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Which billionaires are doing the most good?

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Re: Which billionaires are doing the most good?

#51

Post by kemiller2002 »

tyrust wrote: post #26
kemiller2002 wrote: post #6

I don't like rankings like this. I'm not saying all of them, but at least a few made their money off of the backs of others, being ruthless in business, etc. How gracious of them to give money to people they hurt in the first place. I'm glad they are doing good, but let's not pretend they were completely altruistic. Also, a number of these people donated money years ago to avoid taxes, and the money was invested and…

>a number of these people donated money years ago to avoid taxes This isn't how taxes work. If you donate money then you've only reduced your taxable principal. You "avoid taxes" in the sense that it's as if you never made that money. You don't magically reduce your burden any further than that. People won't take your otherwise fine point seriously if you include this commonly made error.

Except for the fact that they are at least partially in control of the fund either through a DAF or their own charity. You're right they can't spend it on anything they want, but they have the ability to direct in many specific instances with few exceptions. Often if it's their own foundation, to further almost any goal they want. So yeah, they get to not pay taxes on their money and at least spend it partially how they want.

Re: Which billionaires are doing the most good?

#52

Post by [deleted] »

0x262d wrote: post #31
retrac wrote: post #8

I'm assuming this isn't factoring in the harm they're doing. How much do Bezos's donations to homeless services offset his union-busting? Is there a formula for that?

Well in Seattle, their homeless charity money is less so far than the money they have spent against the politicians trying to do anything about homelessness besides passively asking for business to "be responsible".

[deleted]

Re: Which billionaires are doing the most good?

#53

Post by mikejulietbravo »

mikejulietbravo wrote: post #47
andrepd wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Imagine an analog of such a ranking from 300 years ago. "Which of our Gracious Lords are doing the moste Good?"

This made me chuckle

That Louis XV, he's really doing a lot for us!

Re: Which billionaires are doing the most good?

#54

Post by tyrust »

andrepd wrote: post #33
tyrust wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>a number of these people donated money years ago to avoid taxes This isn't how taxes work. If you donate money then you've only reduced your taxable principal. You "avoid taxes" in the sense that it's as if you never made that money. You don't magically reduce your burden any further than that. People won't take your otherwise fine point seriously if you include this commonly made error.

Yes, now "donate" to a health charity which buys pharmaceuticals from a company you have stock in. Bam, tax rebate for investing in your company.

That doesn't sound legal.

Re: Which billionaires are doing the most good?

#55

Post by asdff »

tyrust wrote: post #26
kemiller2002 wrote: post #6

I don't like rankings like this. I'm not saying all of them, but at least a few made their money off of the backs of others, being ruthless in business, etc. How gracious of them to give money to people they hurt in the first place. I'm glad they are doing good, but let's not pretend they were completely altruistic. Also, a number of these people donated money years ago to avoid taxes, and the money was invested and…

>a number of these people donated money years ago to avoid taxes This isn't how taxes work. If you donate money then you've only reduced your taxable principal. You "avoid taxes" in the sense that it's as if you never made that money. You don't magically reduce your burden any further than that. People won't take your otherwise fine point seriously if you include this commonly made error.

Seems simple enough, but never is in reality. There's a reason why the POTUS and his family are banned from running charities in nyc.

Re: Which billionaires are doing the most good?

#57

Post by dhosek »

dominotw wrote: post #23

Public's perception of Warren Buffet is really puzzling to me. He seems to largely escape the scorn for billionaires, even looked at as a 'good guy'. Whats his secret? We seem to hold CEO of coke more culpable for filling oceans with plastic than coke's shareholders like buffet who profit more from it than the CEO. Really bizarre phenomenon.

I think some of it is that he doesn't really live like a billionaire in a lot of respects, takes anti-wealth political positions (he's an opponent of California's Prop 13, for example pointing out that he pays less in property taxes for his Malibu estate than people with much more modest properties in California), is explicitly not forming a money-based dynasty in his family (he has given his kids "just enough so that they would feel that they could do anything, but not so much that they would feel like doing nothing") and intends to give away his fortune to charity. There's a pretty good summary of his views and actions in the Wikipedia article on him.

Re: Which billionaires are doing the most good?

#58

Post by 0x262d »

0x262d wrote: post #31
retrac wrote: post #8

I'm assuming this isn't factoring in the harm they're doing. How much do Bezos's donations to homeless services offset his union-busting? Is there a formula for that?

Well in Seattle, their homeless charity money is less so far than the money they have spent against the politicians trying to do anything about homelessness besides passively asking for business to "be responsible".

Someone downvoted this. If they disagree they should source it. Amazon spent $1.5m on the city council elections in 2019, I believe about $300k in 2018, and $300-400k in 2017 on the mayoral race. The rate at which they spend on such things is rapidly increasing as the Tax Amazon movement has gradually gained steam.

Meanwhile they are "estimated" to spend "up to" $2m on Mary's place annually, in the future. Let me know when that happens and when their political spending drops down, but I'm skeptical and so far they have spent more on political spending against anyone who suggests taxing them.

Re: Which billionaires are doing the most good?

#60

Post by ilikehurdles »

"Which billiaires have donated the most money this month" is a more accurate headline. That any of their donations are good enough to offset the evil of having so much wealth concentrated in the hands of a single person is pretty doubtful, or at best controversial.
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