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Mark Zuckerberg donates $500 million

tech.fortune.cnn.com

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Re: Mark Zuckerberg donates $500 million

#21

Post by ok_craig »

natrius wrote: post #9
aw3c2 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

His comment also seems to imply that the rich are guilty of wrongdoings simply by virtue of having a lot of money.

Re: Mark Zuckerberg donates $500 million

#22

Post by dchichkov »

natrius wrote: post #9
aw3c2 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

>> Zuckerberg didn't "take" wealth. He created it.

Well, Myspace was kinda destroyed in the process. So let's call it reshaping, refactoring and some creation.

Re: Mark Zuckerberg donates $500 million

#23

Post by meaty »

jfaucett wrote: post #16

People can say what they want about Zuckerberg, maybe he doesn't have the amazing charisma of Jobs, or the genius of Torvalds, and Facebook gets constantly hammered in the press (and him as well), but this is a great gesture on his part, I applaud him.

Well he deserves the hammering. The guy is clearly immoral and has damaged people's privacy and the world wide web forever.

$500mil doesn't suddenly make that ok, especially considering the charity is basically a quango.

Re: Mark Zuckerberg donates $500 million

#24

Post by S4M »

jhuni wrote: post #13
natrius wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

What wealth did Mark Zuckerberg create?

One could argue that Facebook helps spreading democracy in some countries, and thanks to Facebook companies can target customers more efficiently.

Re: Mark Zuckerberg donates $500 million

#25

Post by oscilloscope »

jhuni wrote: post #13
natrius wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

What wealth did Mark Zuckerberg create?

A large social network called Facebook.

Re: Mark Zuckerberg donates $500 million

#26

Post by veidr »

jfaucett wrote: post #16

People can say what they want about Zuckerberg, maybe he doesn't have the amazing charisma of Jobs, or the genius of Torvalds, and Facebook gets constantly hammered in the press (and him as well), but this is a great gesture on his part, I applaud him.

Yeah, he deserves kudos for this, but he also deserves much of the shit that people talk about him.

Facebook is a company that is loathed roughly in proportion to the degree that people understand what they actually do to make their money: adorn your baby or wedding photos with fart app ads, put your own face on various ads that you know nothing about, make you play whack-a-mole with their settings UI to preserve what little control of your information they allowed you to have last week, sell your instagram sexts, etc etc.

And he's the guy who calls the shots.

Re: Mark Zuckerberg donates $500 million

#27

Post by DanBC »

heymishy wrote: post #12

perhaps im being naive (or biased), but why donate $500m to a SV foundation rather than say use that money to address those in more needier positions? Maybe I'm misinterpreting the 'Giving Pledge' ideals but I believe they were meaning donate to those in need for day to day life - rather than funding a community of a relatively well-off community. I understand the desire to give back to your community but 500 million…

There are plenty of people who need help in San Francisco.

It has a relatively high suicide rate, for example.

Re: Mark Zuckerberg donates $500 million

#28

Post by philipn »

mochizuki wrote: post #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.

Community Foundations[1] such as the Silicon Valley Community Foundation can receive stock donations that are tax-deductible to the owner. If the donation was in dollars it would also be deductible for the owner, but the owner would need to sell the stock first, which would mean paying capital gains taxes.

1. Differences between Community Foundations / donor-advised funds and Private Foundations can be found here: http://www.programforgiving.org/charitable/pages/considering...

Re: Mark Zuckerberg donates $500 million

#30

Post by rms »

jhuni wrote: post #13
natrius wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

What wealth did Mark Zuckerberg create?

A greater degree of connectedness among humans
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