Bill Gates' Philanthropic Impact Put in Perspective • Hacker News Board

Re: Bill Gates' Philanthropic Impact Put in Perspective

#91

Post by Retric » Sat, Apr 23, 2016, 12:24 PM UTC

nothrabannosir wrote: post #78

simula67 wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here is the preceding verse, Mathew 6:2 "So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full." I think what Jesus meant was that letting others know was not the problem, but giving alms for the sake of being honored by others. These good deeds were not done out of…

And what people are trying to say is: that may be a bad thing, but it does not cancel out the good thing you did. You now did both a good and a bad thing. Not just a bad thing. We try to judge people based on their actions. Someone messes up and defends themselves with "I was only trying to help!" - "The road to hell is paved with good intentions."[0] The fact that proverb exists at all, means that our society has at…

There is a view that good actions only count if there is sacrifice. As he still has 30+ billion the net impact of his giving at a personal level was Zero. Hell, he said several times he did not like being the worlds richest person. So, arguably he may have been acting in a completly selfish fasion.

Consider a Pimp finds out he can londer money and find new girls by setting up a homeless shelter. Is setting up the shelter a good action?

Re: Bill Gates' Philanthropic Impact Put in Perspective

#92

Post by onebigbug » Sat, Apr 23, 2016, 12:24 PM UTC

geomark wrote: post #15

throwaway_xx9 wrote: post #7

Before you lionize a convicted monopolist ... 1) The USA tax code encourages wealthy people to create foundations. The money in the foundation is still controlled by them and has tax benefits. 2) In other countries, wealthy people are taxed to provide social services like education and healthcare. In the USA, they're not - the capital gains rate of 15% is basically a round-off error compared to 90% last century. 3) F…

People fail to understand the difference between innovation driven monopoly and government enforced monopoly. The former is commendable, indicating that a company has developed a product so useful that it becomes so widely adopted as to become a monopoly. Nobody is forced to buy the product - people just find it so useful that the it dominates in the marketplace. And there is nothing preventing the rise of a competit…

You haven't listed all the possible options for obtaining a monopoly, though, including the one Microsoft was convicted of. In addition to creating a better product and by controlling the government, you can also engage in tying, whereby you have a monopoly (perhaps rightfully gained through innovation) and use it to gain a monopoly in another area by forcing customers to buy both together, you can sell at a loss until your competitors go out of business and then raise the price, you can collude with other companies to fix prices, or to only service certain areas or sectors.

Having a monopoly is not illegal, exploiting your position as a monopoly to maintain it is. That is what Microsoft did.

Re: Bill Gates' Philanthropic Impact Put in Perspective

#93

Post by mcguire » Sat, Apr 23, 2016, 12:26 PM UTC

I was just pondering Gate's legacy the other day. While I was blowing away another copy of Windows that I paid for but never booted.

Re: Bill Gates' Philanthropic Impact Put in Perspective

#94

Post by forgetsusername » Sat, Apr 23, 2016, 12:38 PM UTC

sametmax wrote: post #87

peteretep wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because Microsoft was evil, Gates is an inspiration to me.

Because my aunt stopped beating his child after 15 years and started to work in a dog shelter, she is an inspiration to me ? Err... no.

>Because my aunt stopped beating his child

It's beyond ridiculous to compare anything that Gates did to physical violence. He had a few vicious, harmful business tactics. His overall benefit to society, especially if you include his philanthropic work, is likely beyond what most people here will ever achieve.

Re: Bill Gates' Philanthropic Impact Put in Perspective

#95

Post by tingol » Sat, Apr 23, 2016, 12:41 PM UTC

philliphaydon wrote: post #42

prodigal_erik wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If we put aside that the money isn't his, he kneecapped better products with such ferocity that a generation later our industry is still struggling to make up for the lost progress.

The FDA, CDC, American Government, and Patent System, have all crippled progress far more than Bill Gates or Microsoft ever did.

Tu quoque?

Re: Bill Gates' Philanthropic Impact Put in Perspective

#96

Post by forgetsusername » Sat, Apr 23, 2016, 12:43 PM UTC

paganel wrote: post #70

mrep wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What money did he "take"?

At least $200 million or so from my Government, the result of straight-up corruption. From here http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/20/technology/us-said-to-look... : > The Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission have both opened preliminary investigations into bribery accusations involving Microsoft in China, Italy and Romania, according to the person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because…

>I'm 100% sure that MS (and Gates) actually took that money out of our pockets.

So, Microsoft, which was headed by Ballmer at the time (Gates already years into retirement from operations), took a contract from your corrupt government, that might have broken a law (never proven)...and Bill Gates is to blame?

You have a lot of misplaced anger.

Re: Bill Gates' Philanthropic Impact Put in Perspective

#97

Post by mcguire » Sat, Apr 23, 2016, 12:46 PM UTC

strommen wrote: post #13

throwaway_xx9 wrote: post #7

Before you lionize a convicted monopolist ... 1) The USA tax code encourages wealthy people to create foundations. The money in the foundation is still controlled by them and has tax benefits. 2) In other countries, wealthy people are taxed to provide social services like education and healthcare. In the USA, they're not - the capital gains rate of 15% is basically a round-off error compared to 90% last century. 3) F…

"Convicted monopolist" really doesn't have much of a ring to it. Especially when the only thing his company was ever found guilty of was bundling a web browser with the OS...

How many copies of Windows have you paid for but never used?

I have been running Linux on my personal machines since the early '90s. I try not to think about it.

Re: Bill Gates' Philanthropic Impact Put in Perspective

#98

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Apr 23, 2016, 12:47 PM UTC

sametmax wrote: post #86

dharmon wrote: post #5

If you put aside the "M$ was evil and he is just atoning" arguments, Gates is a huge inspiration, at least for me. This guy finds problems that he's passionate about and attacks them with such ferocity that it is truly awe inspiring. I'm mildly embarrassed to admit it, but he was my childhood hero through the 90's. Even later when everyone thought Jobs was the bee's knees, I wanted to be as effective as Gates.

And that's a big problem: you are willing to ignore 30 years of bad behavior because now he changed is marketting strategy. Even if he is doing good now (debatable, but for the sake of argument let's say he is), it's a good forget the past. As a society, we need to remember, and we need to stand against it, not praise a bad guy as soon as he start not acting bad. If (and it's a big if), he is doing good right now, it…

[deleted]

Re: Bill Gates' Philanthropic Impact Put in Perspective

#99

Post by forgetsusername » Sat, Apr 23, 2016, 12:50 PM UTC

sametmax wrote: post #85

adventured wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Gates didn't take his wealth, he created it and earned it. Having a monopoly isn't illegal in the US. Making billions of dollars with a monopoly is not illegal in the US. The abuses in the market that Microsoft was found guilty of, they were punished for. What else are you asking for exactly? Gates doesn't need any forgiveness. His former company's wrongs have already been accounted for - a long time ago - through an…

No but corruption is illegal. Stealing is illegal. And many things he did while legal, were highly immoral, such as: lying, cheating, investing capital in weapon makers and companies doing the opposite of what he is defending now, tax optimization, heavy lobying, retaining a huge part of capital and not letting it flows in the economy, abusing monopoly, patent trolls (and other kind of extorsions), censorship, helpin…

>were highly immoral

Your profile says you blog about porn. Personally, I'm a consumer and have no issue. But you have a lot of nerve lecturing people about immorality. That isn't the most "above board" industry, and it may have even harmed a person or three.

>but that people are ready to accept anything with a good PR.

Yeah, nobody "gets it" but you...

Re: Bill Gates' Philanthropic Impact Put in Perspective

#100

Post by forgetsusername » Sat, Apr 23, 2016, 12:56 PM UTC

Crito wrote: post #89

WalterBright wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I gave reasons and even a book reference. It really is a good read and worth while.

> This book says that you are envious. No.

Right, don't ever read anything you might disagree with.