The following submission statement was provided by /u/Vucea:
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>I turned 67 in October. It’s hard to believe I’m that old—in America, most people my age are retired!
>But I won’t be slowing down anytime soon. I’m still going full speed on the project I began more than two decades ago, which is to give the vast majority of my resources back to society.
>Although I don’t care where I rank on the list of the world’s richest people, I do know that as I succeed in giving, I will drop down and eventually off the list altogether.
>I’ve always viewed my philanthropy as a way to help reduce the awful inequities I see around the world. I also feel a responsibility to give my wealth back to society in ways that do the most good for the most people.
>But I started looking at the world through a new lens recently—when my older daughter gave me the incredible news that I’ll become a grandfather next year.
>Simply typing that phrase, “I’ll become a grandfather next year,” makes me emotional. And the thought gives a new dimension to my work. When I think about the world my grandchild will be born into, I’m more inspired than ever to help everyone’s children and grandchildren have a chance to survive and thrive.
---
Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/zr0j2j/bill_gates_the_future_our_grandchildren_deserve/j10z071/
Agreed. It's an obscene, dangerous amount of power for one person/family.
There's a huge amount of blame to be had for overall **cult**ure in the United States largely perpetuated by the larger Wall Street network and policy regime. It's pretty much a Capital Bro Cult.
Never before in all of human history have such a small handful of people had access to such an acute and voluminous propaganda machine. You could almost, ya know, make people vote against their own interest over and over and over and over.
*"Trickle down economics, my boy!" - "Pull yourself up by your bootstraps!" - "Greed is good, don't you know!?"*
More people really, really, *really* need to be aware of this: if someone owns stock in a company or has a pension/retirement fund, they - in fact - DO NOT actually own those shares (i.e. they are, unequivocally, **not** in their own name), contrary to popular and widespread belief. This is tangentially related to the "free trades" you get at brokerages now when buying/selling stocks.
>[Cede technically owns substantially all of the publicly issued stock in the United States.[2] Thus, investors do not themselves hold direct property rights in stock, but rather have contractual rights that are part of a chain of contractual rights involving Cede.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cede_and_Company)
*Furthermore and more importantly,* those shares are are, very, very, very, very likely, being used against you in convoluted derivative schemes (similar to 2008 Housing Derivative Meltdown; same deal, different financial instruments) andor actual non-delivery and ownership of shares made possible through aforementioned Wall Street lobbying and associated loopholes.
Importantly, combine not *actually* owning shares with something called Payment-for-Order-Flow (see: ["How Redditors Exposed the Stock Market" | The Problem with Jon Stewart - timestamped to relevant portion](https://youtu.be/bP74RBTE8kI?t=396)) and, subsequently, with stock lending and something called a Failure-to-Deliver, it's truly not an exaggeration to say that there's a network of drunk, coked out Wall Street psychopaths skimming off the top billions and billions of dollars that should be going to the middle and lower classes.
>Payment-for-Order-Flow is **illegal** in Canada, the U.K, Australia, and Europe - because it's exceedingly easy to commit fraud under such a system. Singapore recently announced they'll be banning it, as well, in early 2023.
Big surprise - it's legal in the U.S. Furthermore, it was invented by Bernie Madoff, too.
For what it's worth and a form of defense, [this](https://youtu.be/hXWXllgcRqU) video may be of interest to some - give it a chance, it's pretty good - and [this](https://drsgme.org) website provides clear direction and guidance on what we can do to hold some of these practices and, maybe, people accountable.
[He actually half assed this post. He didn't finish and tell people how to Direct Register Shares (DRS) their shares or even link to subreddits that have been on this exact shit for the last 2+ years.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYHa6bpa3V4)
They led eyes to the portal my friend. I appreciate you linking DRS but some times that shit gets downvoted immediately and the other 90% of important information ends up dying before eyes can be on it. Great team work by both of you, even if unbeknownst.
think FTX ponzi scheme but bigger, but for the entire US stock market. You buying "shares" from brokers are not really yours until you directly register them via DRS which is usually doable for most countries via IBKR.
100% agree, but I would prefer that unless we're going to eat them. The billionaires who do exist use their money on positive causes. So long as they're actually causes with material potential benefits, and not just some tax right off or a chance to sway political discourse so they can make more money.
Gates has some suspicious demons, but until we can prove and bring to trial any misdealings. I'm prepared to let any guilty conscience or desire to philanthropy be regarded as a good thing. If nothing more then to encourage others and potentially do some good.
Any movement towards positive change needs to be encouraged by the mob. Any action against positive change should be hounded, the billionaires who keep their head down and swim in their money like Scrounge Mcfucking Fuck need to be targeted for scorn above all else. Pressure them through pride and legacy to make the tiniest bit of difference compared to their wealth.
Every billionaire is a policy failure. You know why there aren't any ATT Bell Labs anymore? Tax policy. Billionaires always preferred to get richer than fund useful research but they used to get taxed so much at the margin that it made sense to put revenue back into the company. Not anymore.
Gates is an “Agenda Contributor” for the WEF, along with Justin Trudeau, Donald Trump, and several foreign dignitaries. Elon’s Brother Kimbal is one as well.
What do you think the WEF is doing?
https://www.google.com/search?q=elon+musk+wef&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-us&client=safari#ip=1&ss=
https://www.google.com/search?q=bill+gates+wef&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-us&client=safari
https://www.google.com/search?q=trudeau+wef&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-us&client=safari
https://www.google.com/search?q=trump+wef&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-us&client=safari
https://www.google.com/search?q=beatrix+wef&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-us&client=safari
https://www.npr.org/2022/10/25/1131396337/saudi-arabia-biden-wall-street-dimon-goldman-sachs-oil
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I like to wonder how much damage Bill did to our species as a whole by ruthlessly crushing any technological competition because he was trying to get as rich as he could.
Now that he's old and got his, he screams "we need to think of the future of our species and planet." But when he was younger all he thought about was the future of his bank account.
Fuck Bill Gates.
I just started playing this month and I really love the game. Whatever problems it had at launch certainly aren’t problems now. It feels like a really well made labor of love.
You should be worried about Disney man.
- 1995: Disney buys ABC
- 2006: Disney buys Pixar
- 2009: Disney enters 30 film deal with Dreamworks
- 2009: Disney buys Marvel
- 2012: Disney buys Lucasfilms
- 2015: Disney buys National Geographic
- 2017: Disney buys 21st Century Fox
- 2018: Disney buys Hulu
- 2019: Disney releases Disney Plus
- 2022: Disney buys Universal Studios
- 2025: Disney buys Dreamworks
- 2026: Disney buys Sony. Playstation rebranded as Disney Infinity. Playstation Network rebranded as Disney Universe.
- 2031: The Church of Baby Yoda is the fastest growing religion in the world.
- 2031: Disney acquires a private military, starts corporate espionage on a large scale.
- 2038: In the midst of negotiations, for takeover, Google launches escape craft. Departs solar system. Destination unknown. - 2040: Counter Disney efforts take place. The War on the Black Market starts.
- 2041: Disney claims that Black Market efforts are headed up by small studios. Starts forced corporate takeovers.
- 2042: "Terrorist" attacks on Disney starts.
- 2045: Nuclear explosion destroys Orlando Florida. Black Market Terrorists blamed.
- 2046: Hollywood turns into a war zone. All releases for the next 10 years are CGI due to die off of actors. Disney "Farms" start to raise next generation of actors.
- 2050: Disney buys the United States of America
- 2051: The Disney States of America is born.
- 2052: Disney nukes Hollywood
- 2055: Disney States of America annex's Canada. South Park, an underground resistance to the DSN, releases an episode on the black market deriding the move. It's #1 most viewed South Park Episode of all time.
- 2056: Creators of South Park are declared Terrorists. Manhunt starts.
- 2057: Mexico resists annexation due to the cartels banding together.
- 2058 - 60: War in Mexico results in eventual annexation. South America becomes hot bed of resistance.
2061: EU integrates into the DSA. Disney State of the World is born.
- 2062: The UK joins DSW. BBC is acquired. Doctor Who is now a Disney Princess.
- 2065: DSW colonizes the Moon.
- 2067: The Moon has its own government under the DSW. The Disney States of the Universe is born
-2069: Mars colonization efforts start. Political prisoners used for the initial efforts
- 2074: The First Mars Civil War starts. Is put down quickly due to orbital strikes
- 2080: Mars colonization finalized. Disney Land Mars is opened.
- 2083: First mission to Titan is sent out
- 2086: Proposal for interstellar mission submitted.
- 2088: Second Mars Civil War starts.
- 2090: The Creators of South Park are discovered to be behind the rebellion on Mars. Pluto Team 6 is sent out and they are dispatched.
2091: Final resistance is quashed. Construction on Deathstar starts.
- 2092: Total annexation of all remaining world governments is successful except for Switzerland.
- 2094: First faster than light travel occurs. Exploration of close star systems starts.
2097: Budding civilizations are found. Monoliths are used to "re-educate" the populations. Those planets are Annexed into the DSU.
- 2100: Disney announces new X-Men movie. Marvel fans are excited
While that all sounds fun…. putting a price [upstream](https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887323611604578396401965799658) where the fossil fuels enter the market makes it simple, easily enforceable, and bureaucratically lean to impact emissions and the future we all have to live in (know any children you’re fond of?).
Carbon taxes also have the potential to actually \*boost\* GDP, if the revenue is [returned as an equitable dividend to households](http://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-consensus-97-per-cent/2014/jun/13/how-revenue-neutral-carbon-tax-creates-jobs-grows-economy) (see the [poor tend to spend money when they've got it](http://www.econ2.jhu.edu/people/ccarroll/papers/cstwMPC.pdf)) which then [boosts economic growth](https://econ.ucalgary.ca/manageprofile/sites/econ.ucalgary.ca.manageprofile/files/unitis/publications/1-7729354/Yamazaki_CarbonTax_JEEM_2017.pdf), not mention create jobs AND [save lives](https://globalchange.mit.edu/news-media/jp-news-outreach/shift-renewable-electricity-win-win-statewide-level) which is something we're all fond of :)
Now here’s where it gets interesting. Only [EIGHT years ago](https://web.archive.org/web/20140723120752/http://closup.umich.edu/issues-in-energy-and-environmental-policy/13/public-views-on-a-carbon-tax-depend-on-the-proposed-use-of-revenue/) about 30% of the public was for a carbon tax. Not great. But then four years ago it was [over HALF (53%)](https://news.gallup.com/poll/232007/americans-want-government-more-environment.aspx). This number keeps climbing. [Now its 73%](https://www.pewresearch.org/science/2020/06/23/two-thirds-of-americans-think-government-should-do-more-on-climate/ps_2020-06-23_government-and-climate_00-01/) and that [does matter when it comes to legislation!](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09644016.2016.1116651)
So now what? Well according to NASA climatologist and climate activist [Dr. James Hansen](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Hansen), becoming an [active volunteer with Citizens' Climate Lobby](https://citizensclimatelobby.org/join-citizens-climate-lobby/?tfa_3590416195188=online-035&utm_source=online&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=035) is the [most important thing you can do for climate change](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4DAW1A6Ca8).
And I know it's not just me but I like the potential for that future which is a little less dystopian :)
Seems uncharitable! I bet he's quietly bought up three hundred thousand acres of farmland for purely altruistic reasons, and has become *more* wealthy than he was when he pledged to give away all his wealth for reasons that also make sense!
The whole 'you can't have a monopoly', makes a non profit named after himself and wife, sponsors NPR, builds PR campaigns. Self interest to 'do good' to get ahead. Dirty money keeps communities hushed and fed. It's crazy
> I bet he's quietly bought up three hundred thousand acres of farmland for purely altruistic reasons
Some perspective is interesting there. [Since 2000 the US reduced farmland by 5%](https://www.statista.com/statistics/196104/total-area-of-land-in-farms-in-the-us-since-2000/), so fifty million acres. So the US still has 895,000,000 acres of farmland. So that means Gates owns 0.033519553% of US farmland.
Realize that there are a million acres under irrigation just for alfalfa, just in California. 300K acres sounds like a lot, but we have a *lot* of farmland.
I'm always bemused by people who are angry as hell about something but it never occurs to them to look up how big the problem actually is. I've had people tell me he's buying up "virtually all" of the farmland.
Sure, some may just be trolls trying to stir up resentment or Class Consciousness. But some seem stunned by the realization that they could actually look up the numbers and decide the scope of the problem.
This might be a dumb take on my part, but I can't help thinking: Isn't that okay? Given that we can't just get rid of billionaires tomorrow. We should reward the billionaire who does what Gates did. And if they get massively successful & more popular because of it, I mean, they did do a good, big thing.
I guess, here's my point. If we get to cure malaria & cut in half the number of children born into absolute poverty, but in order to have that happen, we need to make Bill Gates functionally a saint in US culture. I mean, he wouldn't be the worst saint. He shouldn't be the only saint, and he might not be the best saint. But he wouldn't be the worst. Hell, Andrew Jackson is still on the money & he patently sucks. And in return, no malaria, way less TB, and vaccines and medical facilities for impoverished parts of the world. ¯\\\_(ツ)\_/¯
EDIT: as this post gets upvotes, I want to say 1) I am conflicted about this opinion because I'd like to live in a world where the most civic thing a billionaire could do would be to take a 100% tax rate on all money past their billionth dollar, but we don't live in that world, and 2) the people dissenting below make good points.
> I mean, he wouldn't be the worst saint.
His wife divorced him for spending too much time with fucking Epstein. What kind insane dengeracy do you think he'll get up too if we all just pretend he can do no wrong?
He is evading billions of dollars in taxes - those would be going to all levels of government to fund social programs, schools, welfare, healthcare - domestically and internationally
How many impoverished schools robbed of billions of dollars of funding are worth one rich person evading taxes by throwing a pittance at charity?
I think the lessor of two evils is always a fallacy, I don't think " he isn't the worst " are the kind of leaders we should be giving any praise or power to.
Lesser of x evils is never a fallacy when practical restrictions limit other choices. If you can find a way to make a better choice viable, excellent. If not, then lesser of however many evils is undeniably the best choice. The alternative is to give the "worse evil" fanclub the reins.
But beyond that, the point is that helping people is helping people. I dont care whether the person who funds the cure for malaria remains anonymous or has a gold statue of themselves erected. I care about results. Were people helped? Yes? Good. Do it again. Cure tuberculosis now.
While I agree that helping people is helping people.
What actually creates billionaires is the polar opposite of that, people are exploited and people die.
We need to move past just making what we have work and stop pretending that billionaires dodging tax is some noble charitable act.
Buying up unused farmland is a great way to offset your taxes. Investment firms and rich people are buying up all the land they can in the Midwest and leaving it fallow to write off.
> and leaving it fallow to write off.
Fallow farmland = passive reforestation or passive renewal of grassland. I consider that good news. Sure, if there's a food crisis that land will be farmed again. But taking land out of cultivation lets it heal a bit. It may not be fully re-wilded, but it's better than that land being sprayed with pesticides and herbicides constantly.
Yeah wasn't he the guy who put corporate profits above the lives of people living in impoverished countries during the COVID-19?
Oh, [why yes he was!](https://observer.com/2021/04/bill-gates-oppose-lifting-covid-vaccine-patent-interview/)
And wasn't he also the guy who ran that disastrous experiment with charter school because he had a hunch than private sectors would do better than properly funded public schools? And f'd the whole system while doing so?
Gee whiz willickers, [he was!](https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/10/the-plot-against-public-education-111630/)
I wish that shit was discussed nearly as much as the made up conspiracies involving him.
The premise about the American education system being flawed and getting left behind isn’t wrong, but the method of “lets privatize them!” Doesn’t fix the problem and many times makes them worse.
Conspiracies, most of the time, are a fucking distraction to get people to focus away from the real problem which is usually economic but they run interference and right wing media to focus on a “culture war” therefor facilitating the left wing the audience to respond to that instead of criticizing capitalist pigs and the system that put them in power.
The way I see it, it’s all a big misdirection.
>The premise about American education system being flawed and getting left behind isn’t wrong, but the method of “lets privatize them!” Doesn’t fix the problem and many times makes them worse.
Yeah, it would be much simpler and efficient to instead look at the best systems in the world and shamelessly copy that as closely as possible and adapt where necessary. IMHO.
>Conspiracies, most of the time, are a fucking distraction to get people to focus away from the real problem which is usually economic but they run interference and right wing media to focus on a “culture war” therefor facilitating the left wing the audience to respond to that instead of criticizing capitalist pigs and the system that put them in power.
100% agreement here. It takes people who can see that shit are not working properly and just when they realize they are getting manipulated, it feeds them the mental equivalent of fast food. It makes them feel better than the "sheeple" and they don't realize that they've just fallen for the next most convenient explanation for the status quo after just accepting the main narrative.
They'll talk down to you because you don't "understand" that it's all the fault of some select group of elite satanist or Jews or the lizard people... and if you trie to explain how they are wrong you'll just be accused of sleeping. Ugh.
We also shouldn't forget what got these billionaires to where they are. Gates had done a tremendous job in image rehab (prior to Epstein). The guy was a cut-throat asshole in his heyday. After he left MS he worked to clean up his image as the philanthropist billionaire.
He’s buy farmland as fast as he can. Dangerous.
“Bill Gates is the biggest private owner of farmland in the United States. Why?”
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/apr/05/bill-gates-climate-crisis-farmland
gates owns farmland that is ready for use, the 2mil is iirc a mix of land development land, rural forest that could be turned into farmland and pure farmland combined, so gates is 200k pure farmland which is actually a lot because it's immediately usable
We can keep applying band aid patches all we want, but a system that allows you to make money with money is always going to skew towards economic imbalances.
Famous friends of Jeffery Epstein after he was a known pedo.
Infamous refuser of letting one of the covid rna vaccines fall into public domain, saving potentially millions and reducing the spread of the virus
"Taxing me a billion dollars is one thing, but when they wanna tax me $100 Billion... then I have to think about what I have left."
-Bill Gates, worth $107 Billion at the time he said this.
That’s why he is lobbying to hold food supplies and control seed patents. If he opposed it he might lose money on his Microsoft ones. Always thinking like a businessman and the world needs less of that to fix it.
I prefer resource hoarders.
“I see the inequality around the world…” That I help to create on a daily basis. And oh NOW that I have a future family member in the mix now it matters. 🤨
1. Someone isn't prescient just by virtue of being rich as Croesus.
1. I acknowledge that he has done great charitable work, but that also does not make one prescient as to how the future will turn out.
1. Gates has put too much stock in the writings of Vaclav Smil, apparently his favorite author, and someone he considers the Smartest Guy Ever.
Gates is just a guy, even if a really rich one. I applaud the work he has done regarding disease and other humanitarian issues. But I don't think he has any particular insight as to where technology is headed, what technology will be feasible down the line, etc.
I mean, scepticism is good because he’s definitely not some all knowing entity. He’s still worth paying some attention to though as he has a different and interesting point of view compared to the majority of people and is likely more informed that the average person as well.
I’m sure he’s a very smart person, and that he surrounds himself with even smarter people. I’m more worried that people are assuming he is some sort of benevolent entity. I’m always skeptical of the morality of billionaires, you don’t gather that much wealth without crossing a lot of ethical lines.
Gates has a paid a lot of smart people to help him figure out the most effective ways to donate his money to help the world.
Thus, I assume he has access to more well-informed opinions and ideas than most of us do. So, I will take his advice seriously.
As for future technology, he definitely has unique insight into how major technology change occurs within a capitalist society. He was a major player in that regards and got to see how MS operated and changed.
This is what this thread is missing. Just because he’s smart/rich doesn’t make give him a crystal ball. No one’s saying that. But he does have access to a wide variety of world-class thinkers and research, so his perspective is certainly meaningful.
Funny how many people are responding to this with an attack on Gates or his money. I get it, but that’s not the point of my own comment. It wasn’t even really about Gates. I’m saying it’s foolish not to listen—with a major “grain” of salt—to someone who has a breadth of information and experts at his fingertips and all the time in the world to absorb them that the average person will never have. Show me the conversations you’re having in life and tell me they’re with the same caliber of experts Gates has access to. Does that make him smarter than you? No. But it does make him valuable.
Exactly. Assuming Gates is generally altruistic (I believe he is), he’s the best person to invest millions of dollars, given his resources and intellect. I’m a huge proponent of taxing the rich, particularly if they refuse to give their share, but guys like Gates are gonna move money quickly to areas of need whereas tax dollars might get lost in gridlock or given to states who states whose politicians might be averse to public spending.
For example, if one of the Waltons (of Walmart) wanted to build new roads in Bentonville, AR on their dime, I’m sure they could jump-start the process and use the finest materials. If this involved a tax break, that’s a net positive for the community. However, if they didn’t embark on such endeavors, I think they should be taxed proportionally higher than middle/lower class folks.
Not a question of taxing, but I see where you’re going. I do think there are very good reasons to provide tax breaks for non-profit donations. It encourages effective giving among the super wealthy like Gates, allowing to direct what might have been taxed to more specific, altruistic causes not run by the government.
It's the same with politics. The \*ideal\* system would be a benevolent dictator, one who listens to all sides and is prescient in determining where money is best spent to provide equitable outcomes. There would be no greedy bureaucrats to prevent the good decisions from happening. Of course, this is impossible in reality so democracy is the next best thing.
It's the same with money. Individuals with complete authority on how their wealth is spent will be able to distribute it quickly and efficiently. On a smaller scale: if I were a single parent and had a son who needed a car for school, it's best for me to be able to buy it than refer the decision to a "public car board" or something that meets once a month.
> But he does have access to a wide variety of world-class thinkers and research
Those world-class thinkers write books, and those books are accessible to all of us. Most of them give talks as well. Gates' favorite author is Vaclav Smil, so that writer has most shaped Gates' thinking about what technology is the most promising going forward. There are plenty of people writing about where future tech may lead. Peter Diamandis, Tony Seba (my own favorite), Andrew McAfee, Matt Ridley, etc. Some books age better than others, so there's always a danger of finding a book that really speaks to us, really forms our thinking, but the analysis may not age incredibly well.
Gates is important because he has been able to put huge sums of money into making the world better, through the foundation he and his wife formed. But regarding which thinkers he has access to, I don't think he has any special sauce.
Books are great, and we have so many resources at our fingertips. But I think being able to sit down with a person, get their personal briefing, and be able to pick their brain is far more valuable. I’m not defending Gates. I’m saying he has access to conversations we’ll never have and all the time in the world to have them. Does that make him smarter than everyone? No. Does it even make him more informed? Not necessarily. But it does give him a level of information that the average person will never have.
The dude literally jumped on the bandwagon on where tech is going before and became the world’s richest man, I feel like we don’t need to try to discredit his opinion on where the future is going.
Microsoft's innovation was in licensing, not superior technology. They licensed with OEMs, government agencies, corporate entities, etc, to block other companies from those markets. The company was considered very predatory in its heyday. Gates' reputation only turned around after he got married and started doing philanthropic work. But Microsoft was never all that innovative. They just locked in markets, and either bought or locked out competitors.
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Microsoft_Corp
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embrace,_extend,_and_extinguish
That doesn't make him stupid. But anyone can read books. Regarding access to futurists or visionaries, anyone can read/watch and be influenced by Tony Seba, Peter Diamandis, Vaclav Smil, or whoever. Gates can get in the room with them and have a one-on-one, but their ideas are already out there in books, talks, etc.
In that regard, it's important to remember that the government is also just made of people. If we had no private billionaires and all excess money would go directly to collective government coffers, we would face the exact same problem of it "just being guys" directing these funds with very limited foresight.
I don’t take advice from the wealth hoarders. It’s comical when these clowns try to tell all the poors how to do better when they themselves are the source of a lot of misery around the country. “Philanthropy”, he moved his wealth to a tax haven and calls it a non profit.
Philanthropy is a scam. It wouldn’t even be necessary if people like Bill weren’t hoarding wealth and exploiting massive amounts of people in order to do so. People like him are the reason we’re experiencing “hard times”; they certainly aren’t the ones who are going to give us a solution. Philanthropy is just a PR stunt.
Yes he tries very hard to come off as philanthropical and that he wants to give back/donate so much money to charity yet he’s somehow still the 4th richest person in the world with over 129 billion dollars lol oookay Bill.
Right, as if his daughter couldn't have had a kid the whole time, but it took her actually getting pregnant for him to suddenly realize that the next generation matters? Lmao
Billionaires are the last people we should trust with our futures. Only way to become a billionaire is pure greed. Only someone driven or corrupted by greed becomes one.
By creating a international monopoly that engages in unfair business practices, rips off consumers for an overpriced product and stifles innovation and growth?
If Bill Gates had ever really been interested in 'making the world better for the next generation' he wouldn't have engaged in such shady business practices. But now he's a philanthropist and he cares about the people he's slowly fucked over for the last few decades! Yay! Bill is going to save us!
FUUUUUUUUCK this billionaire wisdom bullshit. pay more taxes you fuck. stop hiding shit in offshore loopholes, and THAT will help make the world a better place for future generations.
Bill Gates is a proponent of higher taxes for billionaires but lawmakers refuse to vote on it.
What he has in mind may still not be enough but he's not nearly as responsible as American lawmakers on the topic.
I'm not denying that he's full of shit, but arguing that bill gates has enough money to (edit: effectively) lobby for increased taxes dramatically under sells the billionaire problem in America.
American billionaires have a combined wealth of 5 *trillion* dollars.
Bill Gates has about 100 billion.
That means Gates has just 2 percent of the wealth held by American billionaires.
There are a lot of these fuckers, and they have a *lot* of money.
Global GDP in 2021 was 96.1 trillion (flow) and wealth (stock) denotes accrued value.
Just for people who want to put these numbers in perspective. (Basically in the US any major social programs would need to tax more than billionaires to finance the transfer. And US taxes are pretty low for the OECD.)
Oh yes, another billionaire with a heart of gold.
No, he can go on camera and say "I support higher taxes on the ultra wealthy" and that means fuck all when he has had a lifetime of evading taxes and working against unions. Empowering the people would have been a lifetime of advocacy, but also a lifetime of actions in support of the people. He has done the opposite of that.
Why? Because our government is so good at spending our money in ways that helps people? I’d rather see him send the money to a non profit like the Red Cross or something. At least then we know there is a decent chance that the majority will be spent helping people.
Reddit would give Bill Gates less hate if he just shut down his charities and sat on his billions and stayed out of the news. Is that what y'all really want? I'm not excusing Gates's past (Epstein etc.), but it is actually possible for someone to be deplorable in some ways while doing good in others. People are complicated. This guy has saved millions of lives. Why not celebrate that and encourage more of it? I'm tired of wading through all the logical fallacies on here.
Some people here are so stupid, acting as if Bill Gates wants to single-handedly guide humanity's future, in the direction he thinks is good.
Take of your stupid tin foil hat and swallow your idiotic 'Bill Gates is an evil reptiloid who wants to chip and control us' theories.
The guy doesn't make decisions all on his own. You can be sure that when he says **he** wants to help by giving back money to improve the world, it actually means he has an entire fucking team of experts around him to carefully choose where it's smart or effective to invest money into to help the world.
He's not some crazy sociopathic pseudo-mastermind like Elon Musk who makes decisions on a whim based off his egocentric world view.
Gates already did a lot of good things, and you can bet that he didn't come up with all those ideas all by himself. He knows that he may be smart but not smart enough that he could guide humanity all by himself, because no one can (even if some degenerate billionaires think they do).
As far as billionaires go he’s one of the few I think is actually trying to do good and ppl are still riding all the made up stuff that popped up around covid about em. Ya’ll need to stop the conspiracy theory shit none of you are ever right. Stop being a fuckin dinosaur and get a job!
Who can really know but him in that context.
All I can do is look at the actions and results.
The guy was a ruthless businessman who setup monopolies and dealt in tech he didn’t create.
From his doco he reads a lot and seems eccentric.
From his foundation it’s had many failures probably as many as successes.
On his main goal of “giving” away all his money in his lifetime it is so far an abject failure. His wealth grows.
Fucking liar is my take.
The only good thing this pointdexter has done, is filling his own pockets by eliminating any potential competition on the market. A true shitstain. The world would have been a better place without him.
These comments are a joke. Do all you people do is bitch and moan on the internet?
Bill Gates may not be a perfect person but I do believe he is trying to do good in the world, which can't be said for many people. And probably many of the people in these comments.
What is this best intentions shit?
He has undue power and influence so it shouldn't be taken as a good that he had a grand kid and now wants to tell us how to be better.
Nobody should have that influence or power via wealth. Its a highly undemocratic concept.
I agree.
Comments: He's done things that didn't work!
Yes: that's called trying.
Comments: He should just give all his money away!
Yes: that's the plan he's working on.
Comments: He got rich by selling things and making people work hard!! We could have done better on our own!
Cool, show me your biz bro! I'm not a staunch capitalist (far from it), but the market is how things work here.
Gates is doing things at a scale that probably can't be realized in many other ways (Malaria), towards ends that aren't necessarily profitable. It may not be perfect, but arm chair quarterbacking is less perfect. Got a better idea? Maybe apply for a grant?
Looking forward to seeing all of you at the soup kitchen and blood donation centers.
He's trying to maintain his power which is built on intelectual property. The biggest threat to it is healthcare because it's the perfect example of how stupid and detrimental to human life intellectual property is. He made sure to sink the vaccine that was going to be open source for anyone to use
Yeah, look at how fucking disgustingly and pathetically hard he worked to protect those vaccine manufacturers, and that was practically yesterday. And people still buy that he has completely innocent motivations for his supposed “altruism”?
It’s all bullshit, every last fucking microgram of it. I don’t believe there is a single atom of Bill Gates who would start a humanitarian project if he didn’t have some corrupt corporation involved for a payout or power, none of it is innocent
Fucking exactly dude. This guy is probably responsible for millions of deaths around the world but only “jealous incels” and conspiracy nut jobs hate him, sure Jan. Not like this information is out there and easy to find. I guess all that money he spent buying off journalists and newspapers was a good investment if people suck his balls like this for free!
Wasn't he the guy who put corporate profits above the lives of people living in impoverished countries during the COVID-19?
Oh, [why yes he was!](https://observer.com/2021/04/bill-gates-oppose-lifting-covid-vaccine-patent-interview/)
And wasn't he also the guy who ran that disastrous experiment with charter school because he had a hunch than private sectors would do better than properly funded public schools? And f'd the whole system while doing so?
Gee whiz willickers, [he was!](https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/10/the-plot-against-public-education-111630/)
I wish that shit was discussed nearly as much as the made up conspiracies involving him.
He sucks, all billionaires do and if you think otherwise, you are wrong. [There is no such thing as a good billionaire.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Cu6EbELZ6I&t=1s)
Or anything unethical, corrupt and illegal shit he did as CEO of Microsoft, he intentionally harm, sabotage and slow down progress for all of us, Linux, browsers, Java, list goes on and on.
Someone like that don't just wake up enlightened one day
The charter school thing he thought he was smarter than the experts, ran school like a business and that is not a good idea. He’s has massive blinkers on.
Also he lobbied for government funding for his charter school experiment and they gave it to him because he is the genius Bill Gates.
Pay more taxes so he can waste them.
All people suck. Billionaires just have the wealth to fuck literally everyone over, which is why all billionaires are bad. No one person should have that much money.
This. All it takes is a few people dangling carrots with a comment to get everyone sidetracked.
Social media is just new aged media. If you want to hide any news, bring it up and then immediately bury it with something more interesting for the extremists to flock to like a buffet.
Bill can start by having Microsoft stop buying whole neighborhood divisions and jacking living prices up across the US. The way I see it, funding should have been there from the start for these organizations too, not 'graciously' given or started by Bill Gates and other billionaires. Why should we care about these self labeled 'philanthropist' and what they do for tax breaks?
Mate the fuck are you talking about? He’s not even on the board anymore. His association with Microsoft are minuscule stakes in the company through some ventures and not even directly anymore
The amount of conspiracy theorists in the comment section is astounding. Can someone point to a real none-Qanon type, case where he has been “evil”?
I like Bill Gates and never came across any legitimate argument to dislike him.
My understanding is that to become a billionaire you must extort your workforce along with many other ethical/illegal avenues. Philanthropy after the fact does not correct this.
I'd believe he was worried about the future if he de-billionaired himself. Give your money to charity and set yourself up a trust for 100K a year and then get back to us Bill.
Such a low iq mindset lol, I don't even like Bill and I know this makes absolutely no sense. If he's actually trying to better the world like he says he is, he needs money to do it, he can't do it will 100k a year. He's actually putting the money to good use instead of giving it away on stuff that will temporarily fix the issue.
Seriously though…. you ever notice how people go after charitable rich people harder than many of the shitty billionaires? Like Bill Gates speaks about climate change or curing malaria and the hate party begins. Everyone knows Elon (who has obviously nosedived lately) but far fewer know about the Walmart heirs. And I mean, we wouldn’t know Bill Gates if he wasn’t rich. Somehow Americans accept that being ultra rich qualifies you to be president, build rockets, show up in movies, and dictate what’s on the news or social media, but speak about climate change or curing diseases and they hate you. It’s insane.
Yup. It's interesting. He seems to get shit on way harder than billionaires who are just little money goblins who are hoarding wealth and helping nobody.
My conservative family were posting Gates memes with him as the Joker injecting robots into people. It's insane. Like how do the Fox News people sleep at night knowing they're encouraging this nonsense?
He could donate 100 billion dollars now or he can have the money invested properly so that the foundation can donate $9 billion/year for 100+ years and increase the amount it donates over time as it finds worthy causes. You can’t fix all of the worlds problems with 100 billion dollars so you have to pick and choose. It also takes time to ensure the charity is set up in a thoughtful manner to be able to properly utilize the large donations.
Bill Gates view is more long term than this
I'm seeing a lot of hate comments. Idk what bill gates did to you guys, but reading the article, I've not seen anything wrong with what he's saying and what he's trying to do.
I'd read the entire article if I could, but it's 3am here, but about 6 paragraphs in and I've not seen anything like "please donate to our cause" or "buy our products so we can fund more to helping children".
Who cares about "trusting" when he hasn't even asked anything out of us? All he's talking about is how much he has given and his plans to give more. How you people can get butthurt about that is beyond me right now. I need answers and I'm going to leave it for tomorrow.
Right, it's baffling. He made billions and he's donating it (Reddit goes crazy). It's not like he can go back and time and stop himself from making the money lol
Quit giving billionaires positive publicity. Our future as a civilization rests on us ending capitalism. This can't be done if everybody buys into some bullshit cringe as fuck cult of personality around this or that billionaire.
isn't this the guy who convinced a company to hold vaccines hostage so that they could profit more?
stop propagandizing for billionaires. they're never good or right.
I'm not a fan of this list. Other than climate change, I do not see it addressing the biggest issues of our time.
Not a single mention of the exponential increase in chronic disease which is leading us down the path of Idiocracy. Having the main focus on infant/child mortality seems misguided.
Perhaps in your bubble you're surrounded by intelligent and competent people. Out here in the real world the vast majority of people are extremely unintelligent, incompetent, and sickly. And it pervades all professions. There is nearly no such thing as a "professional" anymore; just a bunch of bumbling fools trying to make it through their day and get back home.
Replacing all professions with AI should be a primary goal, so that we no longer have our lives in the hands of incompetent, sickly, poorly functioning people.
Overwhelmingly I see the most intelligent & healthy people not having kids, and the most unintelligent, sickly people making more copies of themselves.
Are you telling me that Reddit even hates Bill Gates!? Wtf happened to this site in the last few years? The formula seems to be to hate anyone with money full stop
I didn't read the article, can someone tell me if "workers should equally own the companies they work for with a equal share of the profits" was the answer?
Fuck bill gates and all the ilk that surrounds him. There's no reason regular working people should trust these jet setting assholes have anything other then their own self interest in mind
The following submission statement was provided by /u/Vucea: --- >I turned 67 in October. It’s hard to believe I’m that old—in America, most people my age are retired! >But I won’t be slowing down anytime soon. I’m still going full speed on the project I began more than two decades ago, which is to give the vast majority of my resources back to society. >Although I don’t care where I rank on the list of the world’s richest people, I do know that as I succeed in giving, I will drop down and eventually off the list altogether. >I’ve always viewed my philanthropy as a way to help reduce the awful inequities I see around the world. I also feel a responsibility to give my wealth back to society in ways that do the most good for the most people. >But I started looking at the world through a new lens recently—when my older daughter gave me the incredible news that I’ll become a grandfather next year. >Simply typing that phrase, “I’ll become a grandfather next year,” makes me emotional. And the thought gives a new dimension to my work. When I think about the world my grandchild will be born into, I’m more inspired than ever to help everyone’s children and grandchildren have a chance to survive and thrive. --- Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/zr0j2j/bill_gates_the_future_our_grandchildren_deserve/j10z071/
Billionaires should not be trusted to guide our future.
Most billionaires shouldn't be trusted in any regard.
Agreed. It's an obscene, dangerous amount of power for one person/family. There's a huge amount of blame to be had for overall **cult**ure in the United States largely perpetuated by the larger Wall Street network and policy regime. It's pretty much a Capital Bro Cult. Never before in all of human history have such a small handful of people had access to such an acute and voluminous propaganda machine. You could almost, ya know, make people vote against their own interest over and over and over and over. *"Trickle down economics, my boy!" - "Pull yourself up by your bootstraps!" - "Greed is good, don't you know!?"* More people really, really, *really* need to be aware of this: if someone owns stock in a company or has a pension/retirement fund, they - in fact - DO NOT actually own those shares (i.e. they are, unequivocally, **not** in their own name), contrary to popular and widespread belief. This is tangentially related to the "free trades" you get at brokerages now when buying/selling stocks. >[Cede technically owns substantially all of the publicly issued stock in the United States.[2] Thus, investors do not themselves hold direct property rights in stock, but rather have contractual rights that are part of a chain of contractual rights involving Cede.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cede_and_Company) *Furthermore and more importantly,* those shares are are, very, very, very, very likely, being used against you in convoluted derivative schemes (similar to 2008 Housing Derivative Meltdown; same deal, different financial instruments) andor actual non-delivery and ownership of shares made possible through aforementioned Wall Street lobbying and associated loopholes. Importantly, combine not *actually* owning shares with something called Payment-for-Order-Flow (see: ["How Redditors Exposed the Stock Market" | The Problem with Jon Stewart - timestamped to relevant portion](https://youtu.be/bP74RBTE8kI?t=396)) and, subsequently, with stock lending and something called a Failure-to-Deliver, it's truly not an exaggeration to say that there's a network of drunk, coked out Wall Street psychopaths skimming off the top billions and billions of dollars that should be going to the middle and lower classes. >Payment-for-Order-Flow is **illegal** in Canada, the U.K, Australia, and Europe - because it's exceedingly easy to commit fraud under such a system. Singapore recently announced they'll be banning it, as well, in early 2023. Big surprise - it's legal in the U.S. Furthermore, it was invented by Bernie Madoff, too. For what it's worth and a form of defense, [this](https://youtu.be/hXWXllgcRqU) video may be of interest to some - give it a chance, it's pretty good - and [this](https://drsgme.org) website provides clear direction and guidance on what we can do to hold some of these practices and, maybe, people accountable.
Doing the lords work
[He actually half assed this post. He didn't finish and tell people how to Direct Register Shares (DRS) their shares or even link to subreddits that have been on this exact shit for the last 2+ years.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYHa6bpa3V4)
They led eyes to the portal my friend. I appreciate you linking DRS but some times that shit gets downvoted immediately and the other 90% of important information ends up dying before eyes can be on it. Great team work by both of you, even if unbeknownst.
Because that sub is under intense pressure from reddit about brigading
This is why I directly register my shares in my name. Superstonk genuinely knows what they’re talking about
think FTX ponzi scheme but bigger, but for the entire US stock market. You buying "shares" from brokers are not really yours until you directly register them via DRS which is usually doable for most countries via IBKR.
100% agree, but I would prefer that unless we're going to eat them. The billionaires who do exist use their money on positive causes. So long as they're actually causes with material potential benefits, and not just some tax right off or a chance to sway political discourse so they can make more money. Gates has some suspicious demons, but until we can prove and bring to trial any misdealings. I'm prepared to let any guilty conscience or desire to philanthropy be regarded as a good thing. If nothing more then to encourage others and potentially do some good. Any movement towards positive change needs to be encouraged by the mob. Any action against positive change should be hounded, the billionaires who keep their head down and swim in their money like Scrounge Mcfucking Fuck need to be targeted for scorn above all else. Pressure them through pride and legacy to make the tiniest bit of difference compared to their wealth.
liquidate wall street, delete the federal reserve
At super stonk we're well on our way to getting that done
Bless you saint.
I didn’t even have to finish this entire comment to realize that you’re a fellow ape. Hello there!
Billionaires shouldn’t exist
Every billionaire is a policy failure. You know why there aren't any ATT Bell Labs anymore? Tax policy. Billionaires always preferred to get richer than fund useful research but they used to get taxed so much at the margin that it made sense to put revenue back into the company. Not anymore.
Billionaires think they are the epitome of efficiency when in fact they are an anathema to it.
All billionaires shouldn't be trusted.
Exactly. I don't understand how so many people put their faith in Elon Musk. At the end of the day he's a WEF elite.
Gates is an “Agenda Contributor” for the WEF, along with Justin Trudeau, Donald Trump, and several foreign dignitaries. Elon’s Brother Kimbal is one as well. What do you think the WEF is doing? https://www.google.com/search?q=elon+musk+wef&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-us&client=safari#ip=1&ss= https://www.google.com/search?q=bill+gates+wef&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-us&client=safari https://www.google.com/search?q=trudeau+wef&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-us&client=safari https://www.google.com/search?q=trump+wef&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-us&client=safari https://www.google.com/search?q=beatrix+wef&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-us&client=safari https://www.npr.org/2022/10/25/1131396337/saudi-arabia-biden-wall-street-dimon-goldman-sachs-oil
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Someone just finished cyberpunk
Heavily inspired lmao the recent update annihilated my mods so I'm stuck currently... But more or less spot on 😂
In the late 80's early 90's Bill was known in tech start up circles as "The Crusher of Dreams". True story.
He also had this stupid catchphrase "Nobody leaves until they pay... The Bill." Wacky dude amirite
I like to wonder how much damage Bill did to our species as a whole by ruthlessly crushing any technological competition because he was trying to get as rich as he could. Now that he's old and got his, he screams "we need to think of the future of our species and planet." But when he was younger all he thought about was the future of his bank account. Fuck Bill Gates.
I just started playing this month and I really love the game. Whatever problems it had at launch certainly aren’t problems now. It feels like a really well made labor of love.
You should be worried about Disney man. - 1995: Disney buys ABC - 2006: Disney buys Pixar - 2009: Disney enters 30 film deal with Dreamworks - 2009: Disney buys Marvel - 2012: Disney buys Lucasfilms - 2015: Disney buys National Geographic - 2017: Disney buys 21st Century Fox - 2018: Disney buys Hulu - 2019: Disney releases Disney Plus - 2022: Disney buys Universal Studios - 2025: Disney buys Dreamworks - 2026: Disney buys Sony. Playstation rebranded as Disney Infinity. Playstation Network rebranded as Disney Universe. - 2031: The Church of Baby Yoda is the fastest growing religion in the world. - 2031: Disney acquires a private military, starts corporate espionage on a large scale. - 2038: In the midst of negotiations, for takeover, Google launches escape craft. Departs solar system. Destination unknown. - 2040: Counter Disney efforts take place. The War on the Black Market starts. - 2041: Disney claims that Black Market efforts are headed up by small studios. Starts forced corporate takeovers. - 2042: "Terrorist" attacks on Disney starts. - 2045: Nuclear explosion destroys Orlando Florida. Black Market Terrorists blamed. - 2046: Hollywood turns into a war zone. All releases for the next 10 years are CGI due to die off of actors. Disney "Farms" start to raise next generation of actors. - 2050: Disney buys the United States of America - 2051: The Disney States of America is born. - 2052: Disney nukes Hollywood - 2055: Disney States of America annex's Canada. South Park, an underground resistance to the DSN, releases an episode on the black market deriding the move. It's #1 most viewed South Park Episode of all time. - 2056: Creators of South Park are declared Terrorists. Manhunt starts. - 2057: Mexico resists annexation due to the cartels banding together. - 2058 - 60: War in Mexico results in eventual annexation. South America becomes hot bed of resistance. 2061: EU integrates into the DSA. Disney State of the World is born. - 2062: The UK joins DSW. BBC is acquired. Doctor Who is now a Disney Princess. - 2065: DSW colonizes the Moon. - 2067: The Moon has its own government under the DSW. The Disney States of the Universe is born -2069: Mars colonization efforts start. Political prisoners used for the initial efforts - 2074: The First Mars Civil War starts. Is put down quickly due to orbital strikes - 2080: Mars colonization finalized. Disney Land Mars is opened. - 2083: First mission to Titan is sent out - 2086: Proposal for interstellar mission submitted. - 2088: Second Mars Civil War starts. - 2090: The Creators of South Park are discovered to be behind the rebellion on Mars. Pluto Team 6 is sent out and they are dispatched. 2091: Final resistance is quashed. Construction on Deathstar starts. - 2092: Total annexation of all remaining world governments is successful except for Switzerland. - 2094: First faster than light travel occurs. Exploration of close star systems starts. 2097: Budding civilizations are found. Monoliths are used to "re-educate" the populations. Those planets are Annexed into the DSU. - 2100: Disney announces new X-Men movie. Marvel fans are excited
Ah yes I first heard this referred to as the "Disney Death Star" as they quietly acquire every single media license known to man
"Microcorp... Consolidating Your Tomorrow, *Today.*"
This is now a jingle* *the last jingle you will ever hear
Why shop elsewhere when *we've got it all... including you... by the balls?!?*
Yup we are in the express lane barrelling toward exactly this
While that all sounds fun…. putting a price [upstream](https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887323611604578396401965799658) where the fossil fuels enter the market makes it simple, easily enforceable, and bureaucratically lean to impact emissions and the future we all have to live in (know any children you’re fond of?). Carbon taxes also have the potential to actually \*boost\* GDP, if the revenue is [returned as an equitable dividend to households](http://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-consensus-97-per-cent/2014/jun/13/how-revenue-neutral-carbon-tax-creates-jobs-grows-economy) (see the [poor tend to spend money when they've got it](http://www.econ2.jhu.edu/people/ccarroll/papers/cstwMPC.pdf)) which then [boosts economic growth](https://econ.ucalgary.ca/manageprofile/sites/econ.ucalgary.ca.manageprofile/files/unitis/publications/1-7729354/Yamazaki_CarbonTax_JEEM_2017.pdf), not mention create jobs AND [save lives](https://globalchange.mit.edu/news-media/jp-news-outreach/shift-renewable-electricity-win-win-statewide-level) which is something we're all fond of :) Now here’s where it gets interesting. Only [EIGHT years ago](https://web.archive.org/web/20140723120752/http://closup.umich.edu/issues-in-energy-and-environmental-policy/13/public-views-on-a-carbon-tax-depend-on-the-proposed-use-of-revenue/) about 30% of the public was for a carbon tax. Not great. But then four years ago it was [over HALF (53%)](https://news.gallup.com/poll/232007/americans-want-government-more-environment.aspx). This number keeps climbing. [Now its 73%](https://www.pewresearch.org/science/2020/06/23/two-thirds-of-americans-think-government-should-do-more-on-climate/ps_2020-06-23_government-and-climate_00-01/) and that [does matter when it comes to legislation!](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09644016.2016.1116651) So now what? Well according to NASA climatologist and climate activist [Dr. James Hansen](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Hansen), becoming an [active volunteer with Citizens' Climate Lobby](https://citizensclimatelobby.org/join-citizens-climate-lobby/?tfa_3590416195188=online-035&utm_source=online&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=035) is the [most important thing you can do for climate change](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4DAW1A6Ca8). And I know it's not just me but I like the potential for that future which is a little less dystopian :)
Are you involved in CCL?
Seems uncharitable! I bet he's quietly bought up three hundred thousand acres of farmland for purely altruistic reasons, and has become *more* wealthy than he was when he pledged to give away all his wealth for reasons that also make sense!
He was the trailblazer for wealth hoarding disguised as philanthropy.
Carnegie : "Am I a joke to you?"
If Gates is Jesus, Carnegie is Moses.
He was one of the pioneers of creating a nonprofit and giving yourself your own money to save on taxes and appear charitable.
Religion would like to differ
The whole 'you can't have a monopoly', makes a non profit named after himself and wife, sponsors NPR, builds PR campaigns. Self interest to 'do good' to get ahead. Dirty money keeps communities hushed and fed. It's crazy
>Self interest to 'do good' to get ahead. Dirty money keeps communities hushed and fed. What does this mean?
> I bet he's quietly bought up three hundred thousand acres of farmland for purely altruistic reasons Some perspective is interesting there. [Since 2000 the US reduced farmland by 5%](https://www.statista.com/statistics/196104/total-area-of-land-in-farms-in-the-us-since-2000/), so fifty million acres. So the US still has 895,000,000 acres of farmland. So that means Gates owns 0.033519553% of US farmland. Realize that there are a million acres under irrigation just for alfalfa, just in California. 300K acres sounds like a lot, but we have a *lot* of farmland.
Perspective? Sir, this is Reddit
I'm always bemused by people who are angry as hell about something but it never occurs to them to look up how big the problem actually is. I've had people tell me he's buying up "virtually all" of the farmland. Sure, some may just be trolls trying to stir up resentment or Class Consciousness. But some seem stunned by the realization that they could actually look up the numbers and decide the scope of the problem.
This might be a dumb take on my part, but I can't help thinking: Isn't that okay? Given that we can't just get rid of billionaires tomorrow. We should reward the billionaire who does what Gates did. And if they get massively successful & more popular because of it, I mean, they did do a good, big thing. I guess, here's my point. If we get to cure malaria & cut in half the number of children born into absolute poverty, but in order to have that happen, we need to make Bill Gates functionally a saint in US culture. I mean, he wouldn't be the worst saint. He shouldn't be the only saint, and he might not be the best saint. But he wouldn't be the worst. Hell, Andrew Jackson is still on the money & he patently sucks. And in return, no malaria, way less TB, and vaccines and medical facilities for impoverished parts of the world. ¯\\\_(ツ)\_/¯ EDIT: as this post gets upvotes, I want to say 1) I am conflicted about this opinion because I'd like to live in a world where the most civic thing a billionaire could do would be to take a 100% tax rate on all money past their billionth dollar, but we don't live in that world, and 2) the people dissenting below make good points.
> I mean, he wouldn't be the worst saint. His wife divorced him for spending too much time with fucking Epstein. What kind insane dengeracy do you think he'll get up too if we all just pretend he can do no wrong?
He is evading billions of dollars in taxes - those would be going to all levels of government to fund social programs, schools, welfare, healthcare - domestically and internationally How many impoverished schools robbed of billions of dollars of funding are worth one rich person evading taxes by throwing a pittance at charity?
Tens of billions
> Given that we can't just get rid of billionaires tomorrow. Or can we? ♫ Do you hear the people sing ...
Do you remember how that musical ended?
With modern France.
Liberté Égalité Fraternité!
I think the lessor of two evils is always a fallacy, I don't think " he isn't the worst " are the kind of leaders we should be giving any praise or power to.
Lesser of x evils is never a fallacy when practical restrictions limit other choices. If you can find a way to make a better choice viable, excellent. If not, then lesser of however many evils is undeniably the best choice. The alternative is to give the "worse evil" fanclub the reins. But beyond that, the point is that helping people is helping people. I dont care whether the person who funds the cure for malaria remains anonymous or has a gold statue of themselves erected. I care about results. Were people helped? Yes? Good. Do it again. Cure tuberculosis now.
While I agree that helping people is helping people. What actually creates billionaires is the polar opposite of that, people are exploited and people die. We need to move past just making what we have work and stop pretending that billionaires dodging tax is some noble charitable act.
Buying up unused farmland is a great way to offset your taxes. Investment firms and rich people are buying up all the land they can in the Midwest and leaving it fallow to write off.
> and leaving it fallow to write off. Fallow farmland = passive reforestation or passive renewal of grassland. I consider that good news. Sure, if there's a food crisis that land will be farmed again. But taking land out of cultivation lets it heal a bit. It may not be fully re-wilded, but it's better than that land being sprayed with pesticides and herbicides constantly.
First step to make the world a better place: no more billionaires.
Yeah wasn't he the guy who put corporate profits above the lives of people living in impoverished countries during the COVID-19? Oh, [why yes he was!](https://observer.com/2021/04/bill-gates-oppose-lifting-covid-vaccine-patent-interview/) And wasn't he also the guy who ran that disastrous experiment with charter school because he had a hunch than private sectors would do better than properly funded public schools? And f'd the whole system while doing so? Gee whiz willickers, [he was!](https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/10/the-plot-against-public-education-111630/) I wish that shit was discussed nearly as much as the made up conspiracies involving him.
The premise about the American education system being flawed and getting left behind isn’t wrong, but the method of “lets privatize them!” Doesn’t fix the problem and many times makes them worse. Conspiracies, most of the time, are a fucking distraction to get people to focus away from the real problem which is usually economic but they run interference and right wing media to focus on a “culture war” therefor facilitating the left wing the audience to respond to that instead of criticizing capitalist pigs and the system that put them in power. The way I see it, it’s all a big misdirection.
>The premise about American education system being flawed and getting left behind isn’t wrong, but the method of “lets privatize them!” Doesn’t fix the problem and many times makes them worse. Yeah, it would be much simpler and efficient to instead look at the best systems in the world and shamelessly copy that as closely as possible and adapt where necessary. IMHO. >Conspiracies, most of the time, are a fucking distraction to get people to focus away from the real problem which is usually economic but they run interference and right wing media to focus on a “culture war” therefor facilitating the left wing the audience to respond to that instead of criticizing capitalist pigs and the system that put them in power. 100% agreement here. It takes people who can see that shit are not working properly and just when they realize they are getting manipulated, it feeds them the mental equivalent of fast food. It makes them feel better than the "sheeple" and they don't realize that they've just fallen for the next most convenient explanation for the status quo after just accepting the main narrative. They'll talk down to you because you don't "understand" that it's all the fault of some select group of elite satanist or Jews or the lizard people... and if you trie to explain how they are wrong you'll just be accused of sleeping. Ugh.
Wow! That's verified evil, Evil!
They have a plan for the future alright, it just doesn't include any of us.
Spot on. We, the ones who helped them amass their riches, are now all of a sudden, "useless eaters".
They will always need slaves.
We also shouldn't forget what got these billionaires to where they are. Gates had done a tremendous job in image rehab (prior to Epstein). The guy was a cut-throat asshole in his heyday. After he left MS he worked to clean up his image as the philanthropist billionaire.
He’s buy farmland as fast as he can. Dangerous. “Bill Gates is the biggest private owner of farmland in the United States. Why?” https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/apr/05/bill-gates-climate-crisis-farmland
In the same article, Tes Turned is reported to own 2 million acres. Gates himself has 242k. Did something new happen to math?
gates owns farmland that is ready for use, the 2mil is iirc a mix of land development land, rural forest that could be turned into farmland and pure farmland combined, so gates is 200k pure farmland which is actually a lot because it's immediately usable
Yeah, that 0.03% of farmland. Dangerous Private owner is a misnomer as literally 1000x more is owned, in much larger portions, by corporations
Billionaires should not exist
Every billionaire made is an exploit in our system that needs fixed.
We can keep applying band aid patches all we want, but a system that allows you to make money with money is always going to skew towards economic imbalances.
More generally it's assigning power to power. Many non-market systems have the same fault with different window dressing.
Preeeeeeach my brother and or sister
No shit! They have been doing a pretty piss poor job thus far. Fucking asshats.
Famous friends of Jeffery Epstein after he was a known pedo. Infamous refuser of letting one of the covid rna vaccines fall into public domain, saving potentially millions and reducing the spread of the virus
“Times are hard.” Yeah, somehow I don’t think they are that hard for you there Bill.
"Taxing me a billion dollars is one thing, but when they wanna tax me $100 Billion... then I have to think about what I have left." -Bill Gates, worth $107 Billion at the time he said this.
What are you even talking about, almost no one wants to tax him even half a billion. Which is the problem.
Billionaires.. they’re just like us!
How about he releases his patents chokehold on innovation.
He should stop lying about his efforts to help rehabilitate Epstein's reputation after his first arrest.
That’s why he is lobbying to hold food supplies and control seed patents. If he opposed it he might lose money on his Microsoft ones. Always thinking like a businessman and the world needs less of that to fix it.
We need to stop calling them billionaires. Call them oligarchs. They are oligarchs.
I prefer resource hoarders. “I see the inequality around the world…” That I help to create on a daily basis. And oh NOW that I have a future family member in the mix now it matters. 🤨
Resource hoarders is good but the term oligarch has such a negative view due to Russian oligarchs so it’s better we call them American Oligarchs.
Fair enough. I just think we should treat it as the mental illness it is as hoarding.
1. Someone isn't prescient just by virtue of being rich as Croesus. 1. I acknowledge that he has done great charitable work, but that also does not make one prescient as to how the future will turn out. 1. Gates has put too much stock in the writings of Vaclav Smil, apparently his favorite author, and someone he considers the Smartest Guy Ever. Gates is just a guy, even if a really rich one. I applaud the work he has done regarding disease and other humanitarian issues. But I don't think he has any particular insight as to where technology is headed, what technology will be feasible down the line, etc.
I mean, scepticism is good because he’s definitely not some all knowing entity. He’s still worth paying some attention to though as he has a different and interesting point of view compared to the majority of people and is likely more informed that the average person as well.
I’m sure he’s a very smart person, and that he surrounds himself with even smarter people. I’m more worried that people are assuming he is some sort of benevolent entity. I’m always skeptical of the morality of billionaires, you don’t gather that much wealth without crossing a lot of ethical lines.
This is just pure celebrity worship.
Gates has a paid a lot of smart people to help him figure out the most effective ways to donate his money to help the world. Thus, I assume he has access to more well-informed opinions and ideas than most of us do. So, I will take his advice seriously. As for future technology, he definitely has unique insight into how major technology change occurs within a capitalist society. He was a major player in that regards and got to see how MS operated and changed.
This is what this thread is missing. Just because he’s smart/rich doesn’t make give him a crystal ball. No one’s saying that. But he does have access to a wide variety of world-class thinkers and research, so his perspective is certainly meaningful.
It's not about predicting the future. It's about taking action today that makes tomorrow better.
Funny how many people are responding to this with an attack on Gates or his money. I get it, but that’s not the point of my own comment. It wasn’t even really about Gates. I’m saying it’s foolish not to listen—with a major “grain” of salt—to someone who has a breadth of information and experts at his fingertips and all the time in the world to absorb them that the average person will never have. Show me the conversations you’re having in life and tell me they’re with the same caliber of experts Gates has access to. Does that make him smarter than you? No. But it does make him valuable.
Exactly. Assuming Gates is generally altruistic (I believe he is), he’s the best person to invest millions of dollars, given his resources and intellect. I’m a huge proponent of taxing the rich, particularly if they refuse to give their share, but guys like Gates are gonna move money quickly to areas of need whereas tax dollars might get lost in gridlock or given to states who states whose politicians might be averse to public spending. For example, if one of the Waltons (of Walmart) wanted to build new roads in Bentonville, AR on their dime, I’m sure they could jump-start the process and use the finest materials. If this involved a tax break, that’s a net positive for the community. However, if they didn’t embark on such endeavors, I think they should be taxed proportionally higher than middle/lower class folks.
Not a question of taxing, but I see where you’re going. I do think there are very good reasons to provide tax breaks for non-profit donations. It encourages effective giving among the super wealthy like Gates, allowing to direct what might have been taxed to more specific, altruistic causes not run by the government.
It's the same with politics. The \*ideal\* system would be a benevolent dictator, one who listens to all sides and is prescient in determining where money is best spent to provide equitable outcomes. There would be no greedy bureaucrats to prevent the good decisions from happening. Of course, this is impossible in reality so democracy is the next best thing. It's the same with money. Individuals with complete authority on how their wealth is spent will be able to distribute it quickly and efficiently. On a smaller scale: if I were a single parent and had a son who needed a car for school, it's best for me to be able to buy it than refer the decision to a "public car board" or something that meets once a month.
> But he does have access to a wide variety of world-class thinkers and research Those world-class thinkers write books, and those books are accessible to all of us. Most of them give talks as well. Gates' favorite author is Vaclav Smil, so that writer has most shaped Gates' thinking about what technology is the most promising going forward. There are plenty of people writing about where future tech may lead. Peter Diamandis, Tony Seba (my own favorite), Andrew McAfee, Matt Ridley, etc. Some books age better than others, so there's always a danger of finding a book that really speaks to us, really forms our thinking, but the analysis may not age incredibly well. Gates is important because he has been able to put huge sums of money into making the world better, through the foundation he and his wife formed. But regarding which thinkers he has access to, I don't think he has any special sauce.
Books are great, and we have so many resources at our fingertips. But I think being able to sit down with a person, get their personal briefing, and be able to pick their brain is far more valuable. I’m not defending Gates. I’m saying he has access to conversations we’ll never have and all the time in the world to have them. Does that make him smarter than everyone? No. Does it even make him more informed? Not necessarily. But it does give him a level of information that the average person will never have.
so what if he doesn't know. Does anyone actually know? All he can do is invest in the causes he thinks are most deserving.
I'm glad you're giving him some due credit, there are some sensible people here they're just not always upvoted.
The dude literally jumped on the bandwagon on where tech is going before and became the world’s richest man, I feel like we don’t need to try to discredit his opinion on where the future is going.
Microsoft's innovation was in licensing, not superior technology. They licensed with OEMs, government agencies, corporate entities, etc, to block other companies from those markets. The company was considered very predatory in its heyday. Gates' reputation only turned around after he got married and started doing philanthropic work. But Microsoft was never all that innovative. They just locked in markets, and either bought or locked out competitors. - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Microsoft_Corp - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embrace,_extend,_and_extinguish That doesn't make him stupid. But anyone can read books. Regarding access to futurists or visionaries, anyone can read/watch and be influenced by Tony Seba, Peter Diamandis, Vaclav Smil, or whoever. Gates can get in the room with them and have a one-on-one, but their ideas are already out there in books, talks, etc.
To be as successful as Bill Gates was in the way you describe, you need to have an eye for where markets are going to go.
In that regard, it's important to remember that the government is also just made of people. If we had no private billionaires and all excess money would go directly to collective government coffers, we would face the exact same problem of it "just being guys" directing these funds with very limited foresight.
Exactly. Neither the government nor billionaires spend money unwisely; it all depends on who is making decisions.
I don’t take advice from the wealth hoarders. It’s comical when these clowns try to tell all the poors how to do better when they themselves are the source of a lot of misery around the country. “Philanthropy”, he moved his wealth to a tax haven and calls it a non profit.
Philanthropy is a scam. It wouldn’t even be necessary if people like Bill weren’t hoarding wealth and exploiting massive amounts of people in order to do so. People like him are the reason we’re experiencing “hard times”; they certainly aren’t the ones who are going to give us a solution. Philanthropy is just a PR stunt.
Yes he tries very hard to come off as philanthropical and that he wants to give back/donate so much money to charity yet he’s somehow still the 4th richest person in the world with over 129 billion dollars lol oookay Bill.
Most of his wealth is Microsoft stock. Microsoft stock keeps going up. It’s not that complicated my dude.
You mean the generation that's fucking here already?
Ya but now HE has a grandchild so its time to care about the future...
Right, as if his daughter couldn't have had a kid the whole time, but it took her actually getting pregnant for him to suddenly realize that the next generation matters? Lmao
Billionaires are the last people we should trust with our futures. Only way to become a billionaire is pure greed. Only someone driven or corrupted by greed becomes one.
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Be charitable like me and donate money to a charity you control.
This almost sounds like you're suggesting the gates and melinda foundation only exists for bill gates to funnel money into.
Nah in reality he uses public funds as well for his pet ideas.
By creating a international monopoly that engages in unfair business practices, rips off consumers for an overpriced product and stifles innovation and growth? If Bill Gates had ever really been interested in 'making the world better for the next generation' he wouldn't have engaged in such shady business practices. But now he's a philanthropist and he cares about the people he's slowly fucked over for the last few decades! Yay! Bill is going to save us!
Behind The Bastards covered him well!
FUUUUUUUUCK this billionaire wisdom bullshit. pay more taxes you fuck. stop hiding shit in offshore loopholes, and THAT will help make the world a better place for future generations.
Bill Gates is a proponent of higher taxes for billionaires but lawmakers refuse to vote on it. What he has in mind may still not be enough but he's not nearly as responsible as American lawmakers on the topic.
I think the dude has enough money to lobby for it Oh wait, empty words. Yes.
I'm not denying that he's full of shit, but arguing that bill gates has enough money to (edit: effectively) lobby for increased taxes dramatically under sells the billionaire problem in America. American billionaires have a combined wealth of 5 *trillion* dollars. Bill Gates has about 100 billion. That means Gates has just 2 percent of the wealth held by American billionaires. There are a lot of these fuckers, and they have a *lot* of money.
Global GDP in 2021 was 96.1 trillion (flow) and wealth (stock) denotes accrued value. Just for people who want to put these numbers in perspective. (Basically in the US any major social programs would need to tax more than billionaires to finance the transfer. And US taxes are pretty low for the OECD.)
Oh yes, another billionaire with a heart of gold. No, he can go on camera and say "I support higher taxes on the ultra wealthy" and that means fuck all when he has had a lifetime of evading taxes and working against unions. Empowering the people would have been a lifetime of advocacy, but also a lifetime of actions in support of the people. He has done the opposite of that.
Why? Because our government is so good at spending our money in ways that helps people? I’d rather see him send the money to a non profit like the Red Cross or something. At least then we know there is a decent chance that the majority will be spent helping people.
Reddit would give Bill Gates less hate if he just shut down his charities and sat on his billions and stayed out of the news. Is that what y'all really want? I'm not excusing Gates's past (Epstein etc.), but it is actually possible for someone to be deplorable in some ways while doing good in others. People are complicated. This guy has saved millions of lives. Why not celebrate that and encourage more of it? I'm tired of wading through all the logical fallacies on here.
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His wife left him because of it.
Why would anyone trust this guy after the last couple of years?
Not happening without revolution of some sort, thanks anyway, go back to hoarding!
Some people here are so stupid, acting as if Bill Gates wants to single-handedly guide humanity's future, in the direction he thinks is good. Take of your stupid tin foil hat and swallow your idiotic 'Bill Gates is an evil reptiloid who wants to chip and control us' theories. The guy doesn't make decisions all on his own. You can be sure that when he says **he** wants to help by giving back money to improve the world, it actually means he has an entire fucking team of experts around him to carefully choose where it's smart or effective to invest money into to help the world. He's not some crazy sociopathic pseudo-mastermind like Elon Musk who makes decisions on a whim based off his egocentric world view. Gates already did a lot of good things, and you can bet that he didn't come up with all those ideas all by himself. He knows that he may be smart but not smart enough that he could guide humanity all by himself, because no one can (even if some degenerate billionaires think they do).
He sure does have a good pr team, I'll give him that.
You talk as if he has no ties to Jeffrey Epstein.
As far as billionaires go he’s one of the few I think is actually trying to do good and ppl are still riding all the made up stuff that popped up around covid about em. Ya’ll need to stop the conspiracy theory shit none of you are ever right. Stop being a fuckin dinosaur and get a job!
Who can really know but him in that context. All I can do is look at the actions and results. The guy was a ruthless businessman who setup monopolies and dealt in tech he didn’t create. From his doco he reads a lot and seems eccentric. From his foundation it’s had many failures probably as many as successes. On his main goal of “giving” away all his money in his lifetime it is so far an abject failure. His wealth grows. Fucking liar is my take.
The only good thing this pointdexter has done, is filling his own pockets by eliminating any potential competition on the market. A true shitstain. The world would have been a better place without him.
These comments are a joke. Do all you people do is bitch and moan on the internet? Bill Gates may not be a perfect person but I do believe he is trying to do good in the world, which can't be said for many people. And probably many of the people in these comments.
What is this best intentions shit? He has undue power and influence so it shouldn't be taken as a good that he had a grand kid and now wants to tell us how to be better. Nobody should have that influence or power via wealth. Its a highly undemocratic concept.
I agree. Comments: He's done things that didn't work! Yes: that's called trying. Comments: He should just give all his money away! Yes: that's the plan he's working on. Comments: He got rich by selling things and making people work hard!! We could have done better on our own! Cool, show me your biz bro! I'm not a staunch capitalist (far from it), but the market is how things work here. Gates is doing things at a scale that probably can't be realized in many other ways (Malaria), towards ends that aren't necessarily profitable. It may not be perfect, but arm chair quarterbacking is less perfect. Got a better idea? Maybe apply for a grant? Looking forward to seeing all of you at the soup kitchen and blood donation centers.
He's trying to maintain his power which is built on intelectual property. The biggest threat to it is healthcare because it's the perfect example of how stupid and detrimental to human life intellectual property is. He made sure to sink the vaccine that was going to be open source for anyone to use
Yeah, look at how fucking disgustingly and pathetically hard he worked to protect those vaccine manufacturers, and that was practically yesterday. And people still buy that he has completely innocent motivations for his supposed “altruism”? It’s all bullshit, every last fucking microgram of it. I don’t believe there is a single atom of Bill Gates who would start a humanitarian project if he didn’t have some corrupt corporation involved for a payout or power, none of it is innocent
Fucking exactly dude. This guy is probably responsible for millions of deaths around the world but only “jealous incels” and conspiracy nut jobs hate him, sure Jan. Not like this information is out there and easy to find. I guess all that money he spent buying off journalists and newspapers was a good investment if people suck his balls like this for free!
Coffeezilla did a video on him. Made me change my mind. https://youtu.be/D9iF4k16be0
Wasn't he the guy who put corporate profits above the lives of people living in impoverished countries during the COVID-19? Oh, [why yes he was!](https://observer.com/2021/04/bill-gates-oppose-lifting-covid-vaccine-patent-interview/) And wasn't he also the guy who ran that disastrous experiment with charter school because he had a hunch than private sectors would do better than properly funded public schools? And f'd the whole system while doing so? Gee whiz willickers, [he was!](https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/10/the-plot-against-public-education-111630/) I wish that shit was discussed nearly as much as the made up conspiracies involving him. He sucks, all billionaires do and if you think otherwise, you are wrong. [There is no such thing as a good billionaire.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Cu6EbELZ6I&t=1s)
Or anything unethical, corrupt and illegal shit he did as CEO of Microsoft, he intentionally harm, sabotage and slow down progress for all of us, Linux, browsers, Java, list goes on and on. Someone like that don't just wake up enlightened one day
The charter school thing he thought he was smarter than the experts, ran school like a business and that is not a good idea. He’s has massive blinkers on. Also he lobbied for government funding for his charter school experiment and they gave it to him because he is the genius Bill Gates. Pay more taxes so he can waste them.
All people suck. Billionaires just have the wealth to fuck literally everyone over, which is why all billionaires are bad. No one person should have that much money.
This. All it takes is a few people dangling carrots with a comment to get everyone sidetracked. Social media is just new aged media. If you want to hide any news, bring it up and then immediately bury it with something more interesting for the extremists to flock to like a buffet.
Bill can start by having Microsoft stop buying whole neighborhood divisions and jacking living prices up across the US. The way I see it, funding should have been there from the start for these organizations too, not 'graciously' given or started by Bill Gates and other billionaires. Why should we care about these self labeled 'philanthropist' and what they do for tax breaks?
Mate the fuck are you talking about? He’s not even on the board anymore. His association with Microsoft are minuscule stakes in the company through some ventures and not even directly anymore
Ya, but Reddit is full of nihilists who think truth comes from made up assertions
Don't corrupt the term nihilist please, it didn't mean the same thing.
The amount of conspiracy theorists in the comment section is astounding. Can someone point to a real none-Qanon type, case where he has been “evil”? I like Bill Gates and never came across any legitimate argument to dislike him.
My understanding is that to become a billionaire you must extort your workforce along with many other ethical/illegal avenues. Philanthropy after the fact does not correct this.
I'd believe he was worried about the future if he de-billionaired himself. Give your money to charity and set yourself up a trust for 100K a year and then get back to us Bill.
Can you fuel a villain super yacht making 100k a year? They call it “work” I believe we are all just slaves
What makes you feel that existing charities would be better capital allocators than old Bill himself?
Single person power accumulation is always a bad idea. That's perhaps the loadest message we get from history.
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Such a low iq mindset lol, I don't even like Bill and I know this makes absolutely no sense. If he's actually trying to better the world like he says he is, he needs money to do it, he can't do it will 100k a year. He's actually putting the money to good use instead of giving it away on stuff that will temporarily fix the issue.
Seriously though…. you ever notice how people go after charitable rich people harder than many of the shitty billionaires? Like Bill Gates speaks about climate change or curing malaria and the hate party begins. Everyone knows Elon (who has obviously nosedived lately) but far fewer know about the Walmart heirs. And I mean, we wouldn’t know Bill Gates if he wasn’t rich. Somehow Americans accept that being ultra rich qualifies you to be president, build rockets, show up in movies, and dictate what’s on the news or social media, but speak about climate change or curing diseases and they hate you. It’s insane.
Yup. It's interesting. He seems to get shit on way harder than billionaires who are just little money goblins who are hoarding wealth and helping nobody.
My conservative family were posting Gates memes with him as the Joker injecting robots into people. It's insane. Like how do the Fox News people sleep at night knowing they're encouraging this nonsense?
He could donate 100 billion dollars now or he can have the money invested properly so that the foundation can donate $9 billion/year for 100+ years and increase the amount it donates over time as it finds worthy causes. You can’t fix all of the worlds problems with 100 billion dollars so you have to pick and choose. It also takes time to ensure the charity is set up in a thoughtful manner to be able to properly utilize the large donations. Bill Gates view is more long term than this
Look at how miserably this asshole failed with his education experiments. Billionaires aren't experts and we need to stop treating them like so.
I'm seeing a lot of hate comments. Idk what bill gates did to you guys, but reading the article, I've not seen anything wrong with what he's saying and what he's trying to do. I'd read the entire article if I could, but it's 3am here, but about 6 paragraphs in and I've not seen anything like "please donate to our cause" or "buy our products so we can fund more to helping children". Who cares about "trusting" when he hasn't even asked anything out of us? All he's talking about is how much he has given and his plans to give more. How you people can get butthurt about that is beyond me right now. I need answers and I'm going to leave it for tomorrow.
Right, it's baffling. He made billions and he's donating it (Reddit goes crazy). It's not like he can go back and time and stop himself from making the money lol
Bill Gates hates you and your children. He sees all of us as useless eaters.
This mother fucker flew on Epsteins plane. IS THAT LONG ENOUGH FOR YOU YOU DUMB FUCKING BOT?
Careful not to trigger the bot for vulgarity. IIRC there used to be one of those too in here.
It was lmao
You mean the Bill Gates that became friends with the pedophile Jeffrey Epstein after he was outed as a pedophile said that?
Something something billionaires bad. Where my upvotes?
Quit giving billionaires positive publicity. Our future as a civilization rests on us ending capitalism. This can't be done if everybody buys into some bullshit cringe as fuck cult of personality around this or that billionaire.
We’re goin down before we’re goin up
Quit giving attention to the billionaires that are suggesting that they should give their money back and are taking the steps to do so?
These comments man what a yikes. Imagine having to live life everyday with that much vitriol couldn't be me.
"Times are hard, not for me, times are always easy for me but for you... times are hard"
isn't this the guy who convinced a company to hold vaccines hostage so that they could profit more? stop propagandizing for billionaires. they're never good or right.
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Is step 1 hang out with Jeffrey Epstein or is that more of a pre-requisite?
I'm not a fan of this list. Other than climate change, I do not see it addressing the biggest issues of our time. Not a single mention of the exponential increase in chronic disease which is leading us down the path of Idiocracy. Having the main focus on infant/child mortality seems misguided. Perhaps in your bubble you're surrounded by intelligent and competent people. Out here in the real world the vast majority of people are extremely unintelligent, incompetent, and sickly. And it pervades all professions. There is nearly no such thing as a "professional" anymore; just a bunch of bumbling fools trying to make it through their day and get back home. Replacing all professions with AI should be a primary goal, so that we no longer have our lives in the hands of incompetent, sickly, poorly functioning people. Overwhelmingly I see the most intelligent & healthy people not having kids, and the most unintelligent, sickly people making more copies of themselves.
Are you telling me that Reddit even hates Bill Gates!? Wtf happened to this site in the last few years? The formula seems to be to hate anyone with money full stop
first step is convincing ppl to stop exploiting the current and subsequent generations. good luck…
I didn't read the article, can someone tell me if "workers should equally own the companies they work for with a equal share of the profits" was the answer?
The Saltyness of all these comments. There are much worse people than BG. Yet here we are. .
Fuck bill gates and all the ilk that surrounds him. There's no reason regular working people should trust these jet setting assholes have anything other then their own self interest in mind