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Michael Dell Pledges $36M in Harvey Relief

nytimes.com

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Re: Michael Dell Pledges $36M in Harvey Relief

#61

Post by ams6110 »

vinhboy wrote: post #57
danans wrote: post #25

Sincere props to Michael Dell and other very wealthy individuals who are donating generously, but it raises the question of why this sort of gesture is even necessary in our society. Making people financially whole and getting them back on their feet in the aftermath of a disaster of these proportions should be handled by insurance, and when that falls short, the government. The problem is not that the money is priva…

> should be handled by insurance, and when that falls short, the government. This is pretty much how I feel about all social issues like health care, homelessness, education, etc... Large donations are nice, and we should all be grateful for such generosity, but I'd much rather pay an extra bundle in taxes so our government can be adequately prepared for all these scenarios.

So how much extra money do you send in with your tax return every year?

Re: Michael Dell Pledges $36M in Harvey Relief

#62

Post by grecy »

danans wrote: post #25

Sincere props to Michael Dell and other very wealthy individuals who are donating generously, but it raises the question of why this sort of gesture is even necessary in our society. Making people financially whole and getting them back on their feet in the aftermath of a disaster of these proportions should be handled by insurance, and when that falls short, the government. The problem is not that the money is priva…

> it raises the question of why this sort of gesture is even necessary in our society.

The purpose of the United States is to make corporations (and their owners) obscenely rich.

Tax breaks like those recently shown to Apple are the perfect example.

So because corporations, and therefore their owners like Mr. Dell are obscenely rich, the government is not. In fact, it does not even have enough money to provide Health Care, higher education or disaster relief to it's citizens.

Re: Michael Dell Pledges $36M in Harvey Relief

#63

Post by ams6110 »

dlp211 wrote: post #18
dxhdr wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where do you think the foundation gets its money? http://philanthropynewsdigest.org/news/michael-and-susan-del...

But Trump allegedly doesn't donate to his own foundation unlike the Dell's or the Gate's foundations.

How much did the Clintons donate to their foundation?

Re: Michael Dell Pledges $36M in Harvey Relief

#64

Post by pxlpshr »

thanksgiving wrote: post #47
mc32 wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem caused by flooding is exacerbated or at least continued by government subsidies in the first place. Flood insurance it too cheap, especially in flood plains (Houston being one such). Moreover, the floodplain prairie is paved over diminishing the capacity of the floodplain itself to absorb water. Congress tried reforming it back in '12, but unreformed it after they reformed it because "premiums were gettin…

Wait but if we discourage further development in the flood plains, we just have existing property owners a huge gift because their property values soar. Texas says it wants less government. The people there keep joking about independence (I'm talking sincere middle aged wasp men, not some edgy teen). Personally, I think the federal government should be involved in the immediate disaster relief and that's about it. No…

> Texas says it wants less government. The people there keep joking about independence.

As a fellow Texan, this mentality gets taken to an extreme by some people in this state – usually rural – but I don't think it's reflective of an overwhelming majority. California wants to secede too, so maybe we're onto something. ;)

Texans do tend to have a lot of personal pride and love for their state which was reflected in impressive volunteer-rescue effort that grew organically and spread like fire. My brother said every boat dealer was sold out of flat bottoms in Dallas. I do think it was unprecedented and hopefully set a positive precedence for social behavior in situations like this. For a gun-toting state, I'd say it was surprisingly civilized and non-violent for the 4th largest city in the United States (500k less people than Chicago)

Re: Michael Dell Pledges $36M in Harvey Relief

#65

Post by hsnewman »

On a religious note, the probable reason the amount is $36M is that 18 is a special value in Judaism. In Hebrew the word chai (which means "to life")is represented as the number 18, and it is considered a good deed to give donations in that amount. He and his wife apparently combined their $18M amounts. For more: http://www.shiva.com/learning-center/commemorate/chai/

Re: Michael Dell Pledges $36M in Harvey Relief

#66

Post by mcny »

pxlpshr wrote: post #64
thanksgiving wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wait but if we discourage further development in the flood plains, we just have existing property owners a huge gift because their property values soar. Texas says it wants less government. The people there keep joking about independence (I'm talking sincere middle aged wasp men, not some edgy teen). Personally, I think the federal government should be involved in the immediate disaster relief and that's about it. No…

> Texas says it wants less government. The people there keep joking about independence. As a fellow Texan, this mentality gets taken to an extreme by some people in this state – usually rural – but I don't think it's reflective of an overwhelming majority. California wants to secede too, so maybe we're onto something. ;) Texans do tend to have a lot of personal pride and love for their state which was reflected in im…

The problem is this "overwhelming majority" is nowhere to be found in DC where people like Louie gohmert (CBA to spell his name properly) and Lamar Smith have their seats pretty much sealed.

I'm sorry if this came the wrong way but I only say this because I love Texas so much. I spent my shaping years there and east Texas feels like home to me but there is so much irrational hatred of socialism which doesn't make sense for people never subjected to it. I apologize for my rudeness.

Re: Michael Dell Pledges $36M in Harvey Relief

#67

Post by chadcmulligan »

danans wrote: post #25

Sincere props to Michael Dell and other very wealthy individuals who are donating generously, but it raises the question of why this sort of gesture is even necessary in our society. Making people financially whole and getting them back on their feet in the aftermath of a disaster of these proportions should be handled by insurance, and when that falls short, the government. The problem is not that the money is priva…

This sounds suspiciously close to socialism.

I'm in Australia and I really don't understand the US attitude to these things, I gather neither does the rest of the world. The last federal election here the right wanted to introduce a more user pays health system, the left countered with we don't want a health system like the US. Pretty well everyone agreed and that was that.

No one likes paying taxes, but a country without people paying taxes is not one that is pleasant to live in.

Re: Michael Dell Pledges $36M in Harvey Relief

#68

Post by [deleted] »

thanksgiving wrote: post #47
mc32 wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem caused by flooding is exacerbated or at least continued by government subsidies in the first place. Flood insurance it too cheap, especially in flood plains (Houston being one such). Moreover, the floodplain prairie is paved over diminishing the capacity of the floodplain itself to absorb water. Congress tried reforming it back in '12, but unreformed it after they reformed it because "premiums were gettin…

Wait but if we discourage further development in the flood plains, we just have existing property owners a huge gift because their property values soar. Texas says it wants less government. The people there keep joking about independence (I'm talking sincere middle aged wasp men, not some edgy teen). Personally, I think the federal government should be involved in the immediate disaster relief and that's about it. No…

[deleted]

Re: Michael Dell Pledges $36M in Harvey Relief

#70

Post by dlp211 »

ams6110 wrote: post #63
dlp211 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But Trump allegedly doesn't donate to his own foundation unlike the Dell's or the Gate's foundations.

How much did the Clintons donate to their foundation?

I don't know off hand, but I know it isn't zero because they've released their tax returns for like 30 years.
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