Well you know what? Building massive empires while evading taxes, exploiting unregulated markets or down-right not adhering to existing law and then relying on „philanthropy“ to make the world a better place should be disincentivized.
That said Bill & Melinda Gates do seem genuine in their efforts and I think it‘s great what they‘re doing. They just shouldn‘t have been able to obtain such obscene amounts of wealth in the first place.
I don‘t care how much he donates. My point is exactly that we shouldn‘t have to rely on one wealthy individual for anything. The money should‘ve stayed in big parts with the people that helped build this wealth (i.e. employees) and the ones living in the country which enabled this creation of wealth (i.e. taxes)
The only problem I have with the very wealthy is their influence on government that the average person doesn't have. They can afford teams of lobbyists to pitch support to provide loopholes to make themselves more wealthy. They can influence elections through large donations to PACS that favor the wealthy.
Other than this, I really don't care how much money they have.
I don't see how this is relevant to HN. Just because it's a story about someone related to technology doesn't mean the story has anything to do with anything but politics.
I don't believe Bill Gates has all this money on hand. He'd have to sell massive amounts of shares to actually hold his wealth. Wouldn't selling his shares to actually obtain that wealth damage the businesses for which the shares are for?
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[ 2.5 ms ] story [ 43.0 ms ] thread>he should not be viewed as a hero. All billionaires should be viewed as sick in the head.
Is this really worth posting on HN? Sounds like a great way to disencentivize philanthropy, reminding me yet again of https://slatestarcodex.com/2019/07/29/against-against-billio...
That said Bill & Melinda Gates do seem genuine in their efforts and I think it‘s great what they‘re doing. They just shouldn‘t have been able to obtain such obscene amounts of wealth in the first place.
Alternatively, if he holds onto his MSFT position and donates over the course of his life, his total amount donated will be >100B.
Super voluntary.
Other than this, I really don't care how much money they have.
The value of Microsoft has to do with the performance of its business, not the makeup of its investors