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My new deadline: 20 years to give away virtually all my wealth

gatesnotes.com

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Re: My new deadline: 20 years to give away virtually all my wealth

#511

Post by pcthrowaway »

didgetmaster wrote: post #294
9rx wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> without paying capital gains tax. It's a funny day when you're feeling charitable, but go out of your way to avoid helping the entity that should be the ideal charitable recipient.

Perhaps the government 'should' be the ideal charitable entity; but it most definitely is not. The waste, fraud, and abuse that runs rampant throughout the government tells us that the powerful often use taxpayer dollars as their own slush fund. Sure the government does much to relieve the suffering of people around the globe; but it could do far more with substantially less.

> Sure the government does much to relieve the suffering of people around the globe;

If we're talking specifically about the U.S. government, I suspect its decisions cause more suffering globally than they alleviate, though of course there are open philosophical questions inherent in any attempt to quantify suffering.

Re: My new deadline: 20 years to give away virtually all my wealth

#513

Post by cyberax »

mgraczyk wrote: post #481
cyberax wrote: post #439

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> He's not curing polio, though. His polio program is spreading it because they use a live virus Wow. Just wow. Where the heck do you get this garbage from?

OPV unfortunately does cause paralytic polio disease indirectly by infecting unvaccinated people. It's worth it IMO because the total number of paralyzed people has decreased, but in the long term we have to switch to IPV to completely eliminate polio. This will take decades and many billions of dollars though.

Yes, it's called cVDPV. It's caused by the virus in the live vaccine "unweakening" itself, and it's typically happening in people with weakened immune systems (e.g. from chronic malnutrition). It's not causing unvaccinated people to get infected, per se.

Most cases are mild, and on average there are about 300-400 cases per _year_ for the entire world.

But it's absolutely heinous to accuse Gates of deliberately infecting people with the live virus. The weakened vaccine has been the standard for polio vaccination for the last 80 years. There is simply no alternative for it for places like DRC or Chad. Inactivated vaccines require refrigeration and injections, and this is not feasible.

We're >.https://polioeradication.org/wild-poliovirus-count/ - there are only two countries with the wild virus. A little bit more, and we can actually stop vaccinating from polio altogether.

Re: My new deadline: 20 years to give away virtually all my wealth

#514

Post by daveguy »

jll29 wrote: post #508

It is an interesting game-theoretic question how to spend money x (say, hundreds of billions) to maximize good. - Should you first educate anyone who cannot read or write? - Should you first feed anyone hungry/thirsty? - Should you first provide shelter for all without homes? - Should you first make peace for all without safety? (all the way down the Maslow pyramid of needs) How would the philanthropic billaires unit…

> If I had the financial means, by gut instinct I would start out with the most vulnerable, those that can least help themselves, e.g. orphaned small children, the handicapped, the unborn.

You left out expectant mothers under control of a repressive regime that demands their death sacrifice.

Re: My new deadline: 20 years to give away virtually all my wealth

#515

Post by Falimonda »

Taqas wrote: post #502

I've been reading about him giving away his fortune for 20 years. If I say I give away my fortune it's done within a week. Yet, he is still one of the richest people on earth. He's done good, but still I'm cynical about his motives.

What do you believe are his motives?

Re: My new deadline: 20 years to give away virtually all my wealth

#516

Post by JB_Dev »

_bin_ wrote: post #88
wing-_-nuts wrote: post #39

His foundation really does seem to do a good job with 'effective altruism'. There's a reason they're marked as secondary beneficiaries on all my accounts. Also, as a recommendation, you guys should look into whether your employer matches charitable donations to 501Cs in any amount. I find giving a solid chunk of my discretionary budget to charity every year lends a sense of purpose to a job that wouldn't otherwise ha…

[flagged]

I actually have the opposite position on this. 1st world countries already have the funds and economy to pursue exactly what you describe. Just they lack the political will. I don’t care to subsidise that intentional lack of investment.

I would much rather give to charities focusing on countries that don’t have the economy/ability to fix their basic issues.

Re: My new deadline: 20 years to give away virtually all my wealth

#517

Post by akudha »

Good on him for giving away his fortune.

Anyone else feeling uneasy that society is increasingly dependent on a handful of ultra wealthy people's generosity for investment in certain good initiatives? We live in a time where there are individuals who have more money than many small countries, governments are cutting funding for good programs while individuals are stepping in to help. What is the point of living in a democracy if big investments depend on the mood of some billionaire?

Re: My new deadline: 20 years to give away virtually all my wealth

#518

Post by hermitcrab »

wing-_-nuts wrote: post #39

His foundation really does seem to do a good job with 'effective altruism'. There's a reason they're marked as secondary beneficiaries on all my accounts. Also, as a recommendation, you guys should look into whether your employer matches charitable donations to 501Cs in any amount. I find giving a solid chunk of my discretionary budget to charity every year lends a sense of purpose to a job that wouldn't otherwise ha…

>I enjoy being a dev ... I think most charities would have more use for my money than my time, given my disability

You could be massively wrong about that. Many charities are desparate for IT help. I am a developer and volunteer at a charity. I have done some IT stuff for them (mostly setting up some Airtable databases) and it has been (modesty aside) transformative for them.

Re: My new deadline: 20 years to give away virtually all my wealth

#519

Post by cyberax »

fallingknife wrote: post #453
cyberax wrote: post #430

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Obama didn't "consolidate power", he issued fewer EO than Bush (276 vs. 291). Trump has issued 142 just within these 100 days.

Number of EOs issued is a poor measure of centralization of power. Most exercise of executive power these days don't even require an EO, just a decree from one of the executive agencies. And looking at Trump vs Obama is myopic. This process has been going on continuously since at least the FDR admin.

No, it was not. If you look at the EOs by president, they were fairly stable or even trending down until Trump: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_federal_...

Even in qualitative terms, the "consolidation" was incorrect. Congress abdicated its responsibilities, and the Federal agencies picked up the slack. They're not controlled _centrally_, it's not like Obama was ordering agencies to write particular rules.

We now see what the central consolidated control actually looks like.

Re: My new deadline: 20 years to give away virtually all my wealth

#520

Post by Ecstatify »

CIPHERSTONE wrote: post #463

I don't see his post as an attempt to self-promote as some commenters here have made. To what purpose? He's already known to most adults, already rich beyond anyone could possibly dream to be. And it sounds like from the post that he already had this path planned albeit several decades after his death. I think accelerating that timeline is a good thing as I think he will be better than anyone who came after to direct…

It looks like he’s been focused on building his public image over the past few years, perhaps aiming for a Nobel Prize.
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