Anand Giridharidas's book, "Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World" is an excellent commentary on this state of affairs. He particularly takes on the act of massive charities (Gates, Buffet etc) because the acts by which a few individuals make a lot of money are precisely the ones that have screwed up society so bad. We should not look at philanthropists so kindly.
Whatever man...<p>> So, the Series B Investors are giving 10% of our shares in this round to the people in the reddit community, and I hope we increase community ownership over time. [1]<p>[1] <a href="https://blog.samaltman.com/reddit" rel="nofollow">https://blog.samaltman.com/reddit</a>
> "While there is no enforcement in place to ensure pledge members follow through on their promise, the Giving Pledge educates them on ways they can make their donation, which is seen as “public, moral commitment."<p>How hard is it for the ultra-rich to simply cut a check every year to a charitable organization they didn't invent as a tax vehicle, at a time of incredible suffering globally through conflict or natural disasters?<p>Medecins Sans Frontieres, World Vision, the Red Cross --- all these orgs engaged in active disaster responses are almost entirely funded by regular people like you and me making a charitable donation.<p>Why do the rich need this dog and pony show?<p>Regular Americans on regular salaries manage to scrounge up a few bucks each year to give to food banks, or help provide kids with school supplies, or other forms of mutual aid . They don't have articles written about them.
The Giving Pledge exist for one reason and one reason only. To avoid the discussion of an immediate and real billionaire tax. It's just a tax optimization strategy. Why don't we all defer our taxes with a pledge a 99% tax donation to the IRS...after our deaths?<p><a href="https://www.inc.com/geoffrey-james/bill-gates-promised-to-give-away-his-wealth-well-that-was-bs.html" rel="nofollow">https://www.inc.com/geoffrey-james/bill-gates-promised-to-gi...</a>
"Bill Gates Promised to Give Away His Wealth. Well, That Was BS":<p>"When he made the pledge in 2010, his net worth was $53 billion. Ten years later, his net worth is $115 billion. Bill Gates is 64 years old, so at this rate, he'll be worth $250 billion or more by the time he's supposed to have given away at least half his wealth.<p>Same thing with Warren Buffett, only much worse. In 2010, his net worth was $39 billion; today, his net worth is $82 billion. Buffett is 90 years old, so if he's planning on giving away at least half his wealth, he'd damn better well get crackin'!"
Yeah, ok, give me a call when that wealth has actually been put to good use, not when Sam “Not Even Sorry For Sexually Abusing My Sister” Altman claims it might possibly be in the future.
i dont think people care where his money ends up when he dies<p>people probably care more about how he gets that money, and what he spends his life doing
Can we stop allowing the richest billionaires in societies decide who is and isn't deserving of philanthropic funds?<p>Fair taxation and properly funded services paid for by directly elected governments, please.