Bill Gates retires

[jdk]

My point is that the money would be better spent creating jobs by helping business start ups. I don't like charities and think most of them are scams with one of them being an exemption, Salvation Army.

Just remember the Chinese Proverb
"Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach him how to fish and he will eat for a lifetime."

Very true. But you can tell those who try and those who do not.

 

[ksinclair]

> My point is that the money would be better spent creating jobs by helping
> business start ups. I don't like charities and think most of them are scams
> with one of them being an exemption, Salvation Army.

Very true. Its not hard to start a nonprofit. And despite the rules, many are just fronts. Someone working at a nonprofit once told me that the only difference between a non-profit and a for-profit is a few lines on the tax return. If you go to some nonprofits esp. based in Washington and you see them driving Mercedes and having big expense accounts, etc then it gets clearer. I think a good guideline is, if you are donating money, don't donate to a nonprofit unless 90% of its income goes directly to programs, as opposed to the wallets of those who work there.

So the challenge for Gates is to spend his money wisely. I have a feeling he will be very thorough about that.

> Just remember the Chinese Proverb:
> "Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day.
> Teach him how to fish and he will eat for a lifetime."

So maybe we can say, that Bill Gates taught the masses how to compute!

Now, if only someone could teach the masses how to think.

Kevin

 

[dodo1]

The difference is that Bill Gates doesn't simply give his money away to charities. Together with his wife he runs the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and therefore it is them who have the say as to how the money will be spent. This, in combination with his good education and his high-level contacts in business, politics and science, will yield sustained returns for those in need of help.

 

[DomainMagnate]

It was kinda sad to see he's not on top of Forbes list any more. I felt bad for him :\

 

[Poker]

If Bill spends it well (and however he spends it is up to him) he will be doing what we all should strive to do - take (by earning it legally) as much money as we can from people that waste it and spread it around to people that need it

 

[H2FC]

I cannot think of a better use of the Gate Billions$$ than to put them to work solving our world's dirty energy shortage problems with the development and implementation of clean alternative fuels. This is the most urgent need facing our world today and it is one that is certain to cause even more expense and hardship to all of the world's people if we continue our dependence on dirty fossil fuels for energy.

I hope Bill Gates will swing his leadership and fortune behind such an effort. It would serve mankind better than any other I know of.