Bill Gates Plans To Give Away His Wealth, Shutter Foundation Over Next 20 Years (axios.com) 33
joshuark shares a report from Axios: Bill Gates, once the richest man in the world, vowed to give away "virtually all" of his wealth through the Gates Foundation over the next two decades. Then, the foundation will close its doors on Dec. 31, 2045. [...] Gates wrote in a Thursday Gates Notes essay that the original plan was to sunset the foundation several decades after he and his then-wife died. Now, Gates believes that a "shorter timeline" is feasible.
Gates pledged three "key aspirations" to guide the foundation's funding over the next two decades, which center on promoting child and maternal health and fighting infectious diseases and poverty. He emphasized that progress is not possible without government cooperation, as the U.S. and other nations slash their foreign aid budgets. "The reality is, we will not eradicate polio without funding from the United States," Gates wrote. It's unclear whether the world's richest countries will continue to stand up for its poorest people," Gates wrote. He added, "But the one thing we can guarantee is that, in all of our work, the Gates Foundation will support efforts to help people and countries pull themselves out of poverty."
Gates pledged three "key aspirations" to guide the foundation's funding over the next two decades, which center on promoting child and maternal health and fighting infectious diseases and poverty. He emphasized that progress is not possible without government cooperation, as the U.S. and other nations slash their foreign aid budgets. "The reality is, we will not eradicate polio without funding from the United States," Gates wrote. It's unclear whether the world's richest countries will continue to stand up for its poorest people," Gates wrote. He added, "But the one thing we can guarantee is that, in all of our work, the Gates Foundation will support efforts to help people and countries pull themselves out of poverty."
Dilemma (Score:1)
Spend it all now on speculative ventures, most of which won't come to fruition.
Or invest for 50 years when more advanced technologies have a greater impact in the 22nd century.
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Yes you make a point. The point you make is that using farmland for farming is killing children. It's a stupid point, but a point none the less.
Bill Gates Evil. He should just be building rockets shaped like penises like every normal rich person.
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Hi, Pakistan? Bill Gates here. I wish to eliminate polio in your country.
Pakistan: Why thank you. We'll escort you to our Islamic nutjob friends on the border with Afghanistan. They like people like you.
Hi, Pakistan? U.S. here. I wish to eliminate polio in your country.
Pakistan: Why thank you. We'll escort you to our Islamic nutjob friends on the border with Afghanistan. They like people like you.
U.S.: No, you'll do what we say or we'll cut off your military aid and side with India.
Pakistan: Oh? Uh, okay.
Th
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What makes you think we'll have advanced technologies in the 22nd century, over say a Mad Max style scramble for oil, water and ammo? I mean the world's biggest military is cosying up to a bloodthirsty invader and Germany is rearming. The 22nd century is looking more and more in doubt for many.
He should do it now (Score:1)
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Nobody elected him
Democracy is not the form of government where collective people decide how other people spend their money. For that you're looking to communism.
Re: He should do it now (Score:3)
Exactly. He didn't pay taxes because there were no taxes for him to pay. How foolish would it be for him to pay more than what the government says he owes. when people have access they donate to, wait for it, charities. he just happens to be rich enough to have his own charity and dictate how every dollar will be spent.
Re: He should do it now (Score:1)
Increasingly, it seems to be just that.
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Because you think the government is so good at deciding how to invest large sums of money?
Everybody has a right to do with their money, what they want to do with their money. I believe he's genuinely trying to put it to the best possible use. I wish more people had the same attitude.
As little as I trust Bill Gates, I trust the government even less.
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If he sold all his stock today, it'd tank the value. Supply and demand. Selling it gradually is sensible, although I don't know if 20 years is needed. No doubt the reason he picked 20 years is because that's as long as he's likely to live and he wants it to be a project for the rest of his life.
The real question is, why didn't he do it 40 years ago? And why do we give billionaires the power to decide where all the money they passively earn faster than they can ever possibly spend gets donated instead of usi
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I heard a recent interview. He claimed it was because la Presidenta had cut U.S. foreign aid as to why he's doing it all now. He may as well been lying, it isn't as though he hasn't done that before, but that was he stated reason.
Re: He should do it now (Score:2)
20 million people will die of AIDS worldwide if US foreign aid funding is not restored and nobody else steps in.
Bll Gates is doing the right thing here.
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If he sold all his stock today, it'd tank the value. Supply and demand.
Correction; that would tank the blatant bullshit value given to stocks in a company that can’t justify that price outside of a self-serving “market” that gets turned into a house of cards every other decade because of valuations like this.
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He can give away 99.99% of his wealth and still be rich, he should just do it now and not wait 20 years when he might change his mind.
It probably took some real effort to bob and weave all of that personal wealth gain through every tax-dodging loophole over the last half-century.
20 years seems reasonable to unwind it all through more tax-dodging loopholes limited in size by annual deduction.
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20 years seems reasonable to unwind it all through more tax-dodging loopholes limited in size by annual deduction.
Mod Parent Up
Why 20 years? (Score:2)
Maybe you don't know how rich billionaires are. 1 million seconds is about 11 days, 1 billion seconds is about 31 years.
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Large moves require planning and time. Moving all that money at once would cause severe unwanted side effects, such as devaluing the stock of other shareholders.
why make a spectacle of it? (Score:2, Troll)
Bill Gates can do what he wants, including reducing the value of his foundation over time to zero. But why does he need to do a world tour announcing it? He could give it all away tomorrow if he likes, and none of us need to know.
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Gates for awhile has been trying to set an example and get other billionaires to follow his lead.
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Poor kids (Score:5, Informative)
Bill Gate's 3 kids are only going to inherit around 1% of his worth each. His net worth is $102 billion, so that means they only get around $1 billion each. Poor kids.
https://people.com/bill-gates-... [people.com]
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Thomas Paine advocated for an estate tax that had a top marginal rate of 100%, I am inclined to agree with him.
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Gates is giving his wealth to (Score:2, Interesting)
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the Gates foundation so all his cronies and friends can abscond most of it while giving away a smidgen of it for appearances
Citation required.
Please produce (significant, reliable) evidence that the foundation has been spending its monies on Gates' associates as opposed to doing the things its endowed to do.
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The Gates Foundation has made a significant impact on problems like malaria and AIDS and other major diseases. https://www.bbc.com/news/world... [bbc.com] I don't have information about how efficient the foundation is, but it's certainly a lot more efficient and does more good than the foundations of Donald Trump and Elon Musk.
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Jesus may disagree though, ...
"Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God."
The OS/2 Community will happily accept a donation (Score:2)
Ha (Score:2)