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MSFT Co-founder Giving Half of His Money Away

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Wow. Just wow. This thread is all the proof anyone needs that no matter WHAT you do, some people will just piss on your parade. Any time someone does something good for the world, people from all over need to feel high and mighty by criticizing what the man could have done and how he should be doing it better. Does it make you people feel better about your pathetic lives when you "tell someone off"?

To the dimwits who never studied economics: Yes, if he gave $1000/person to the American Joe, there would be a SHORT spurt of spending (the US economy is so large, it wouldn't be felt.) However, if you knew economics, you'd see that this doesn't come without a cost. This guy's money is sitting in investments, which means businesses are able to tap his money to operate. If he YANKS IT OUT NOW and gives it to the average Joe who can only spend it, those businesses that suddenly had a huge withdrawal of investor funding WOULD GO DOWN. It's like if you had a $2 million business, someone suddenly pulls $1.5 million, then you sell $1000 more of product.

And just to play devil's advocate: Even IF there was no negative effect to business were this to happen. Everyone spends $1000 more over a weekend. THEN WHAT? Do you seriously believe the economy is magically fixed? Do you know WHY the stimulus package was spread out over time rather than in 1 lump sum even though most people would prefer the latter?

I am fortunate enough to say the stimulus package (Making Work Pay tax credit) is insignificant enough to not really make an impact for me. I truly feel for those where it meant the difference between food on the table or going without. BUT, had the government simply given money out in 1 large sum (a lot of under-educated folks kept saying the bailout should've been a large sum of money distributed evenly among the US poor populace) I guarantee the vast majority of folks receiving it would've simply blown it on crap they don't need (SOME would be responsible enough to spend slowly on necessities but the VAST majority would not because that's why they are so poor to begin with), which won't help the economy long-term BECAUSE it's one-time. It would be the jolt you get at the hospital before flatlining.

I salute this man for giving. However, I do not condemn Steve Jobs for not (and I say that without even liking the man.) Lots of money is the reward for success. For those of you who say "Allen's earned more than his fair share," well guess what? He's also PRODUCED more than his fair share to the world. He earned it just like each of you working folks earn your salary each day. Why does he get so much more than you? Because his contribution to the world is that much more valuable than yours. He earned his, Bill his, and Steve his as well. They don't tell you how to spend YOUR money, so why are you complaining about how they spend theirs?

And finally, to the guy who said the world would be better without "greed, capitalism, etc." You'd be right if by better you mean you prefer to live as a caveman does. Capitalism and greed is what GETS people with jobs a steady paycheck.
 
I'm sure the Linux Foundation would love a Million or three - Throw in a few bucks for the Free Software Foundation too...
 
[citation][nom]chickenhoagie[/nom]we need more people like this these days..too much seperation of wealth. people have more money than they can spend these days, which is why i salute people like this to actually realizing this.who needs their own personal jumbo jetliner?[/citation]
These days?, try ever. I can understand planning for your family's generations to come, creating a dynasty like the Rockafell's, Carnegies, etc. But you like you said, yesterdays millionaires are today's billionaires and have more money then several generations, never mind if provisions are created to protect and invest the money to survive you. Kudos to Allen!
 
Were I not a dirt poor loser, I'd probably have done the same. I see obscene amounts of wealth in one person's control as being counter-productive to our economy. How the wealth is spread is a matter of personal beliefs, but good on them for finding some charity in their hearts to help others.
 
[citation][nom]TemjinGold[/nom]This guy's money is sitting in investments, which means businesses are able to tap his money to operate. If he YANKS IT OUT NOW and gives it to the average Joe who can only spend it, those businesses that suddenly had a huge withdrawal of investor funding WOULD GO DOWN. It's like if you had a $2 million business, someone suddenly pulls $1.5 million, then you sell $1000 more of product.[/citation]
I seriously doubt he is going to pull all his money out of his investments and bankrupt those companies. His diverse number of investments would be sold off in small amounts over time, maintaining the current market price while doing so. The investment is then bought by someone else and the company doesn't know the difference, money just exchanged hands.

And that's only if he wants to donate cash. Donations often happen in the form of giving away the actual shares, which doesn't affect anything at all. He would also be giving them away in small amounts to multiple organizations, so even if one sold all the shares right away, it wouldn't be enough to destroy the company.

He isn't stupid, or he wouldn't have amassed such a huge fortune. He knows that selling off everything at once will kill the market price and hurt the company. I also don't think anyone here suggested he would be pulling his money out all at once, so if you studied economics, why would you even say so yourself?

[citation][nom]back_by_demand[/nom]He gives away more than he gets in tax breaks, therefore a net loss.Not exactly a method for accruing wealth, is it?Can't anyone just see this for what it is, trying to do some good in the world?[/citation]
I haven't been able to find any exact information on how much Bill Gates gives away compared to how much he needs to give away for tax purposes. Could you link it?
 
First of all, kudos to him and Gates for all of their charity. Now, a question. After making this sizable donation, will the government still rob 55% of the remainder from his grave?
 
[citation][nom]Icehearted[/nom]Were I not a dirt poor loser, I'd probably have done the same. I see obscene amounts of wealth in one person's control as being counter-productive to our economy. How the wealth is spread is a matter of personal beliefs, but good on them for finding some charity in their hearts to help others.[/citation]

You're only a dirt poor loser because you say you're a dirt poor loser. Start telling yourself that you're who you want to be (before society tried to kick all your dreams out of you and drag you down). Soon enough, your attitude will change and you'll start to attract the right sort of people to you who can help you reach your goals.
 
beayn: Yes, I know that he would donate shares. I was saying that to the guy who said he should give $1000 to each average Joe instead to jumpstart economy. The average Joe is quite frankly too stupid to know what to do with shares and would thus need to be given cash. If he were to try and "help" the economy THAT way, he would need to yank out money and dole it out NOW.

As for giving away more than tax breaks, I believe the other guy was still talking about Allen. I don't know how much he needs to give for tax purposes but I'd say it's a pretty safe bet that more than half of what he has is over that limit.
 
The more generous you are, the richer you get. Please don't start an argument on this; this theory can never be proved. It is just my personal believe.
 
[citation][nom]nuvon[/nom]The more generous you are, the richer you get. Please don't start an argument on this; this theory can never be proved. It is just my personal believe.[/citation]

It's fact. Law of Recprocity. If you don't have money to give, give time and energy ie voluntary work. Then you'll receive small opportunities because you're such a nice person, which then grow into bigger opportunities and so on and so forth.

You can get financially wealthy by being a scrooge and by screwing the other guy, but that's not a great recipe for a happy lifestyle...
 
I would be more impressed by an average person who gives away half his modest assets, with the result that he can no longer retire in comfort but must keep working in his old age.

Even if these billionaires gave away 99% of their wealth they would still have riches beyond most of our wildest dreams.

Remember Jesus' parable of the Widow's Mite.
 
Give[citation][nom]zachary k[/nom]so, the Microsoft billionaires are giving money away while Steve jobs is..... doing what now?[/citation]

Give away free bumpers....soo life is tough for him especially when he gets his dream job at the school of thought "How to hold your iPhone properly"
 
Without those that think selflessly, we'll never have Star Trek. Who really needs more than a few million in their lifetimes? It's all about friends and family anyway.
 
[citation][nom]tharkis842[/nom]Yah know, if they'd donate some of that to the american people in need all around this country, we could turn this economy around and get people back to work. Bring businesses back to our shores.[/citation]

Giving money to a person who has no job only encourages them to not work. Why work when you have money to live off of?

What he did was cool, though I wish it was invested into some company to bring honest, hard working (immigrants? lol. Seriosuly lots of US citizens are lazy as hell, have no pride in their work. . . guess that's what happens when you realize the best you'll ever do is 10% above min wage) people.
 
This is great, but why is he only giving it away when he dies?? Seems like no great sacrifice to give away all your money when you dont need it anymore. Plus, like another poster said, so you have only 7 billion vs 13 billion or whatever. If you really want to sacrifice, give away everything and live on a 100,000 a year stipend.
Still, I admire and respect someone who does this. However, I think it is still a bigger sacrifice (relatively) for someone who is barely making ends meet to contribute to charity. Or for someone like Mother Theresa who gives away everything.
 
Its a nice gesture but I think all we're going to see is Enron style corruption. The people and organizations receiving this money have not had the responsibilities of dealing with this kind of money before. Without a doubt, a good majority of them are going to be thinking about how they can set up a shell company to receive some of these funds... If they really wanted to do something magnificent with this money, then donate smaller sums to every organization that they feel is worthy and perhaps set up a company like Google's (the name escapes me, but where they invest it in companies and ideas that sound promising)
 
[citation][nom]eddieroolz[/nom]These philanthropists should be commended a lot more. They barely get any attention anywhere - all the while Jobs and his cronies make headlines every single damn week for some incomprehensible reason. For comparison, Jobs doesn't even take part in philanthropist acts - he keeps all that for himself. Shows the difference in character of people.[/citation]

I hope you know that Job's salary is only 1$ per year. One dollar. He makes his money in other ways. I'm sure he donates as well.

I still hate apple.
 
He's already given away half his fortune to bad business investments. It's great to see him giving some of the rest to philanthropic endeavors.
 
I applaud these billionaires who donate in billions. We can use more people like them.
 
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