11–20 of 82 posts
I told the university CS department that I wanted to endow a chair there. Not a professorship -- an actual chair, that you can sit in. They'd heard that joke before, unfortunately. I think they're missing a financial opportunity here :)
I went to a graduation a few years ago at Carnegie Mellon. Some hedge fund guy was making his biggest donation yet and gave the commencement speech. It was endlessly about him and the new building to be named after him and how he was about to own an NFL football team. There was a Nobel Prize winner seated next to him on stage. I don't think she got to say anything, but was recognized for her work in cancer research.…
to be fair, if she had finished the job and cured cancer, she could buy a Premier League team* (*cuz academics == soccer) There is a natural tendency to diminish money as a measure of anything good, but money really is the yardstick by which we jointly measure all things, trading off time with kids, family, travel, leisure against other priorities, and being rewarded by the rest of society for our contributions to wh…
The details are more complicated than that of course.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sorry, dude, but am an UHNW individual, my income comes from investments, and year in year out I pay about 50% in tax (don't forget state and city income tax, and alternative minimum wipes out long term capital gain favoritism)
Surely the most wealthy are not paying 50% income tax on their annual increase in net wealth (see what I did there)? When there are so many ways to avoid it.
(The prize is to the most deserving student irrespective of academic status, across arts/architecture and computer science and from feedback has been a godsend to some cash strapped mature students at times. I'm happy)
I went to a graduation a few years ago at Carnegie Mellon. Some hedge fund guy was making his biggest donation yet and gave the commencement speech. It was endlessly about him and the new building to be named after him and how he was about to own an NFL football team. There was a Nobel Prize winner seated next to him on stage. I don't think she got to say anything, but was recognized for her work in cancer research.…
How surprising that Carnegie[1] Mellon[2] University would honor a businessman and financier who donated a small fortune to the school!
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Carnegie [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Mellon
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sorry, dude, but am an UHNW individual, my income comes from investments, and year in year out I pay about 50% in tax (don't forget state and city income tax, and alternative minimum wipes out long term capital gain favoritism)
You need to get more money, then youll be able to avoid those taxes, seems to be the point. Paradise Papers leak reveals secrets of the world elite's hidden wealth https://amp.theguardian.com/news/2017/nov/05/paradise-papers...
I told the university CS department that I wanted to endow a chair there. Not a professorship -- an actual chair, that you can sit in. They'd heard that joke before, unfortunately. I think they're missing a financial opportunity here :)
They could have taken your money, and written your name on the underside of the chair with a Sharpie pen.
Related: Ask HN: How to convince my parents to buy me a good chair? - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=585571 - April 2009 (7 comments) (I'm joking)
I went to a graduation a few years ago at Carnegie Mellon. Some hedge fund guy was making his biggest donation yet and gave the commencement speech. It was endlessly about him and the new building to be named after him and how he was about to own an NFL football team. There was a Nobel Prize winner seated next to him on stage. I don't think she got to say anything, but was recognized for her work in cancer research.…
to be fair, if she had finished the job and cured cancer, she could buy a Premier League team* (*cuz academics == soccer) There is a natural tendency to diminish money as a measure of anything good, but money really is the yardstick by which we jointly measure all things, trading off time with kids, family, travel, leisure against other priorities, and being rewarded by the rest of society for our contributions to wh…
Secondly, there are annual limits on the amount you can deduct, percentage wise. What the limit is exactly is circumstantially contingent, but you are not allowed (generally) to zero out your income even if you donate 100% of it.
That being said, I agree that donating to universities is one of the dumber forms of philanthropy.
I went to a graduation a few years ago at Carnegie Mellon. Some hedge fund guy was making his biggest donation yet and gave the commencement speech. It was endlessly about him and the new building to be named after him and how he was about to own an NFL football team. There was a Nobel Prize winner seated next to him on stage. I don't think she got to say anything, but was recognized for her work in cancer research.…