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A letter to our daughter

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Re: A letter to our daughter

#331

Post by bobbles »

scoofy wrote: post #322
gist wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't know about the Saudi princes however the Koch Brothers have given away millions of dollars (and I am sure there also give away money anonymously as well). http://www.kochfamilyfoundations.org/foundationsdhk.asp Also rest assured that Facebook also "evades taxes" in the same way that the Koch brothers do, that is by taking advantage of the US Tax Code in a legal way. And none of us have any idea what the Koch Br…

David Koch, worth 44,200 million dollars, is donating literally millions?!? How generous of him to give away approximately 0.002% of his fortune here and there. Please be serious. This comparison is laughable, the ≈ $300M listed on his foundation is literally 0.7% of his net worth.

..and who the hell are you to determine where someone donates their money??

Re: A letter to our daughter

#332

Post by grumblestumble »

tertius wrote: post #308
gradstudent wrote: post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There is extreme lack of poverty in the U.S. There is no reason for anyone to go without food. I'm not sure which US you're referring to but it's not one I recognise. There is massive inequality in the US that I know and the results of that are visible everywhere that I visited. Homeless people abound like nowhere else in the developed western world that I've been to (Europe, Australia) and there is a real edge of…

> I'm not sure which US you're referring to but it's not one I recognise. I'm from an African country and with that perspective I stand by this phrase: > There is extreme lack of poverty in the U.S. There is no reason for anyone to go without food. Name one area in the U.S. where a homeless person cannot get a meal. My claim is simple. The U.S. is the most prosperous place on the planet, the inequality doesn't touch…

I'm gonna go with "what is a white South African?" for $200 on this one, Alex.

Re: A letter to our daughter

#333

Post by russell_h »

pen2l wrote: post #275
sokoloff wrote: post #263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would call that tax avoidance, not evasion, but no matter. Judge Learned Hand (a real person's name) wrote, "Any one may so arrange his affairs that his taxes shall be as low as possible; he is not bound to choose that pattern which will best pay the Treasury; there is not even a patriotic duty to increase one’s taxes." I agree wholeheartedly. I imagine that were I in their shoes, I'd be fairly confident that I cou…

> I imagine that were I in their shoes, I'd be fairly confident that I could do more good for the world by private philanthropy, directed to causes that I felt compelling, than by fueling general government spending/avarice around the world. I think that is beside the point. These companies are violating the spirit of law, not the letter of the law, when they avoid taxes. Take for example, the recent Pfizer/Allergen…

Can you clarify which law (or IRS rule - I don't mean to be pedantic here), specifically, you feel Facebook is violating the spirit of?

Most common tax avoidance strategies are possible due to very deliberate policies in each of the relevant jurisdictions. Its fine to claim that there is something wrong with the laws in question, but I haven't been able to identify one that strategies like the "double-dutch" violate the spirit of.

Re: A letter to our daughter

#334

Post by ryanwaggoner »

dev1n wrote: post #262
thatswrong0 wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would you voluntarily give more taxes to your governments? Or would you rather donate that money to a charity of your choosing / research? > the answer to the variety of problems that plague Chicago's South Side, New Orleans, or any number of troubled communities? No one (government, private sector, etc.) has the answer to those problems. Those are really really hard problems that require the cooperation of non-profi…

I, for one, would absolutely voluntarily give more taxes to my government for the sole purpose that all this shit infrastructure would be fixed up. Put people to work on infrastructure projects and I will gladly give up more money in the form of taxes. Basic income on the premise of infrastructure renovations is something I'm fully behind and I think many more citizens would be too, specifically those getting by on f…

So you would donate to the government, but only if you could ensure that your voluntary tax dollars go to the most important thing?

That's exactly why billionaires donate to their causes directly instead of letting the government allocate it; they don't trust the government with that extra money any more than you do.

Re: A letter to our daughter

#335

Post by ryanwaggoner »

the_cat_kittles wrote: post #195
clarkmoody wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So would "the people" know of a better way to deploy Zuckerberg's fortune than the man himself?

why is his opinion more valid? edit: "its his money" doesn't explain why he would be more able to judge how to donate money, or effect positive change than someone else. i understand he is allowed to spend it how ever he chooses. the point i'm trying to make is that someone is not inherently more likely to know the right thing to do than someone else just because they have more money.

Have you ever given to charity? If so, why? Why didn't you give it directly to the IRS? They accept donations, you know...

Re: A letter to our daughter

#336

Post by sleepyhead »

prezjordan wrote: post #2

> We will give 99% of our Facebook shares -- currently about $45 billion -- during our lives to advance this mission. We know this is a small contribution compared to all the resources and talents of those already working on these issues. But we want to do what we can, working alongside many others. Ninety. Nine. Percent.

Mark Zuckerburg is now officially the one percent.

Re: A letter to our daughter

#337

Post by gradstudent »

tertius wrote: post #308
gradstudent wrote: post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There is extreme lack of poverty in the U.S. There is no reason for anyone to go without food. I'm not sure which US you're referring to but it's not one I recognise. There is massive inequality in the US that I know and the results of that are visible everywhere that I visited. Homeless people abound like nowhere else in the developed western world that I've been to (Europe, Australia) and there is a real edge of…

> I'm not sure which US you're referring to but it's not one I recognise. I'm from an African country and with that perspective I stand by this phrase: > There is extreme lack of poverty in the U.S. There is no reason for anyone to go without food. Name one area in the U.S. where a homeless person cannot get a meal. My claim is simple. The U.S. is the most prosperous place on the planet, the inequality doesn't touch…

> My claim is simple. The U.S. is the most prosperous place on the planet, the inequality doesn't touch at least a hundred other countries. Again, inequality isn't necessarily an indicator of poverty.

The comparisons you make are on absolute terms but the reality is more nuanced. There are almost 47 million people living in poverty in the US [1] and something like 38% of the population live paycheque-to-paycheque (up from 31% in the late 90s) [2]. Even if most of those people are food-secure (something like 90% of Americans in poverty are) those numbers should still be pretty alarming. Just because the average American has it much better than the average African doesn't mean their situation is necessarily very good.

[1] http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/poverty/about/overview/index....

[2] http://www.cbsnews.com/news/more-americans-live-paycheck-to-...

Re: A letter to our daughter

#338

Post by derefr »

As far as I can tell, this is a speech directed at other billionaires, attempting to 1. put them in an idealistic frame of mind and then 2. making the suggestion that the natural outlet for that idealism is philanthropy, while 3. Putting his own money where his mouth is for some peer-pressure.

If that works, then this will singlehandedly be the highest-ROI "evangelism" anyone has ever done. Unlikely, though.

Re: A letter to our daughter

#340

Post by ams6110 »

AndrewKemendo wrote: post #39
austenallred wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, what else are you going to do with $45 Billion? Build a really big house? I've had the opportunity to rub shoulders with a few billionaires over the past few weeks, and it's remarkable how differently they think about money than the people who don't have it. Sure, they may buy a nice car (or jet), but after a certain level the only thing you can do with that kind of money is plug it back into something meanin…

>I mean, what else are you going to do with $45 Billion? You are thinking about it the wrong way. You don't spend $45B on stuff for yourself. You spend $45B on changing the way governments and populations live work and how power is balanced. When Bud Fox asked Gordon Gekko "How much is enough" Gekko knew immediately that Fox wasn't in the same league. Money isn't about stuff, it's about power and influence.

$45B is not enough to change governments. That's about 4 days worth of US federal spending.
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