Warren Buffett drops nearly $37 billion in to Gate's Foundation.

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This guy must have seen his fate after death or something, because he's giving nearly $37 billion of his money to the world's richest man's fondations for world health and education.

Read the full story here: msnbc.msn.com

All I have to say is, It's about time the rich folk of the world make a *very* hearty contribution like this!

 

Where do you think all the money in foundations comes from? It certainly doesn't come from the poor.

Most of the filthy rich would rather give their money away than have the government get it in death taxes. Makes sense to me.

 

Actually, most of the filthy rich prefer to put their money in off shore tax shelters. They also have a lot of other legal (though very questionable) ways to avoid most of the bite of the inheritance tax at their disposal. While I can't afford an estate planner (and likely will not need one), the filthy rich most certainly can and will certainly hire one.

[ June 28, 2006, 22:58: Message edited by: Drew ]

 

Drew's distate for the richs' tax evasion aside, I think what Buffett is doing is possibly the most sensiable and honorable thing anyone could do. Gates has a history of donating to the needy and has much experience in dealing with massive quantities of money, there is nobody more suited to handling such a massive donation - he certainly isn't going to steal it.

 

I find it incredibly honorable, especially for the "I don't like dynasties" factor. When you think about it, it's really the only honorable thing to do when one becomes that rich, yet the reason this is such a big deal is because it NEVER happens. Sure, the super-rich donate to charity here and there, have foundations set up in their name, get a school or children's hospital named after them, etc. But Buffett isn't doing that. Not only is he giving away almost his entire fortune, just leaving enough for his kids so that they'll be taken care of an never want for anything, but he's doing it in a very modest way, IMO.

There comes a point where you become so rich that you couldn't possibly spend or need all the money you've accumulated. It's at that point where I believe we as human beings are obligated to give back to help our fellow man. Buffett's example here is an amazingly generous one that I sadly acknowledge will be scarcely followed. Don't expect to hear of any more generous billionaires any time soon.

 

I also heard rumors that Gates is planning on moving away from being the head go to guy for Microsoft so he can devote more of his time to his foundation.

IMO, Gates should set aside 50% of the money to give the struggling US schools a shot of life, and use the other 50% for research for cures for disseases...starting with Asthma so I can breathe normally once again.

 

The richest people in the world donate a higher percentage of their income to charities than the middle-class.

 

Rich people are not all necessarily evil. I find the general bad opinion people have of the rich to be mostly sour grapes.

 

because they can afford to, although it isn't quite that simple either. When factoring in assets, the wealthy actually donate the least. Most of the "income" of the wealthiest of our societies doesn't actually come in the form of "income". It's in stocks, real estate, bonds, etc. Income isn't the guiding factor in determining wealth. Most of our wealthy make far more money investing than they ever get from their salaries. http://www.nptrust.org/images/Generic/WSJ_042204.pdf

[ July 09, 2006, 03:38: Message edited by: Drew ]

 

Of course they do. The highest salaried people pay almost 50% of their income in taxes. Investments are not taxed anywhere near that high (and in fact, some laws such as the 1031 exchange allow an investor to totally avoid taxes).

Most of the wealthiest people aren't employees at all. And, a sizable percentage of the ones that are are employees of their own company.

About income being the guiding factor of determining wealth: Anyone who works for a living is middle class. I don't care if you make minimum wage or you're the CEO of Exxon. If you can afford to quit your job and can live indefinitely on residual income, then you are wealthy.