Gates, and others, give away billions.

Gotta give him props. I'm interested to see if Jobs jumps in.

Billionaires to give away half their fortune - Americas, World - The Independent

Jobs isn't a good example for a number of reasons.

Interesting read from 2008 . . . long . . .
http://money.cnn.com/2008/03/02/news/companies/elkind_jobs.fortune/index.htm

One less obvious reason is that Apple is, "one of America's Least Philanthropic Companies."

If I had that much money, I'd probably give away a bit more than half
As if I f*cking need that much money or something lol

You would cuz you get a nice tax break and help those "in need" at the same time . . .

HumanSymphony said:

If I had that much money, I'd probably give away a bit more than half
As if I f*cking need that much money or something lol

Click to expand...

I'm with HS. :yh:

If I just happened to have that kind of cash............

Nobody ever went broke saving money . . .

"Forbes said the United States is home to 403 billionaires, the most in the world"

:wtf: do they need all that money for!? There are thousands homeless or barely
hanging on, i think that this is something that should have been done a long time ago.
Well, better late then never..

EDIT: if you spent 54,700 dollars a day, it would take 50 years to spent 1 billion

trust me they're (most of them) are trying hard to make this world a better place, especially for the children, who have no say in their matter . . .

Malaria and HIV are the really big issues besides food and clean water, education . . . if you would really like to help make the world a better place and minimize the suffering of children.

One of my jobs is to audit these "Not for Profit" organizations and make sure they are really spending the money where they "say" they are spending it.

The "Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation" is a good example of what to expect when billions of dollars of contributions, grants and consideration is at stake and in many cases up for grabs.

The Gates' do alot of good . . . about 2 Billion a year since 2000 . . .

They also have a very elaborate 151 page 990 filing, required of 501 c3 npos

It's my job to see that these funds are utilized in the most effective way possible.

dunno exactly what my point was but these guys do alot of good to offset their bad . . . and to get some tax breaks . . .

I wish I could give $2 million for mosquito nets and clean water for Zimbabwe . . .

whatever . . . I deal with this and it's not pretty . . .

In convenient seclusion . . .

ugh . .. I'll shut up . . .

Gryphon said:

"Forbes said the United States is home to 403 billionaires, the most in the world"

:wtf: do they need all that money for!? There are thousands homeless or barely
hanging on, i think that this is something that should have been done a long time ago.
Well, better late then never..

EDIT: if you spent 54,700 dollars a day, it would take 50 years to spent 1 billion

Click to expand...

"Worth" a billion dollars != "having" a billion dollars.

Liquid funds are generally much smaller than net worth. These guys still have quite a large amount of money in "cash", sure, but most of their worth is usually tied up in the companies that they own, investments they have, etc. And these guys often are very charitable. Gates, Buffet, and others seem to contribute a LOT towards charity on a regular basis, not to mention the significant portion of the government that these routinely fund.

Yup . . . and these guys toss around billions like they're sitting at the nickel slots . . . but then again they toss nearly half to the "Not for Profit Organization" </George Carlin>

Here's a little screencap from Melinda's 990 last year . . . (see instructons)

pullbangdead said:

"Worth" a billion dollars != "having" a billion dollars.

Liquid funds are generally much smaller than net worth. These guys still have quite a large amount of money in "cash", sure, but most of their worth is usually tied up in the companies that they own, investments they have, etc. And these guys often are very charitable. Gates, Buffet, and others seem to contribute a LOT towards charity on a regular basis, not to mention the significant portion of the government that these routinely fund.

Click to expand...

If I had that kind of money I'd buy a nice house miles away from anyone and see if i couldn't get one of Lockheed Martin's 15KW laser systems on an automated turret, just for "home defense". Then i'd set up CD's to finance my family members' every need, and give the rest away.

If I had that kinda money I'd buy 2 shares of Berkshire Hathaway Inc.: NYSE:BRK.A quotes & news - Google Finance

No but serious . . . buy what you know, buy what you love . . . make sure they give a dividend . . .

Sit on it.

Gates gives a lot of money away that no one even knows about. About 15 years ago a textile mill in the shit hole little city I lived in exploded. Gates actually stepped up and paid for 200,00 blankets to be made. This gave the company enough money to completely rebuild. Gate donated the blankets to an an African nation. There was not even a word on the local news.

Even this story in the OP was only a 10 second blurb on our news. I had to find a UK news source to post it. WTF These guys are an inspiration, and are leading by example. This should be in the news daily.

Yeah, I always laugh when the anti-corporate hippie slugs call Bill Gates "greedy". Morons.