Dubai Debt Issues Push Stocks Down
GMA: Adam Lambert, No; Chris Brown, Yes
Family Gets Early Christmas Gift From Ellen DeGeneres
Mayor: Sex Trafficking Victims, Please Speak Up
Street Artist Proposes on Subway Signage
There is a lot to be said about Warren Buffett's announcement that most of his billions-of-dollars fortune will be given to charities, with particular focus on giving about $31 billion to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. And we hope his actions, as well as those of the Gateses, reverbate through billionaire and millionaire circles, because giving back to the world that made them rich makes sense - tax incentives or no. For instance, when Ted Turner donated $1 billion to the U.N. in stock, he said, "When I got my statement in January. I was worth $2.2 billion. Then I got another statement in August that said I was worth $3.2 billion. So I figure its only nine months' earnings, who cares?"
Buffett will start giving his money away to the Gates Foundation as well as four other charities set up by members of the Buffett family in a few days. He told reporters, "I'm not an enthusiast for dynastic wealth, particularly when 6 billion others have much poorer hands than we do in life." And while many of us can't make grand donations like Buffett or the Gateses, we can give smaller portions of our income to charity or do things like volunteer. For example, NY Cares is one of the city's biggest volunteer organizations and Volunteer Match is a good way to find out about volunteer opportunities.
You can watch video or listen to audio of the event at the Gates Foundation. The NY Sun notes the NYC-set meeting in an editorial (Buffett and the Gateses had a press conference at the NY Public Library), "John Jacob Astor, James Lenox, and Samuel Tilden would no doubt be smiling to know that the first thing the Sages of Omaha and Seattle did after announcing what looks to be the largest philanthropic transfer of wealth in history was to meet in New York at an institution that is one of the great successes of private philanthropy." And when the NY Times' David Pogue wrote about Bill Gates' decision to concentrate on philanthropy, his readers debated the good and bad of Gates.
Photograph of Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett by Seth Wenig/AP
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
tweet this
post to facebook
Bravo to these folks!
The amounts of money involved here are hard to comprehend.
The impact this money can have, along with the money already being managed by the Gates Foundation is astonishing. By focusing on specific problems (technology, education, AIDS, malaria, river blindness) and avoiding the red tape of governments and various NGOs, not to mention that no religious-right strings will be attached, we could see a significant result in our lifetimes. There must be other billionaires who can add to this pot.
Bill Gates stole our money, and now he gets credit for giving some of it away?
Well, he's wretched, but think about how wretched other businessmen have been. At least he's doing something!
Yeah, stole your money. I hope you're using morse code to transmit that post. Dumbass.
Unfortunately, there is little evidence that money actually helps people. Despite the trillions of foreign aid to Africa it is still a failed region. Far-left policies do not help. But now when we have true pro-capitalist / free market advocates in charge there is at least some hope that the money is not used like foreign aid. However, in the long run this foundation probably follows the path of Henry Ford foundation (it was hijacked by people who hate Ford and all he believed in).
So the big advocates for the estate tax are keeping the money away from the US government and likely the American people since most of Gates' spending is overseas.
I sincerly appluad this act that will benefit world wide humanity and give recognition of demonstrative sensitivity expressed
Actually, if he uses the money to develop infrastructure in poor nations, that would go a long way.
I am with Amazed....Our money hmmmm? Not sure how you got there. You may should consider some anger therapy or find yourself a communist country? :) You know Gates may not be a great but he has done a heck of a lot for charities, mostly from monies gained by his investments. It is really exceptional on both the Gates and Buffet's part and if I could, I would thank them personally. A lot of people will benefit. This is areally awesome thing :)
Heck I didn't even spell his name right....maybe I may need a typing class....
What Gates needs to do is give every person who has evern used Windows $1 million for pain and suffering.
well, tom, maybe the folks running the Ford Foundation realized Henry's eugenics-loving, Nazi-sympathizing, anti-Semitic world views weren't the best ideas to run a charitable foundation. And, if we have "true pro-capitalist / free market advocates in charge" how come Congressional pork spending has quadrupled in the past few years?
If you are referring to the president (?) he is not the one who inserts the porks. Sure, he might be have vetoed a bill or two but without the line item veto there isn't much a president can do since porks are included in important must-pass bills. To my knowledge, the biggest pork inserter has been that former Klu Klux Klan activist from Virginia who is a democrat. Anyway, this is a bit off-topic.
The point is that money alone is not always the solution. (Think Zimbabwe: I doubt that increasing foreign aid to Z. helps people there at all). Donations to AIDS research are more promising (but again, if there is free money available all career researchers want to be involved and get huge grants so they define their work aids research even if they know that their own specific focus area is dead-end. It will be a challenge to spend this money wisely but let's hope for the best.
Tom, you might want to ring Bill Gates, sounds like he could use your help
They were at Bloomberg's headquarters in NYC this morning at 9 for an interview (which I haven't myself seen yet). People were excited. It's good stuff no matter how you slice it.
Tom,
As of late I thought Bush had yet to veto a single bill, spending or other. Statistics show that government spending grows the slowest when the White House and Congress are in different hands. That spending slowed in the 1990s is not a tribute to Clinton or Newt Gingrich but rather to the Temple of Obstructionism.