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Bill Gates Donates $258 Million to Fight Malaria
klubar writes to tell us that Bill Gates has donated approximately $258 million to fight malaria. From the article: "Malaria research accounts for about one-third of 1 percent of the total amount of money spent on medical research and development, even though it accounts for 3 percent of all the productive years of life lost to diseases, according to a report released Sunday." Gates was quoted saying "The report confirms what has been clear, and that is that the world isn't investing nearly enough in malaria R&D."
Why more research? We already know that DDT is extremely effective against malaria-bearing mosquitoes. We should just start whipping up huge batches of DDT to send to Africa.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed are not necessarily my own, as I've not yet had my medication today.
I doubt he even needs to take the tax writeoff. He DOES has 234 quadrillian dollars.
Also, does he even make that much salary that he would need to take the tax writeoff? Most wealthy people find ways around paying majority of their taxes. A lot of Bill's money/income is in stock, which I don't think is taxed until he liquidates.
You mean American soldiers in Iraq? Goodness, I didn't realize they'd been killed by Halliburton, Bechtel et cetera. I thought it was random Iraqi or import Arab thugs with bombs and stuff. I guess that's what comes from reading the lying news reports.
But...I'm still puzzled. How did they do it? I mean, don't the soldiers carry machine guns, drive tanks, enjoy close air support from nastily-armed airplanes, that kind of thing? How does a collection of paunchy middle-aged Halliburton employees in pocket-protectors and eyeglasses manage to reach and kill the trained warriors in the 82nd Airborne?
Damn it, I'm going to write my Congressman. If random American oil drilling companies can so easily kill thousands of American soldiers, then clearly our soldiers are terribly equipped and disastrously led.
I guess that's why all the other corporations with market maximal market saturation have founders donating billions every year to stuff that doesn't affect them.
You're thinking about this in the reverse. He doesn't call all the shots at MS, but he can still tell the Gates Foundation where to donate. So if MS is focusing on a particular region, while he may not be calling the shots at MS, he CAN call the shots at the Foundation. I heard an interesting interview at the National Press Club with his Father, Bill Gates, Sr. once. It turns out it was VERY hard for Bill Sr. and Melinda to talk Bill Jr. into setting up a charitable fund -- he did not like the idea! And now there's all these posts on this topic saying what a saint he is -- when it was like pulling teeth to get him to set up the charity, and it is the charity that gives the money using his name. I don't recall, but I believe, like many charities, he contributed the seed fund and I'm not sure if he still donates anything to it.
He may not call the shots at MS, but he certainly has more than enough influence to make sure his Foundation gives money to sources that can make him look good or that can back up marketing efforts at MS.
Jesus fucking christ, are you a sucker. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is a fraud, and you fell for it, they absolutely do NOT give away a billion every year. They give away incredible amounts of money, incredibly SMALL amounts of money. Yes, it is a pittance, an even smaller pittance than you realize.
c ialreports/2004FinancialStmts.pdf
Go read the B&MGF annual reports, you will be astonished. Here's an example:
http://www.gatesfoundation.org/NR/Downloads/finan
In 2004, the total assets of the foundation were about $29 million. That is million with an M.
In 2004, the total grants expenditures were $1.88 million. That is million with an M.
More than half the grant money was used to educate people about the activities of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the wonderful philantropic genius of Mr. Bill Gates.
Go check charity tracker websites like guidestar.org or charitynavigator.org, and you will see that even most phony scam charities manage to give away more than $2m per year, just to keep it looking like they aren't phony.
You forgot Zionist Occupational Government... moron.
(Seriously, though, where the fuck do all these critters come from? Is there some anti-American idiocy indoctrination camp I missed out on? Public school?)
Fuck it
Okay, that's just silly. Microsoft, like it or not, pretty much sells their software all around the world. So, you're saying he shouldn't give to any place MS software can be bought? That's just stupid.
There are times they make a big push in one area or another, such as when they started to push Windows in India.
Gates has also recently made statements about people that don't use computers and regions where they haven't reached.
Next time, look beneath the surface.
Agreed. Complaining that a gazillionaire is only giving away a zillion dollars, or that they are doing it for PR isn't all that productive. Let the symbol of greed give. Fight what the symbol symbolizes to you. If you don't have the assets to prove that you would be MORE giving in those shoes, be more giving in other ways. And Vote. And educate others. Get them to vote.
It's not a particular person that is evil, it's the institution. That's the way it's set up. A corporation is immortal. It's amazing and scary. It's silly to put a good or bad sticker on an entity as large as Microsoft. There are good things and bad things about it, from the people who run it to the social implications. You could say a good thing, and I a bad, each one trying to outdo the other. It's a bad idea to let a negative bias about something stop us from embracing the positive.
A manager has to make a company grow to please investors. The manager may not be evil or selfish. The investors as a group might be causing harm by forcing a blated company to get bigger, but each investor could be among the most generous of people. They are simply deciding to hold a stock based on a future selling price. If they fear the company can't grow, they'll sell. The company will be valued at less and will suffer. It's a shame that it's not good enough for a business to simply sustain itself. Making the same profit year after year is still profit. Unfortunately, the days of people investing for the dividends are over. It's buy low sell high. These Buy-lowers, these sell-highers... I am sure there are some with personalities we might not agree with. Others are great people.
We need people to be aware of this. That's what government should be used for. To regulate these otherwise uncontrollable beasts. If no ONE is to blame, and no ONE is accountable, WE must have a way to regulate and to give PEOPLE what they need.