now to solve the huge problems. Rose but that does raise the question, do these billionaires have too much power . Theres some people who say big philanthropy is not such a good idea, meaning that, somehow, you have enormous power and youre not elected, and that that may not be such a good idea to have people with enormous wealth to have so much influence. Buffett well, would they prefer dynastic wealth, pass it on . Or would they prefer, you know, obscenely high living . Theres a couple other ways to get rid of money, but i. I think its better if youre helping other people, using a good bit of it for helping other people. Rose okay, so theres no instance in which somebody could say, look, i mean, we got too many people of huge wealth who are having too much influence. Jean case well, charlie, think about bill and polio, for instance bill and melindas work in polio. I mean, theyre coming close to eradicating polio on the face of the earth. I think when we have a couple of examples like that, people will see, thats not power being used for personal purposes; thats really leveraging everything you have to change the world to make it better. Rose but as Warren Buffett is finding out, not every billionaire feels that way. Buffett ive gotten a lot of yeses when ive called people, but ive gotten a lot of nos, too. Because ive been calling people with a billion dollars or more, ive been tempted to think that if they cant sign up for 50 , maybe i should write a book on how to get by on 500 million. laughter because, apparently, theres a lot of people that dont really know how to do it. Whitaker since our story first aired, another 26 billionaires, now totaling 141 people from 15 different countries, have signed the giving pledge. Our parents worked hard so that we could enjoy lifes simple pleasures. Now its our turn. Im doing the same for my family. Retirement and Life Insurance solutions from pacific life can help you protect what you love and grow your future with confidence. Pacific life. Helping generations of families achieve longterm Financial Security for over 145 years. Whitaker im bill whitaker. Stick around for a special edition of 60 minutes, including a story about heroin in the heartland of america, and also a few clips from our rare interviews with david bowie. James drove his rav4 hybrid, unaware death was lurking. What . He was challenged by a team of lumberjacks. Lets do this. He would drive them to hard knocks canyon, where he would risk broken legs, losing limbs, and slipping and dying. Not helping. But death would have to wait. James left with newfound knowledge, a mans gratitude, and his shirt. How far will you take the allnew rav4 hybrid . Toyota. Lets go places. Jake reese, day to feel alive jake reese, day to feel alive jake reese, day to feel alive not having a Good Breakfast like your day never started. Get going with carnation breakfast essentials. With protein plus 21 vitamins and minerals to help your family be their best. Carnation breakfast essentials captioning funded by cbs and ford. We go further, so you can. Captioned by Media Access Group at wgbh access. Wgbh. Org captioning funded by cbs and ford. We go further, so you can. Whitaker what is this . You might think of heroin as primarily an inner city problem, but dealers are making huge profits by expanding to new, lucrative markets suburbs all across the country. Im sitting here looking at you, and you look young and fresh. Youre the. Youre the girl next door. And you were addicted to heroin. I mean, obviously, its very flattering that you say, like, i dont look like a junkie. But even miss america could be a junkie. I mean, anybody can be a junkie