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The Microsoft Millionaires Come of Age
iseff writes "The NYTimes is running a story about the ways in which Microsoft millionaires are putting their money to use. According to the story, there is somewhere around 10,000 Microsoft made millionaires spending money on various pet projects. For example, former programmer Chris Peters bought the PBA (Professional Bowlers Association), while Stephanie DeVaan founded a political action committee and Rich Tong founded Ignition Partners, a VC firm."
how nobody spends their money in ways that could help others. Microsoft alone could solve the world's hunger problems. They could cure all the curable diseases. They could save the 33,000 kids that are dying every day because they're hungry.
Okay, okay, we all know MS doesn't give a flying piece of bird crap about people, no matter who they are. But still, it's really sick to see some of the things on which they spend their money...
If I were a millionaire, I'd probably do the same thing. So call me a hyprocrite. It just makes me feel sick.
Those crooks should have their money taken away from them.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
You are an idiot.
A blog like any other.
Along with over $25 billion to charitable causes. [...] He deserves the house, I say.
Giving to charity in order to make up for bad business conduct, a bad reputation, and/or illegal conduct has a long, long history.
Remember kids, economics is not a zero-sum game. This is how wealth is created.
Wealth is created when new technology creates new value. Microsoft did not create new technology, they simply took over markets and technologies of other companies.
My first computer cost $2500 - if I had bought MSFT at that time, and sold it at the peak, I'd be a MSFT millionaire too (just not as an employee).
And if you had bought a winning lottery ticket, you'd be a millionaire, too.
Yup, hard work, good luck, and the lack of brutal warlords means anyone in the US can make millions
Of course, hard work and good luck allow anyone in Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, and Russia can make millions, too--like the brutal warlords themselves.
As far as the US is concerned, the key point in your statement is "good luck". The vast majority of people who work hard (often double jobs) will remain poor.
If you made money in the US economy (I did) consider yourself lucky; don't ever make the mistake of believing that you did it through hard work. At best, it is a huge reward for a special skill you have.
(And, yes, in the case of Microsoft, it is our money, like the thousands of dollars of unwanted Windows licenses I have ended up paying for for machines that don't even run Windows.)
Unfortunately, it seems that most of us have somehow gotten so wrapped up in our silly little arguments about which browser is better to be able to care.
I care a lot, as do lots of other people. That is why I object to Gates-style philanthropy in principle. Monopolizing a market, siphoning hundreds of billions out of the economy, and then aggrandizing oneself by giving back a small fraction of that is not an efficient way so help third world nations.
If Microsoft had not killed dozens of innovative companies and imposed enormous unnecessary costs on businesses, Zimbabwe might well be getting a lot more money than it is now, both from private donations as well as from tax revenues.
Of course, given that Microsoft is a convicted monopolist and doing what it is doing, I prefer them to donate money to worthy causes. But that doesn't excuse or justify Microsoft's past or current behavior. Gates is behaving just like the so-called "robber barons" a century earlier.
you're just glad that somebody's doing something.
There are thousands of dedicated volunteers, and billions of dollars of donations and government funds flowing into HIV prevention and care. But the only thing that you recognize is when Gates writes a big check in his comfy mansion. Your arrogance and thoughtlessness is disgusting.