"I realized about 10 years ago that my wealth has to go back to society," Bill Gates has been quoted as saying. "A fortune, the size of which is hard to imagine, is best not passed on to one's children. It's not constructive for them."

The billionaire is leaving his children $10 million dollars each and the rest of his fortune to other causes, (not sure which)

what do you think? is he doing the right thing?


I think he is...

...
[Edited 10/21/05 10:39am]

is 2the9s using Mac?

yes

abierman said:

no, 9s thinks a Mac is something you wear...

anyhow..

shausler said:

Hey Shaus!

LleeLlee said:

i thought it was a sammich? like a BIG mac???

abierman said:

MAC Viva Glam

LleeLlee said:

what was the question?

i don't get this thread. what does bill gates have to do with sandwiches???

XxAxX said:

that too. What do you think of the question X?

...
[Edited 10/21/05 10:43am]

BinaryJustin said:

Yeah yeah...!!!!!

LleeLlee said:

hey kiddo

I think he's doing the right thing. $10 million makes them completely financially independent. They can live very comfortably without having to worry about a thing. If they want luxury beyond that - which seems unnecessary - then they have to earn it.

It's like the Rausing family (one of the wealthiest in Sweden) recently said: "Financial wealth above a certain level should be viewed as a tool to benefit the world". Some criticize Gates for making his contributions to charity so publicly (as if though it was actually the praise he was really after and not the good cause in itself). I don't care in the slightest though if he so has huge cermonies every time, as long as he actually does donate the money.

abierman said:

Is Bill Gates bequeathing 0nly $10 million dollars to his kids and not more or all of his fortune right or wrong?

XxAxX said:

nowt! it went of track but I am reigning it in. trying anyway

LleeLlee said:

what about the Whopper? Does 9s like those???

retina said:

I agree, they can live comfortably for the rest of their lives. sharing the kind of wealth he has is going to benefit society rather than his children buying their 10th Rolls Royce.

abierman said:

9s only has liquid food abierman. he doesn't have any teeth.

"How much is enough for your children? Bill Gates said, "One thing’s for sure, I won’t give my heirs a lot of money because I know it wouldn’t be good for them." I know what you’re thinking; a little bit of Gate’s wealth is a lot of money. I like Warren Buffet’s perspective best: "I want to give my kids enough so that they could feel that they could do anything, but not so much that they could do nothing."

LleeLlee said:

i think so. i think 10 million is enough for a person to slack off for awhile and figure out what they want to do with themselves. how much does a person really need to spend in their life time?

actually i think there should be limits on how much wealth any individual should own.

because at some points the wealth starts generating its own wealth at a rate which is disproportionate to any actual contribution to society the owner of said wealth may have made.

10 mil to his kids? more than generous, imo

abierman said:

a person can buy a lot of sandwiches for 10 mil

brownsugar said:

Agreed. I think that it all becomes meaningless when you know you can buy/have anything you want..

LleeLlee said:

maybe thats why some rich people have all those mental problems.

XxAxX said:

True, but I cant see there ever being a cap on earnings for the very rich.

....
[Edited 10/21/05 11:12am]

LleeLlee said:

oh i know. they make the rules about these things.


besides it wouldn't be sportin'

MUCH better to have 5% of the population controlling 95% of the total planetary wealth

brownsugar said:

yep, maybe money corrupts. I wouldnt mind having $10 million at my disposal though

Sometimes I wonder what it's like to get a lot of money without having earned it. Whatever you decide to do, people will think you just managed to do it because of the money. You can get a great job - "It's the money that bought him a good education and got him the right connections!". You can meet a nice woman - "She's only in it for the money!". You can become a succesful artist - "Yeah? Well I would have become succesful too if I'd only had the money to focus on my art!". And so on and so forth. I bet having wealth feels great, but it can probably be a curse too.

XxAxX said:

wealth is supposed to trickle down apparently. Well I dont see any trickling!

LleeLlee said:

that's because wealth begins to generate wealth that has nothing to do with value. our current monetary systems are set up so that those who own wealth can easily make more, and ironically because other people don't have wealth. interest on loans, etc.


imo wealth SHOULD reflect value which SHOULD reflect contributions made by an individual. but it doesn't work that way.....