Mark Zuckerberg Agrees to Give Away Fortune

Post by Patient0 » Thu, Dec 09, 2010, 10:00 AM UTC

lionhearted wrote: post #63

Fantastic. I wonder if all these very public proclamations are going to shift people's attitude towards taxes? Most people think of the government as wasteful, inefficient, incompetent, and corrupt to more or less degrees, and I know I'd prefer to see money allocated by smart people like Gates, Buffet, Zuckerberg than by politicians who need to keep constituents happy and win votes. I committed a while back to giving…

Post by spatulon » Thu, Dec 09, 2010, 10:31 AM UTC

DevX101 wrote: post #9

After someone asked Warren Buffet why he wanted to give away all of his fortune, he replied: "I want to leave enough money to my children that they can do anything, but no so much that they will do nothing".

Post by rythie » Thu, Dec 09, 2010, 10:50 AM UTC

philwelch wrote: post #99

grandalf wrote: post #25

I think of this as sort of a cop out (on the part of all the people who do it). If you're good at business, then you can have a far bigger impact by creating businesses than by simply giving your money to some charity. It's ultimately a socially lauded thing to do that divorces the donor from any ultimate responsibility for the amount of "greater good" done with the funds. I think they do it out of fear that they wer…

Bill Gates, as much as any other person you can probably name, got the entire developed world using personal computers. That was literally Microsoft's mission statement: a computer on every desk and in every home. You expect him to make a new business that'll outdo that ? Trying to eradicate malaria in Africa isn't enough for you?

Post by gjm11 » Thu, Dec 09, 2010, 10:56 AM UTC

grandalf wrote: post #58

mquander wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, not a fair question. What does this even mean? If you really think you know anything at all about how Bill Gates should spend his time and money, feel free to go ahead and actually say what you think he should be spending it on, instead of mouthing platitudes about "bigger ideas" and "investing in himself."

I don't know how he should spend his time, nor do I claim to. Personally, I'd like to see him start a company that would invent a mobile phone battery that lasts for a month and can power an RC aircraft to fly all the way around the world. I also worry about the overall risklessness of what he's doing. He's pledged all of his money, so who can criticize it? For most people it's beyond reproach just because of the sta…

Post by stretchwithme » Thu, Dec 09, 2010, 11:10 AM UTC

adambyrtek wrote: post #112

stretchwithme wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

all the benefits delivered to mankind by the efforts of the innovators hasn't stopped the demonization of the rich. giving away what they've been paid to deliver those benefits probably won't either.

Probably because "rich" and "innovators" isn't really the same thing, and there was even less overlap in the past.