The debate on billionaires and their debt to society rages on.

While some believe that Steve Jobs did the right thing in choosing to keep his money, others think that the Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) co-founder should have donated his wealth to some philanthropic cause. Last summer, I dissected this issue with an in-depth editorial analyzing the lack of Steve Jobs’ charitable efforts.

“I think it’s silly to force Apple or Jobs into philanthropy,” I wrote. “If their hearts aren’t in it, what’s the point? If consumers knew that Company X was only giving away money to improve its image and to build up its marketing efforts, would they be happy? Probably not. They’d prefer to go on living with the belief that Company X actually cares.”

Ultimately, it all comes down to what Jobs wanted to do with his money. If he didn’t really want to give his money away — publicly or otherwise — who are we to say otherwise? This is supposed to be a free nation. And in a free nation, you are free to do whatever you want with your hard-earned profits.

Don’t tell that to his critics, however. While you might think that this is …

Yesterday, the market ended slightly higher, marked by late-day swings. The Dow Jones Industrial closed 33 points higher and the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index was up 1.82 points and the Nasdaq was down 10.74 points. Major indexed were lower much of the session, as there was little reason for investors to buy. Economic figures suggested slowing demand in both Europe and the United States.

Europe and the potential of the Greek departure from the Eurozone was (as usual) a check on the markets. The dollar rose against major currencies and trimmed rallies in crude oil and gold. A wednesday meeting exposed growing turmoil among eurozone nations on how to encourage growth in Greece and Spain. No big decisions are expected before Greece’s June 17 election.

Underscoring the vulnerability of U.S. companies to events in the eurozone, data storage company NetApp Inc (NTAP) – Nasdaq on Wednesday forecast revenue below expectations. They cited uncertainty in Europe for the tumble, and it’s shares fell 12% in yesterday’s trading, to $28.82. Andrew Milligan, global head of strategy for Standard Life Investments in Edinburgh said “It’s incredibly difficult to know what’s priced into markets or what fair value might be for stocks. Equities …

Stocks edged up after the open this morning as the market digested mixed corporate earnings and global economic reports. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 37 points, the S&P 500 was up by 4.8 points, and the Nasdaq was up by 3.1 points.

In economic news, it was announced today that initial jobless claims for last week came in at 370,000, as expected by economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters. Manufacturing data, also released today, showed demand for long-lasting manufactured goods rose less than expected in April. Subodh Kumar, chief investment strategist at Subodh Kumar & Associates in Toronto said, “Durables showed the hope in the recovery in manufacturing seems to be stalling, not a lot of excitement there. The only bright spot in the economy seems to be that housing is bottoming out and that’s about it.”

In other economic news, mortgage rates remain at record lows. Rates have been pressured for weeks, and haven’t shown any sign of change. The 30-year-fixed-rate mortgage ticked slightly down to another record low, 3.78% and a 15-year fixed rate mortgages remained unchanged from the last week at 3.04%.

There have been a few interesting twists on these the US treasury bonds rates …