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Warren Buffett’s Best Investment

gatesnotes.com

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Re: Warren Buffett’s Best Investment

#101

Post by pizza »

bluthru wrote: post #75
dsjoerg wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here is the Hans Rosling video explaining why that's not a problem: https://www.gapminder.org/videos/will-saving-poor-children-l...

I'm not convinced. If we took a Star Trek "Prime Directive" approach and didn't interfere with Africa, why wouldn't their population be at a naturally lower carrying capacity? Is it really wise to use all of that money in a part of the world where their carbon footprint is small, versus spending it on reducing the carbon footprint in the first world? Why are we exacerbating the problem by making Africa more developed…

Because humans are good at increasing Earth's human carrying capacity

Re: Warren Buffett’s Best Investment

#102

Post by pizza »

toastednz wrote: post #26

I find Gates' lack of focus on environmental issues disheartening. I know he does invest in clean energy and feels strongly about climate change, but this doesn't really do anything to prevent deforestation NOW. I know that bringing people out of poverty may have a side-effect of improving some environmental parameters, but it also makes whole swathes of people start demanding more meat, more palm oil, more cars, mor…

Think of it this way: now there are 122 million more potential climate change researchers on Earth that didn't die before the age of 5.

Re: Warren Buffett’s Best Investment

#103

Post by ethbro »

pizza wrote: post #90
koolba wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't help but shudder at the thought of the dystopian future that leads to a Zuckerberg presidency.

think of all the denied pluralities-to-be; those poor, slighted real estate tycoons. It's not hard to argue we're already in that simulation - first it starts with FB trialling their electioneering-algo with Trump as a proof-of-concept. Then once they work out all the kinks, initiate stage 2, reusing the mechanism!

Arguably, a better plan would be to appear apolitically neutral until a surprise election result occurs, then roll out an algorithm in response to the calls for more filtering...

Re: Warren Buffett’s Best Investment

#104

Post by girvo »

lostlogin wrote: post #80
GhiliaWeld wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know it's called the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, but isn't it Melinda that runs and manages everything? I'm pretty sure Bill just donates to the foundation. I could be wrong tho.

Did you notice the format that report took? Melinda, Bill, Melinda, Bill...

Not that I feel this is the case, but one could argue that having Bill sign his name to something doesn't mean he's not "just a donor" and they're using his name for marketing purposes. Of course, I don't feel this is true, but I wanted to point it out nonetheless :)

Re: Warren Buffett’s Best Investment

#105

Post by NeutronBoy »

robocat wrote: post #64
hxta98596 wrote: post #29

It's hard not to be impressed by what the Gates Foundation is doing. I don't think they get the full recognition they deserve sometimes, maybe because much of their work is abroad in the poorest countries in the world. Hard to fathom the number of people out there in the world thankful and who owe their lives to the foundation choosing to help their community or their cause. With that said and not to diminish the goo…

I wonder how much of this particular philanthropy is just giving back money that those countries spent? I.e. Microsoft licences, or balance of trade with the donor countries? A kind of benevolent taxation?

> I wonder how much of this particular philanthropy is just giving back money that those countries spent? I.e. Microsoft licences, or balance of trade with the donor countries?

I mean, that's literally how capitalism works. You earn money selling a product or services to people, and use that money to purchase products or services from people.

Re: Warren Buffett’s Best Investment

#106

Post by blandry »

jeron wrote: post #59
giarc wrote: post #54

For anyone interested in why polio hasn't been eradicated, it is likely related to the capture of Osama Bin Laden. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/jul/11/cia-fake-vacci...

I highly doubt this is truly the reason

It is not the sole reason. But I spoke with a Gates Foundation employee after this happened and it was directly effecting their ability to safely send out vaccinators. So it played a part in the persistence of polio in Pakistan.

Re: Warren Buffett’s Best Investment

#107

Post by bluthru »

pizza wrote: post #101
bluthru wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not convinced. If we took a Star Trek "Prime Directive" approach and didn't interfere with Africa, why wouldn't their population be at a naturally lower carrying capacity? Is it really wise to use all of that money in a part of the world where their carbon footprint is small, versus spending it on reducing the carbon footprint in the first world? Why are we exacerbating the problem by making Africa more developed…

Because humans are good at increasing Earth's human carrying capacity

We're actually horrible at it, considering that we're producing CO2 at an unsustainable rate.

Re: Warren Buffett’s Best Investment

#108

Post by bluthru »

pizza wrote: post #102
toastednz wrote: post #26

I find Gates' lack of focus on environmental issues disheartening. I know he does invest in clean energy and feels strongly about climate change, but this doesn't really do anything to prevent deforestation NOW. I know that bringing people out of poverty may have a side-effect of improving some environmental parameters, but it also makes whole swathes of people start demanding more meat, more palm oil, more cars, mor…

Think of it this way: now there are 122 million more potential climate change researchers on Earth that didn't die before the age of 5.

This is like how anti-abortion activists think that every aborted baby was going to be a doctor. In reality, abortion has likely reduced crime.

Re: Warren Buffett’s Best Investment

#109

Post by gajjanag »

hxta98596 wrote: post #29

It's hard not to be impressed by what the Gates Foundation is doing. I don't think they get the full recognition they deserve sometimes, maybe because much of their work is abroad in the poorest countries in the world. Hard to fathom the number of people out there in the world thankful and who owe their lives to the foundation choosing to help their community or their cause. With that said and not to diminish the goo…

> With that said and not to diminish the good work. It is sad and eye-opening more progress has not been made on these issues.

The reasons for this are not hard to find. Indeed, you hit the nail on the head in the next paragraph by pointing out the role of governments.

> I'm not sure what can be done on that or what that means, just a bit breathtaking how governments can help people or really screw things up on a scale nothing else even comes close to.

A case study of this in Ethiopia serves as a point in William Easterly's critique of "technocratic aid" in general and Gates's approach specifically: http://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/guest-the-flaw-in-bill-g... He elaborates upon this at length in his book "The Tyranny of Experts: Economists, Dictators, and the Forgotten Rights of the Poor".

The way I like to think of it is that money, especially in large sums like the $50 billion in the foundation, is a potent tactical weapon. However, wars are not won on tactics/technology alone, but also on strategy. Here that amounts to solid leadership/deployment of the capital. I think this letter shows that they have done a pretty good job with it. Nevertheless, it is easy to fall into complacency and arrogance here. I only hope that they continue to listen, observe, and learn.

Re: Warren Buffett’s Best Investment

#110

Post by imron »

gorbachev wrote: post #98
imron wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Trump lacks intelligence I keep seeing people say this, but I'm not sure it's true. He took a loan of a few million from his father and turned it in to a billion dollar empire. It's difficult to do that without some measure of intelligence. He almost lost that billion dollar empire in '94, but recovered and built it back up again in to a billion dollar empire. It's more difficult to do that without some intelligenc…

> He took a loan of a few million from his father and turned it in to a billion dollar empire. http://fortune.com/2015/08/20/donald-trump-index-funds/ What kind of business genius does it take to lag S&P 500 that badly? If he had done absolutely nothing with his dad's money, except park it in an index fund, he'd be 4 times richer. The article linked also compares the investment performance of Bill Gates and Warren Bu…

> If he had done absolutely nothing with his dad's money, except park it in an index fund, he'd be 4 times richer.

That's actually not correct. He says he got a $1,000,000 loan in 1975.

The Fortune article picks a time 13 years after his first loan, and coincidentally at the start of a bull market. I'm not sure how that comparison is valid.

See a more thorough analysis here:

https://dqydj.com/donald-trump-beat-sp-500-index-funds/

Which indicates that if you count from when he started, he did beat the market.

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