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Sergey Brin has a secret disaster relief charity

thedailybeast.com

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Re: Sergey Brin has a secret disaster relief charity

#11

Post by missedthecue »

saddlerustle wrote: post #7
michaelangerman wrote: post #3

Besides monarchs in the past, for the first time in the history of Planet Earth we have many people and corporations that have more money than governments and so with that comes the responsibility of "acting accordingly". I believe that in a good light this will continue to assist humanity in ways never thought of before as human ingenuity is always more nimble than large bureaucratic organizations.

Who has more money than governments? Sergey Brin is worth about $65 billion. The US federal budget is ~$3 trillion _per year_

They have revenues of ~$3 trillion and expenses of ~$4 trillion so...

Re: Sergey Brin has a secret disaster relief charity

#12

Post by crazysmoove »

saddlerustle wrote: post #7
michaelangerman wrote: post #3

Besides monarchs in the past, for the first time in the history of Planet Earth we have many people and corporations that have more money than governments and so with that comes the responsibility of "acting accordingly". I believe that in a good light this will continue to assist humanity in ways never thought of before as human ingenuity is always more nimble than large bureaucratic organizations.

Who has more money than governments? Sergey Brin is worth about $65 billion. The US federal budget is ~$3 trillion _per year_

There are other governments, though.

Re: Sergey Brin has a secret disaster relief charity

#13

Post by [deleted] »

michaelangerman wrote: post #3

Besides monarchs in the past, for the first time in the history of Planet Earth we have many people and corporations that have more money than governments and so with that comes the responsibility of "acting accordingly". I believe that in a good light this will continue to assist humanity in ways never thought of before as human ingenuity is always more nimble than large bureaucratic organizations.

[deleted]

Re: Sergey Brin has a secret disaster relief charity

#14

Post by dnautics »

crazysmoove wrote: post #12
saddlerustle wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who has more money than governments? Sergey Brin is worth about $65 billion. The US federal budget is ~$3 trillion _per year_

There are other governments, though.

Well sure. A ton of people have more money than Nauru, or not restricting to international, cities and villages.

Re: Sergey Brin has a secret disaster relief charity

#15

Post by [deleted] »

flyinglizard wrote: post #10

> But the use of ex-military personnel for humanitarian and conservation work is also controversial, according to Rosaleen Duffy, a professor of politics and international relations at the University of Sheffield. No, Professor Duffy, the use of ex- or active - military personnel to render aid is not controversial. It's a widely accepted and successful practice.

[deleted]

Re: Sergey Brin has a secret disaster relief charity

#16

Post by [deleted] »

saddlerustle wrote: post #7
michaelangerman wrote: post #3

Besides monarchs in the past, for the first time in the history of Planet Earth we have many people and corporations that have more money than governments and so with that comes the responsibility of "acting accordingly". I believe that in a good light this will continue to assist humanity in ways never thought of before as human ingenuity is always more nimble than large bureaucratic organizations.

Who has more money than governments? Sergey Brin is worth about $65 billion. The US federal budget is ~$3 trillion _per year_

[deleted]

Re: Sergey Brin has a secret disaster relief charity

#17

Post by selectodude »

saddlerustle wrote: post #7
michaelangerman wrote: post #3

Besides monarchs in the past, for the first time in the history of Planet Earth we have many people and corporations that have more money than governments and so with that comes the responsibility of "acting accordingly". I believe that in a good light this will continue to assist humanity in ways never thought of before as human ingenuity is always more nimble than large bureaucratic organizations.

Who has more money than governments? Sergey Brin is worth about $65 billion. The US federal budget is ~$3 trillion _per year_

The US is the wealthiest country on earth. Sergei Brin's checking account would be the 74th largest GDP in the world.

Re: Sergey Brin has a secret disaster relief charity

#18

Post by totetsu »

flyinglizard wrote: post #10

> But the use of ex-military personnel for humanitarian and conservation work is also controversial, according to Rosaleen Duffy, a professor of politics and international relations at the University of Sheffield. No, Professor Duffy, the use of ex- or active - military personnel to render aid is not controversial. It's a widely accepted and successful practice.

At some point ex-military might just mean good at operations and logistics.

Re: Sergey Brin has a secret disaster relief charity

#19

Post by throwawaygh »

awillen wrote: post #2

Truly commendable that he would do this, but deeply terrible that a private citizen, no matter how wealthy, can beat governments to the punch on this kind of aid.

> can beat governments to the punch on this kind of aid.

Yes, exactly this. Not "can provide the aid", but "first to the punch". You really hit the nail on the head.

The morality of massive wealth accumulation -- and the morality of various mechanisms for changing that accumulation -- is definitely something that reasonable people can have a polite and respectable debate about.

But it is absolutely unacceptable that wealthy individuals are beating government to the punch in disaster relief and preparedness. COVID-19 is the dry run, and the USA has absolutely failed on such a profound level that we should have actual existential concerns about how broken our government has become (and there's plenty of blame to go around).

I really hope the outcome is "competent government, regardless of size, and sabotaging implementation is treasonous" as a bipartisan consensus.

Re: Sergey Brin has a secret disaster relief charity

#20

Post by saddlerustle »

michaelangerman wrote: post #9
saddlerustle wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who has more money than governments? Sergey Brin is worth about $65 billion. The US federal budget is ~$3 trillion _per year_

Here is one example... 5. Niger: Wealth per Adult: $1,017 Niger is the largest nation in West Africa, but more than 80% of its land area is in the Sahara Desert, so it is prone to drought and famine. The GDP as of 2017 was $9.87 billion, but the wealth per adult remained low despite economic reforms. Reference: https://www.investopedia.com/articles/managing-wealth/112916...

To keep that in perspective, the GDP of Niger (population 22 million) is about the annual budget of San Francisco (population 900 thousand).

Is comparing very poor countries to individuals from very rich countries a relevant framing? Global wealth disparities aren't a new phenomenon (and global wealth inequality is decreasing!)

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