Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Pledging another $400k to the Zig software foundation

mitchellh.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

171–180 of 313 posts

Re: Pledging another $400k to the Zig software foundation

#171

Post by radiator »

throwitaway222 wrote: post #142
__turbobrew__ wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you assume Hashimotos net worth is one billion dollars, a $400k donation is equivalent to a $400 donation if your net worth is one million dollars. I don’t believe donating $400 really feels that satisfying, the impact is fairly negligible in most contexts whereas donating $400k can very visibly improve a lot of lives. I think this illustrates just how much a billion dollars is and maybe why a very small wealth ta…

People with that much wealth should keep their money and use it where they see fit. A "wealth tax" forces some people to sell stock since not everyone has liquid assets. The CA "wealth" tax was written in a way that they could instantly turn $1B -> $1M or $100K overnight without a vote. So many reasons why it's not a good idea to have a wealth tax. But the biggest reason is that nearly all our tax money is going to f…

While I agree that tax money gets wasted by the government, I must note that there exist other countries, explicitly not free market capitalist, where getting ultra reach is not the aim (crazy, eh?) and in the last 40 years they have come a long way in creating prosperity for everyone.

Re: Pledging another $400k to the Zig software foundation

#172

Post by Mawr »

ar_lan wrote: post #137
bionsystem wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A few things to note. 1 billion isn't a thousand times a million. If you make a conservative 5% let's say out of your net worth, you still need to work with a million, whereas you don't with a billion. So, technically, $400 with a million is some amount of work hours, whereas $400k with a billion is just pocket change taken out of more than most people lifetime's of earnings that is just 1 year of your interest. Also…

> 1 billion isn't a thousand times a million. What?

I don't know man, maybe read the rest of the comment? Are you serious?

Re: Pledging another $400k to the Zig software foundation

#173

Post by throwitaway222 »

sevenzero wrote: post #132
alchemist1e9 wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Capitalism is the single greatest force for improvement in the human condition. Money is the foundation of capitalism. If you went to school and believe what you write then you went to terrible schools.

Capitalism also marked the end of humanity and is the single greatest force driving human extinction. But yall money driven brains cant comprehend that :)

I guess my question to people that dislike capitalism, is - what do you want to see replace it? Capitalism with changes, Communism?

I don't think Humans can ever do anything other than capitalism because at the end of the day, a farmer making food and delivering it is just going to STOP working when he finds out a daycare owner has made $15 in 3 years without actually taking care of kids. And everyone just bubble wraps the explanation - and then they disallow anger. The farmer then writes up a proposal for starting a daycare and the food stops flowing. Everyone dies in communism.

Re: Pledging another $400k to the Zig software foundation

#174

Post by skybrian »

Fwirt wrote: post #156
ar_lan wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 1 billion isn't a thousand times a million. What?

The point they were trying to make was that if you take appreciation of assets into account, if your billion is appreciating by a relatively modest 5% per year, you are passively earning 50 million/year . Whereas someone with one million passively earns 50 thousand/year. One is enough to live in luxury anywhere in the world for several lifetimes, the other is enough to live comfortably in some parts of the US (or lik…

Or to take an intermediate value, $10 million is 500k a year and most people will find it difficult to spend that much on themselves, so it’s going to grow on its own and compound. It will grow more rapidly if some is invested in the stock market.

Also, donating appreciated stock avoids taxes. This donation may have come out of a donor-advised fund.

Rich people can make substantial charitable donations rather easily and make a big difference. I suggest we encourage them.

Re: Pledging another $400k to the Zig software foundation

#175

Post by bionsystem »

Fwirt wrote: post #156
ar_lan wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 1 billion isn't a thousand times a million. What?

The point they were trying to make was that if you take appreciation of assets into account, if your billion is appreciating by a relatively modest 5% per year, you are passively earning 50 million/year . Whereas someone with one million passively earns 50 thousand/year. One is enough to live in luxury anywhere in the world for several lifetimes, the other is enough to live comfortably in some parts of the US (or lik…

Thanks, that is much clearer than my wording.

Re: Pledging another $400k to the Zig software foundation

#176

Post by bionsystem »

vga1 wrote: post #146
ar_lan wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 1 billion isn't a thousand times a million. What?

Perhaps he was making a subtle point about liquidity.

Ah there is liquidity too, but your brother comment makes my point clearer.

About liquidity, yes most people with a million net worth actually have more than half in their house, so technically it is much harder for them to throw cash than somebody with a billion and a much smaller % of their worth in illiquid assets such as property or unlisted companies. I wish I had made this point too.

Re: Pledging another $400k to the Zig software foundation

#177

Post by psychoslave »

sph wrote: post #38
ksdme9 wrote: post #2

It must be pretty satisfying to be able to throw that kind of money at stuff you admire.

You can 'throw' what you can afford and it will feel as satisfying. Just try it.

A salary of $400,000 is approximately 40 times the world median salary, which is estimated to be around $10,000 per year.

~400–800 million people (top 5–10% of global earners) could easily pay $833/month without major struggle, assuming they earn >$100,000/year.

So 90% people couldn’t even afford to pay a whole month of salary to a median earner without major struggle.

~3.6 billion people (45% of the global population) can likely afford to drop a $0.25 coin in a hat for a street artist without financial struggle. But that might not feel exactly the same as giving a whole month of median salary, let alone 40 years of it.

Re: Pledging another $400k to the Zig software foundation

#179

Post by tencentshill »

asimovDev wrote: post #58
sph wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can 'throw' what you can afford and it will feel as satisfying. Just try it.

i don't think my bank will let me withdraw 400k in cash with the reasoning of "I want to throw it"

Just call your dedicated wealth manager.

Re: Pledging another $400k to the Zig software foundation

#180

Post by PaulDavisThe1st »

rrgok wrote: post #160
hallole wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is only a single source of truth and that is objective reality. Maybe you agree with that, but your wording is messy. It's true that different perspectives can yield their own particular bits of truth, if that's what you're saying.

Uh, what is objective reality?

"The universe is made of stories, not atoms."

My own addendum: the atoms are stories, too.

Post reply on HN