38 Billionaires to give away half their wealth

[TheGrandMom]

"Our favorite charity-worker Bill Gates has successfully signed up 38 billionaires to give away half of their wealth to those less fortunate, in what could be the largest-scale philanthropic work ever.

Together with Warren Buffett, their "The Giving Pledge" project nabbed Larry Ellison (founder of Oracle), George Lucas, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Barry Diller from IAC (an internet media company that owns Ask.com, Bloglines, Vimeo, Match.com and others), along with many others.

While they're not legally bound to give away at least 50 per cent of their wealth to charity, it's more of a trust-promise—particularly now that it's been reported all over the media. They're not expected to give their notes to any one charity, but if every single person on the Forbes 400 richest American list signed up to The Giving Pledge, that would mean charities would be $600 billion better off. Presumably some of those charities will be green-focused, considering Gates' obvious passion in that field."

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: 38 Billionaires to give away half their wealth

Well, that's one way to get a tax break, I suppose.

[Malacite]

Re: 38 Billionaires to give away half their wealth

Stow it BBQ, Buffet & Gates are about the two most generous wealthy individuals on the planet and I applaud them for this.

[Feba]

Re: 38 Billionaires to give away half their wealth

For scale, $600 billion dollars is nearly $20 for every single American. This is about 3/4ths the size of ARRA (The Stimulus bill).

And yes, Gates for all the shit he gets is a remarkably decent person. He doesn't even abuse his philanthropy for positive PR; when he does go out and make a big deal about what he's doing, he's doing it to give the issue a higher profile, not himself.

You know, given how much money this is, I'm curious how quickly and to what causes they intend to distribute this. If this is spent on programs that need things built (construction projects, equipment acquisition) and programs that employ people, and done quickly, it could easily also contribute to economic recovery, simply by being such a huge amount of money. It would be hard to distribute this much money in such a way that it didn't have positive effects on a huge amount of people.


Of course, I'm hoping everything gets dumped into scholarships.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: 38 Billionaires to give away half their wealth

when he does go out and make a big deal about what he's doing, he's doing it to give the issue a higher profile, not himself.

Or to dump mosquitoes on an audience for lulz

[Feba]

Re: 38 Billionaires to give away half their wealth

Or to dump mosquitoes on an audience for lulz

Yep, I can guarantee you that that stunt didn't raise any awareness of Malaria, and get some donations.

None at all.

[Durahansolo]

Re: 38 Billionaires to give away half their wealth

38 Billionaires to give away half their wealth

OH SHI!!! *Goes to check Mailbox*

to those less fortunate

That would be everybody that has less money than them, m i write?

[Ziero]

Re: 38 Billionaires to give away half their wealth

I honestly can't say anything bad about Gates as a person, the dude really does give a lot to society. Good on him and all the others who are actually gonna give, regardless of what reasons motivate them. It don't matter why you give, just as long as you do give.

[Chromemage]

Re: 38 Billionaires to give away half their wealth

Do we get $20 per rich person or just $20 all together?