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Mark Zuckerberg donates $500 million

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Re: Mark Zuckerberg donates $500 million

#7
I'm curious for someone to explain the choice of charity. It looks like Silicon Valley Community Foundation is an organization that specializes in helping people and companies set up large spendings of charitable donations. Does anyone else do that on this scale?

It seems the alternative is spending a fair amount of mental overhead to set up a charitable foundation or donating to an existing foundation institutionally equipped to spend that much money as a non-profit (the Gates Foundation).

Re: Mark Zuckerberg donates $500 million

#8
post #6

millionaires and billionaires who donate their wealth to philanthropic causes deserve to be upvoted and recognized.

I would always prefer the wealth coming from inside the system, not being first taken by individuals and then spread at their whim. Such wealth would much rather be a sustainable source. A well functioning society/government would know exactly how to spend it well.

In many cases, to me, the good the rich do does not nearly weigh in for their wrongdoings.

Re: Mark Zuckerberg donates $500 million

#9
post #8
post #6

millionaires and billionaires who donate their wealth to philanthropic causes deserve to be upvoted and recognized.

I would always prefer the wealth coming from inside the system, not being first taken by individuals and then spread at their whim. Such wealth would much rather be a sustainable source. A well functioning society/government would know exactly how to spend it well. In many cases, to me, the good the rich do does not nearly weigh in for their wrongdoings.

Your comment has been downvoted, but there isn't yet an explanation of why it is incorrect. I'll provide my perspective.

1) Zuckerberg didn't "take" wealth. He created it.

2) Governments don't have particular insight into the best ways to spend resources. We spent a couple of decades comparing market economies with command economies, and market economies won.

Re: Mark Zuckerberg donates $500 million

#10
I don't entirely understand why he donated shares of Facebook instead of dollars, can they sell the shares all at once and use the money or is there a catch to that? Did it cost him less money to donate shares in the long run? It's probably my lack of understanding of stocks and economics but it seems like it would be easier for everyone to just donate money.
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