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World's Richest Man: 'Charity Doesn't Solve Anything'

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Re: World's Richest Man: 'Charity Doesn't Solve Anything'

#61

Post by zacharypinter »

MrFlibble wrote: post #31

I have a friend who was well off and was very much against handouts for most people. He would go on about people needing to get a job, pull themselves up and how not finding work was a lazy man's excuse. Then he lost his job, house, car, dog and health in less than a year and even had to move back in with his parents. Amazing how his opinions have changed now that he is the one who despite his best efforts is struggl…

It's a tough issue. I rarely oblige anybody asking me for money on the streets. If they ask for food, I don't mind buying them a meal, but just giving out money doesn't sit well with me.

If I could give somebody $50 or $100 and know that it would be used to make their life better, I'd do it without hesitation.

Might be an interesting field for a non-profit organization?

Re: World's Richest Man: 'Charity Doesn't Solve Anything'

#62

Post by theprodigy »

carlos is correct. An example of this is how America deals with developing countries that they are trying to rebuild.

Countries that are addicted to American "financial" aid don't go anywhere, but countries that create an environment, enforcable rule sets and standards that attracts foregin direct investment from businesses around the world prosper and raise their standard of living.

Charity is a bandaide and not a solution. Constant free aid kills inniative, inntiative creates economic prosperity, wealth, etc.

Re: World's Richest Man: 'Charity Doesn't Solve Anything'

#63

Post by zacharypinter »

rottencupcakes wrote: post #58
zacharypinter wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With Bill Gates you at least know that there's an extremely intelligent person at the top, looking to solve real problems (assuming he's past the phase of donating Windows machines to schools). I think that's the largest point: just giving out money to causes is typically a poor way to make a difference. However, if you intelligently spend that money (whether it be by empowering people through job creation or eradica…

> assuming he's past the phase of donating Windows machines to schools Why do you feel the need to throw that jab in there? Windows is the more prevalent computing platform in the world. Stepping aside from our nerd world for a second, you could argue he would be doing them a disservice trying to ship them Linux or something that wouldn't be compatible with the most popular software in the world.

Ironically, I was just trying to head off a negative conversation. I figured it'd come up since I mentioned that Bill Gates was using his charity to solve real problems. When saying that, somebody usually mentions how the foundation has been used (in the name of charity) to market Windows to future generations.

Re: World's Richest Man: 'Charity Doesn't Solve Anything'

#64

Post by sportsTAKES »

Is anyone familiar with Tom's Shoes? http://www.toms.com/

The gist of their company is that for every pair of shoes they sell, they give a pair away to children in impoversihed countries. Seems like a really nice thing to do.

That said, I've always thought they would be better off helping would-be entrepreneurs in those countries to make and sell shoes of their own. IE, perhaps they could use their resources to help people in those countries learn how to make the shoes, provide some assistance in sourcing the materials, etc.

As it is today, if someone in those areas where they give shoes away has any aspiration of making shoes, they have no chance because they won't ever be able to compete with someone coming in and giving away free shoes.

When the kid who received the new pair of free shoes inevitably needs another pair, there is infrastructure in place for him to get those new shoes, rather than waiting for Tom's to show up again with more free shoes.

I'm not knocking Tom's because I think their intentions are simply to help people. But I do think they're missing the target - I think that is what Senor Slim is referring to.

Re: World's Richest Man: 'Charity Doesn't Solve Anything'

#65

Post by sprout »

maxawaytoolong wrote: post #33
jakarta wrote: post #20

I don't place a lot of value on Carlos Slim's advice. His vast fortune has basically been a result of his ability to practice regulatory arbitrage and own a monopoly (and stifle competition) in Mexico, a country with a highly inefficient governance system. If the political system over there ever became really functional, his empire would be broken apart and much of his wealth would contract.

"... and own a monopoly" Like Bill Gates and Microsoft, who were actually convicted as monopolists? After working in aid in Africa, I have to say I agree more with the Mexican monopolist than the American one.

Wow, that's a load of non-sequiturs. Monopoly is a side effect of the massive corruption plaguing Mexico. Microsoft doesn't even come close.

As for aid in Africa, that's a specific charity you worked with in Africa. There are people who do good work there. Dismissing aid because people are bad at it is like dismissing software development because people are bad at it. One way or another it's necessary.

Re: World's Richest Man: 'Charity Doesn't Solve Anything'

#66

Post by [deleted] »

nonce91329713 wrote: post #43
jakarta wrote: post #20

I don't place a lot of value on Carlos Slim's advice. His vast fortune has basically been a result of his ability to practice regulatory arbitrage and own a monopoly (and stifle competition) in Mexico, a country with a highly inefficient governance system. If the political system over there ever became really functional, his empire would be broken apart and much of his wealth would contract.

Historically many fortunes were built because of special privilege from the King. Ignoring for a moment the anti-competitive claims against Microsoft, consider that that fortune already hinges on the special privilege of intellectual property law, which is backed in full force by the US justice system. Not all countries have this protection. Microsoft does not do anywhere near as well in countries without it. Does th…

[deleted]

Re: World's Richest Man: 'Charity Doesn't Solve Anything'

#67

Post by sbov »

nonce91329713 wrote: post #43
jakarta wrote: post #20

I don't place a lot of value on Carlos Slim's advice. His vast fortune has basically been a result of his ability to practice regulatory arbitrage and own a monopoly (and stifle competition) in Mexico, a country with a highly inefficient governance system. If the political system over there ever became really functional, his empire would be broken apart and much of his wealth would contract.

Historically many fortunes were built because of special privilege from the King. Ignoring for a moment the anti-competitive claims against Microsoft, consider that that fortune already hinges on the special privilege of intellectual property law, which is backed in full force by the US justice system. Not all countries have this protection. Microsoft does not do anywhere near as well in countries without it. Does th…

This may be your point, but you could take your argument and twist it to any law, or lack of law, in any country. All business, big or small, hinge on some sort of special privilege. IP law isn't special in this regard.

Re: World's Richest Man: 'Charity Doesn't Solve Anything'

#68

Post by CamperBob »

awakeasleep wrote: post #18

I think about this in regards to Mr. Gates. He amassed such a huge fortune by building walls around his software, limiting people's potential in a way. Was it necessary? Did proprietary software need to happen to spur innovation? What about his uncompetitive practices? I end up wondering what the balance of 'good' would be in the world if instead of taking everything he could, he had allowed others to grow and shared…

Did proprietary software need to happen to spur innovation?

To the extent that the Wintel monopoly resulted in lower hardware costs, it's hard to see any intellectually honest Linux or BSD user arguing otherwise.

You would not be able to buy 3+ GFLOPS systems with gigabytes of RAM and terabytes of mass storage for less than $1000 without the kind of mass standardization that, history suggests, can emerge only from monopolistic behavior.

Re: World's Richest Man: 'Charity Doesn't Solve Anything'

#69

Post by alexitosrv »

MrFlibble wrote: post #31

I have a friend who was well off and was very much against handouts for most people. He would go on about people needing to get a job, pull themselves up and how not finding work was a lazy man's excuse. Then he lost his job, house, car, dog and health in less than a year and even had to move back in with his parents. Amazing how his opinions have changed now that he is the one who despite his best efforts is struggl…

A couple of months ago I was there: a failed project, no job, no money flowing in by almost 5 months, and albeit of being moderately competent by several measures, I was struggling too as you say. My view of the world has changed a lot because of that period, but the things just are in that way. I still strongly believe that you must find your way up in the ladder, but things are not easy. In the meanwhile I did my best to try alternative strategies. At the end, thanks to God I was able to find a great job at a German company which happened to have a research center in my country, and the things are recovering.

I saw the tip of the iceberg, and it was scary.

Re: World's Richest Man: 'Charity Doesn't Solve Anything'

#70

Post by hugh3 »

TGJ wrote: post #38

The US decided to do some charity work and supply Haiti with rice after the earthquake. Now the rice market is collapsing in Haiti. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-11472874

Demonstrating the main problem with charity: as soon as people start getting good intentions, they shut their brains off. They care about throwing money at a problem, not making sure that the money is spent in a way that doesn't make the problem even worse.

This is where the Gates Foundation really shines: they don't just give away huge sums of money, they carefully research how to spend it.

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