The Conservative Cave
Current Events => Breaking News => Topic started by: zeitgeist on June 16, 2010, 07:24:36 AM
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The $600 billion challenge
(http://fortunefeatures.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/3_buffett_gates-top.jpg?w=475&h=324)
Bill Gates, Melinda Gates, and Warren Buffett are asking the nation's billionaires to pledge to give at least half their net worth to charity, in their lifetimes or at death. If their campaign succeeds, it could change the face of philanthropy.
Link Here> (http://features.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2010/06/16/gates-buffett-600-billion-dollar-philanthropy-challenge/)
Hum....what to think of this.
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I think it's a great idea but I can already hear the liberals scream "the gov can spend that money better"
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I beat'em to it....I've already divested myself of all my billions....alright, so I lied a little....the government took'em before I got'em. :-)
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brilliant...
But impossible. The gov't will be getting 50%+, so there won't be another 50% left to donate @ death.
Buffet should just shut his pie-hole anyway. He's a lying bastard re: taxes.
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Let's see............ Gates is worth some $52 BILLION. Take away half of that and give it to the Government (so they can waste it on frivolous things like $18K/ mo office rent*), that leaves $26 Billion. Give half of that to the various charities, that STILL leaves some $13 BILLION for the family. Hell, as for myself, anything over $10 Million is pretty much useless for my lifestyle. With $10 Million, I think that I'd have everything I could EVER want and still have plenty to live off of.
* The $18K/ mo is Nancy Pelosi's new office rent. Yes, that's RENT!!
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* The $18K/ mo is Nancy Pelosi's new office rent. Yes, that's RENT!!
Got a link for that?...Oh I believe you...I just want to see if she has anything to say about what a bargain $18K is.
Nancy has to take first prize in the "Welfare Queen, I'm Entitled" Category.
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Let's see............ Gates is worth some $52 BILLION. Take away half of that and give it to the Government (so they can waste it on frivolous things like $18K/ mo office rent*), that leaves $26 Billion. Give half of that to the various charities, that STILL leaves some $13 BILLION for the family. Hell, as for myself, anything over $10 Million is pretty much useless for my lifestyle. With $10 Million, I think that I'd have everything I could EVER want and still have plenty to live off of.
* The $18K/ mo is Nancy Pelosi's new office rent. Yes, that's RENT!!
don't get me started on Pelosi...
WRT the rest. Death taxes are immoral... nothing more, nothing less. Until Buffet puts his money where his mouth is, I'll continue to write him off as the hypocrite that he is.
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It matters what charities they bequeath. This- "Now 80, he has so far meted out $800 million, a good part of it to schools he attended (Columbia Law School, Washington and Lee, Mercersburg Academy)- could have been put to better use, I think.
Gates, Buffet, etc., don't do anything that doesn't benefit themselves first. To remain tax-free, they only have to give away 5% of assetts; they've been critized for their policy of investing for maximum returns in companies that worsen poverty in the same countries where they claim to relieve poverty.(Along with racial discrimination.)
Do they really need a $500M HQ?
If it's a Charitable Remainder Trust, the donor receives a set amount of annual income (set by donor); at death, what's left goes to the charity. Anyone else also recieving income, continues to get theirs.
All realized profit from investment sales within the trust is not subject to capital
gains tax. Charitable trusts are especially helpful when it comes to highly appreciated assets with limited
income-producing potential. Plus the income tax deduction for supporting a charity.
If they want to give-it-all-away, that's cool with me. But anybody who pats their own back for it, is usually up to something with the other hand.
Case in point-
A sampling of the Gates Foundation’s largest investments:
Above $1.5 billion
* Berkshire Hathaway**
* Canadian government
Between $1 billion and $1.5 billion
* Fannie Mae
* German government
Between $100 million and $1 billion
* Abbott Laboratories
* Archer Daniels Midland
* British Petroleum
* Canadian National Railway
* Exxon Mobil
* Freddie Mac
* French government
* Japanese government
* Merck
* Schering Plough
* Tyco International
* Waste Management
*Might include stocks, bonds and other securities
**Warren Buffett committed his first installment of Berkshire Hathaway stock in June.
Sources: Gates tax and Securities and Exchange Commission filings— Los Angeles Times
I wonder what the return is on those 'government investments'?
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I read the article this morning notice in about the second half of the article, they tell all about the tax advantages of giving it away to charity? Hypocritical don't ya think? Most of these charitable organizations have there own hidden agenda and never spend the money where you want. Remember the Red Cross after 9-11? If I had any kind of wealth like that I would first spend it for my church. Barring that if you do not attend church. I would start in my local community, then move to my state, then maybe to my region. But if I had that kind of money I would have the resources to oversea how it was distributed also. But that's just me.......
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I read the article this morning notice in about the second half of the article, they tell all about the tax advantages of giving it away to charity? Hypocritical don't ya think? Most of these charitable organizations have there own hidden agenda and never spend the money where you want. Remember the Red Cross after 9-11? If I had any kind of wealth like that I would first spend it for my church. Barring that if you do not attend church. I would start in my local community, then move to my state, then maybe to my region. But if I had that kind of money I would have the resources to oversea how it was distributed also. But that's just me.......
My dad ran a very good non-profit for years. Very moral, above baord, cared for his employees and patients...
I think all non-profits should lose that status today. Period. Even the "good" ones.
My father's switched to for-profit shortly after his retirement. I think he took that to his grave as one of his life failures, to be honest. That and the unionization of the staff (who were already in the 90% percentile for wages and benefits w/in the state).
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Not a good investment, in my opinion. The best form of compassion is to push capitalism whenever possible, so that regions can become self-sufficient in the first place.
While I trust Gates and Buffet more than government entities, the bottom line is that money they divest from their own portfolios, will, in effect, be taken out of play from investing into REAL businesses that are part of the high-efficiency capitalist model. That's half a trillion dollars plus being taken out of the market, in effect, which will depress business by at least three times that amount.
So, the money they will be using for their foundations will, by definition as well, be used far less efficiently, and be more susceptible to corruption, especially as it exists now.
I realize it is their money, not ours. So I believe it is their own personal legacy they are concerned with more than anything.
But if REAL change must occur, first we must get our OWN ship in order. One, we must ensure that our business investment procedures are maximized with low tax rates. That will generate a lot of revenue from new production and making other processes more efficient sooner rather than later. In addition, we need to ensure our way of life is exported as much as possible to the rest of the world. That is far more likely to effect REAL change and REAL compassion than just throwing a half-trillion "Save the Children" commercial by billionaire divestment of funds.
Indeed, the amount of money is significant enough to actually create a metric for such changes, and we can accurately assess the difference based upon historical economic trends. Of course, those same models would state that a flat tax of around 15% would generate the most prosperity while maintaining the highest cushion of public safety and services, but liberals and even moderates don't want to hear that. They just want to hear about taking from the rich.
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I read the article this morning notice in about the second half of the article, they tell all about the tax advantages of giving it away to charity? Hypocritical don't ya think? Most of these charitable organizations have there own hidden agenda and never spend the money where you want. Remember the Red Cross after 9-11? If I had any kind of wealth like that I would first spend it for my church. Barring that if you do not attend church. I would start in my local community, then move to my state, then maybe to my region. But if I had that kind of money I would have the resources to oversea how it was distributed also. But that's just me.......
Absolutely true.
This comment that people have a right to spend their money as they see fit does not extend to the dead.
Was it not that Hemlsley woman that left $50,000,000 to her DOG and the courts said that the dog did not need all that money,. Seems her will stated that when her dog died , what was left was to go to a named Charity.
It was the Said Charity that went to court to over turn the will so they could get the money right away. I believe that they feared if the dog was poisoned they would be suspects in the death and not get one thin dime.
For the little people that will leave a scant 2-3 million, no fear, or not so much of one as for those in the upper $100,000, 000 brackets. We all see the infighting in family's of the super wealthy even before the family member is even dead. Some even hurry along the process, a fall down stairs or the breaks on their car fail.
Even an iron clad Will is not safe as few people will air dirty laundry as to why one family member is disinherited in their will. Some people contest a will for very little money, just to stick it to the rest of the family.
Spend money while you are alive and healthy enough to oversee the spending. If you give to your Church, watch what the money is buying for them. Is the pastor buying 2 new limos, building himself a $2,000,000 home.?
Schools are a big one, give them enough money for repares and YOU pick the contractors. Give a hefty amount to the teachers union and make sure only the top of the line teachers are in the class rooms. Pay to have the teachers, principals and heads of the State board of education get a piss test every 4 weeks.
Buy the kids uniforms and have in place a strict dress code for the teachers. Yearly exams for the teachers to insure they are not being lax with their students. Big money can do wonders and is a huge responsibility to handle.
BTW I believe kids would be willing to learn if they looked at their education as a job, few adults would work for no wages, pay these kids to learn, they worked for good grades, why not pay them, reward them----even my dog takes to training for a food reward.