The greatest charity giveaway in history? 34 billionaires pledge half of their fortun

[bamacre]

You know what's especially great about this? Instead of the money going to the government to redistribute via an estate tax, this money is going to flow into the coffers of private foundations staffed with some of the best and brightest out there. They'll have only one master - the cause - and will probably effect much more change with the cash than the government ever could.

Of course. :thumbsup:

Because government would spend half the money killing a bunch of people overseas.

 

[William Gaatjes]

I'm ambivilent.

So, they don't have to pay estate tax and get to maintain control of the money since it's in one of their private foundations. They put who they want on the board, I fear this is going to perpetuate the wealthy's grasp on wealth quite possibly for generations.

Fern

^_^

You got it.

Hardly any taxes to pay in the first place >> threaten to go outside the US if no tax reductions received (As do many big companies and have done before).

I would not be surprised if gifts and donations are tax deductible.
And it creates an enormous amount of goodwill among common people until the end of time. Because of their lack of understanding or because of their blinding view of a messiah like figure.

Just last week i told these very same reasons to a colleague and he responded that i should not be so negative. I guess i offended his god. I was and am just being realistic. Oh by the way, that colleague sees Bill Gates as a god while my colleague favours Marxism... Now that i think of it, interesting it is. Because from a certain perspective, it would seem the nouveaux riches are creating a revolution when reading about these donations(which they still have full control over).

Do not get me wrong, if i where in the extreme rich position, some of those very same techniques i would use myself if i was that rich. Money is a tool to accomplish things.

 

[William Gaatjes]

That's a valid point. Athletes and celebrities often set up foundations that don't accomplish much more than keeping their relatives employed.

The nepotism factor shouldn't matter as much when there are billions involved and the charity is required to spend at least 5 percent a year on their cause. A million or two might be wasted on luxuries for family members but most of the money will go elsewhere.

But there's no guarantee the cause will be a good one or that the money will be spend wisely. Billions have been spent sending food to Africa for example, and one of the effects was to destroy local farming, leading to famine when the aid stopped.

Of course that included a lot of government aid, showing both private and government charity can do more harm than good.

True.
Give a men a bread and you feed him for a day.
Teach a men how to farm grains where the teachings are a result of combining local knowledge of the land with your own modern technology and he will do just fine forever.

However, you will piss of a lot of people. As such more then once the political decision is to give aid and not make people angry. As such some people can say they have done everything possible resting their head and sleeping happy dreams... Politics is unfortunately like feces. It always stinks at a certain moment.

 

[Bateluer]

I thought Buffett already gave away like 2/3's of his wealth?

http://money.cnn.com/2010/08/06/news/companies/buffett_berkshire_hathaway_earnings/index.htm

Well, I suppose that's an accurate statement.

 

[Sinsear]

I think it all needs to be taxed again so they pay their fair share.

 

[Carmen813]

This is a good thing. It's also instructive that although these people are almost all liberals (Pickens doesn't seem like a big lib, though I could be wrong) they are not giving their money to the government or to the UN. Even when some money is given to governments or to the UN, it is given with a buttload of strings attached, for a specific purpose, in a specific country or region. Although these folks believe that government can spend our money better than can we, they evidently don't think this applies to themselves.

Or maybe you've bitten into the false believe that liberalism is about spending other peoples money...