Gothamist: Buffett Donates Billions to Gates Foundation

just sayin'

Mon, 26 Jun 2006 23:37:43 -0500

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.

John Zwinck

Mon, 26 Jun 2006 23:20:23 -0500

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.

rob

Mon, 26 Jun 2006 23:15:45 -0500

Tom, you might want to ring Bill Gates, sounds like he could use your help

tom

Mon, 26 Jun 2006 21:57:26 -0500

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.

Anomalous

Mon, 26 Jun 2006 21:27:37 -0500

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?

Toby

Mon, 26 Jun 2006 19:35:46 -0500

What Gates needs to do is give every person who has evern used Windows $1 million for pain and suffering.

Also Amazed that types bad...

Mon, 26 Jun 2006 18:59:33 -0500

Heck I didn't even spell his name right....maybe I may need a typing class....

Also Amazed

Mon, 26 Jun 2006 18:56:36 -0500

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 :)

S.D.

Mon, 26 Jun 2006 18:38:38 -0500

Actually, if he uses the money to develop infrastructure in poor nations, that would go a long way.

Howard FitzSimmons

Mon, 26 Jun 2006 18:24:38 -0500

I sincerly appluad this act that will benefit world wide humanity and give recognition of demonstrative sensitivity expressed

allllllllllllrighty then

Mon, 26 Jun 2006 18:19:50 -0500

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.

tom

Mon, 26 Jun 2006 17:52:03 -0500

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).

Amazed...

Mon, 26 Jun 2006 17:41:12 -0500

Yeah, stole your money. I hope you're using morse code to transmit that post. Dumbass.

Jen

Mon, 26 Jun 2006 17:33:29 -0500

Well, he's wretched, but think about how wretched other businessmen have been. At least he's doing something!

timbnyc

Mon, 26 Jun 2006 17:27:30 -0500

Bill Gates stole our money, and now he gets credit for giving some of it away?

famdoc

Mon, 26 Jun 2006 17:00:21 -0500

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.

mrf

Mon, 26 Jun 2006 16:43:54 -0500

Bravo to these folks! The amounts of money involved here are hard to comprehend.