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Billionaires gone wild

Started by Asmodean Prime, June 22, 2006, 10:19:32 AM

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Asmodean Prime

Ok, now that I caught your attention (snappy title, eh?), it's time to heap praise on one particular billionaire...one of the richest; Bill Gates. While so many with wealth focus on hedonistic endeavors, Gates and his wife, Melissa have focused on giving back...and in a big way. Their foundation has been praised around the world for innovative thinking and leadership.

Today, Gates announced a two year transition away from Microsoft, so that he can focus all of his energy on the foundation.

http://www.gatesfoundation.org/default.htm

I admire Bill Gates. He is not afraid to embrace bold thinking in tackling what seem to be intransigent problems. He is willing to fall flat on his face, and get up again, as was demonstrated in one of his first philanthropic misadventures, a rehabilitation of a Denver high school. Subsequently, there have been many successes...and it is not going very far out on the limb to predict many more in the years to come.

Perhaps his leadership will set an example for the wealth accumulators of the world...sometimes wealth can be measured in the lives you touch, and not the dollars you count.

Whitney

#1
here's another article I found on it in a email subscription thing I get from submitting links to search engines:

Gates Announces Semi-Retirement Full Article: http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/topne ... ement.html

Though Gates will continue to serve as the company's chairman and advisor on key development projects, but the majority of his time will be devoted to global health and education, the focus of Gates' nonprofit Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

"This was a hard decision for me," Gates added. "I'm very lucky to have two passions that I feel are so important and so challenging. As I prepare for this change, I firmly believe the road ahead for Microsoft is as bright as ever." Gates said. "I remain fully committed and full time at Microsoft through June 2008 and will be working side by side with Ray and Craig to ensure that a smooth transition occurs."


It's good to see that some people with a lot of money are doing something to give back to the community. This also puts a damper on the theistic claims that atheists don't do or care about charity work.

Jassman

#2
Chris, could you edit your first post to shorten the link that stretched the page's width?

Warren Buffett is going to be donating something like 38 billion dollars to the Gates Foundation. This is amazing stuff, I'm excited to see the difference a few extremely rich and philanthropic people can make on our world.

Here's a link to the Penn Radio episode that talks about it:

http://podcast.penn.freefm.com/penn/18400.mp3
[size=75]"You ever notice how people who believe in creationism look really unevolved?" -Bill Hicks[/size]

[size=75]I'm drowning in the fear of gods. The more I see the less I want. I was not raised

Asmodean Prime

#3
Jassman, I don't know how to do that, so I just deleted the link.  It did not stretch the page for me, or I would have made a change previously.

In hindsight, it does not appear that the Gates transition was unrelated.  It was probably a pre-condition of the Buffett largesse....and perfectly reasonable on his part.

Whitney

#4
to make a link smaller the code is:

[url=put link here]Title of link here[/url]

I hadn't really noticed it streatching the page before (i typically keep my browser at full screen), otherwise I would have fixed if for you.[code]

JNTB

#5
Although we can drool over all amazing billions of dollars that Bill Gates and Warren Buffet have donated to charity, the fact is that the money donated by the two richest Americans (and two of the top 5 richest people in the world) wouldn't put a dent into the national debt of the USA.

The national debt is about $29,000 for every man, woman and child in the USA  (approximate population of 300,000,000 people). Divide the debt by only adults who earn an income and the situation gets worse. Does everyone have $29K per family member hanging around in a savings account? I can pay my share, but I don't have enough to cough up for my daughter.

The economy is teetering on the edge of disaster.

National Debt Clock
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