In effort to help the millions of people displaced due to the massive tsunami which struck the region around the Indian Ocean, Bill Gates has donated three million dollars in aid. Amazon has donated another $3.5 million:
Microsoft's company offices in Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka and India are working with relief organizations, a spokeswoman said. The company also is encouraging employees to contribute. Under an existing program, Microsoft matches charitable donations by its U.S. employees.
Does this mean that the 'Devil' himself has a heart, It would seem so.
Actually, Microsoft is a well-known contributor to charity as a whole. Several of its executives contribute millions to charity on a regular basis. Former Microsoft employees have went into the business of finding good places for those who make money to give it. Contrary to popular belief, a LOT of US CEOs donate money for causes like this on a regular basis.
Bill gates is giving money becuase thats where he has all his biz located at having those little make our shit .... damn he still evil http://users.aol.com/machcu/no-bill.gif
Hm. Lets see. Bill Gates contributes 3.0 Million Dollars of his ... what was it? 30 Billion Dollar? fortune in order to rebuild necessary facilites in these countries.
Sure he does, this Tsunami thing caused a considerable amount of public awareness. Everyone sees the endless generous EU/US and the big companies + unbelieveable rich CEOs helping in such a bad Situation. Sure, it helps, but in the end its lots of positive publicity for a cheap price, thats what I call it.
If any of these rich bastards and nations would be humane in any form - they would have stopped globalization and exploitation of these countries in time so that they could have afford a pre-warning system for the earthquake - or modern medical facilites that dont collapse after a wave - or whatever. Nobody would care if our tourists wouldnt have been there during that disaster. If it happened in 6 months from now during saison-morte, not a quarter of the publicity that has been reached now would have been reached.
Besides, i would call him "not so evil" if he - just out of his mind - would contribute a quarter or the half of his fortune to this..... he'd still have enough- THEN id say: "what a character"... but this way .. thats peanuts for him.. as sad as it is, but these three million dollars dont make the world a better place, much larger amounts are necessary to do so ... especially in these regions
In effort to help the millions of people displaced due to the massive tsunami which struck the region around the Indian Ocean, Bill Gates has donated three million dollars in aid. Amazon has donated another $3.5 million:
Microsoft's company offices in Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka and India are working with relief organizations, a spokeswoman said. The company also is encouraging employees to contribute. Under an existing program, Microsoft matches charitable donations by its U.S. employees.
Does this mean that the 'Devil' himself has a heart, It would seem so.
Well, one thing to keep in mind is that just because someone has money doesn't mean they aren't contributing. It's just the nature of money itself. If he invests in a new technology, that creates jobs. Like someone else said, maybe it's a job in India. If he puts it in the bank, the bank invests it in the form of a loan to someone like you or I. If he invests in bonds, it's in a government, which could be student loans or utilities projects.
The only thing he can do that doesn't "contribute" is get the cash out of the bank and like burn it or just sit on it or something. Also, if money is given to someone that isn't productive, or doesn't contribute to society in some way, then it's also kind of wasted.
I guess the deal is that greed is what drives *some* people. Someone like Gates that dashes competition to become the best can do a lot of damage along the way, but for every job lost, a new one is created. Those that lose their jobs struggle for a while, but if they don't lose hope, they can get yet another job and contribute more.
What he's doing by donating money here is helping out those who may have lost their homes and food (losing their fishing ships is going to be a huge problem). He's donating now in hopes that some future genius will rise out of the tsunami's wake and maybe one day work for his company. A lot of people see it as goodwill, but in reality, when you run a corporation as large as Microsoft, the fact of the matter is that your next great talent could be ANYONE, so contributing to society may, in fact, help you in the future.
I guess what I'm saying is that I'm not defending who he is or what he has, but that the money that he owns isn't "lost". If he buys toys then someone is making those toys. I think the problem is that our envy of his massive fortune leads us to believe that money is being wasted. That is clearly not the case. It's being invested in God knows what right now!
Everyone who gave even 1 Dollar to any charity project this Year did at least one thing right. People seem to forget that in others Countries people die of hunger and wars...
Spend money ;)
Btw: The checkie chan guy spend some millions, too...
i don't mean to be rude over here.... but just to give you a statics:
EVERY-DAY! 30 thousand children die due to starvation,poverty or various disease. DID YOU KNEW THAT!!! Moreover, if i start talking about the countries that has long been in civil war... where streets are mine feilds you'll get scared!
huh! i wounder, why natural disaster etc... get such a huze global attension, while other issues that have been-there-for-dicades are still unsolved.
ring0 you are right. But in this case the people see something new, and they see how their money can change the situation. But in critical zones like south afrika or countries with civil wars the people would need to spend MUCH more money to even change the life of those peoble to the better a lil' bit.. :(
Hm. Lets see. Bill Gates contributes 3.0 Million Dollars of his ... what was it? 30 Billion Dollar? fortune in order to rebuild necessary facilites in these countries.
Sure he does, this Tsunami thing caused a considerable amount of public awareness. Everyone sees the endless generous EU/US and the big companies + unbelieveable rich CEOs helping in such a bad Situation. Sure, it helps, but in the end its lots of positive publicity for a cheap price, thats what I call it.
If any of these rich bastards and nations would be humane in any form - they would have stopped globalization and exploitation of these countries in time so that they could have afford a pre-warning system for the earthquake - or modern medical facilites that dont collapse after a wave - or whatever. Nobody would care if our tourists wouldnt have been there during that disaster. If it happened in 6 months from now during saison-morte, not a quarter of the publicity that has been reached now would have been reached.
Besides, i would call him "not so evil" if he - just out of his mind - would contribute a quarter or the half of his fortune to this..... he'd still have enough- THEN id say: "what a character"... but this way .. thats peanuts for him.. as sad as it is, but these three million dollars dont make the world a better place, much larger amounts are necessary to do so ... especially in these regions
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Posted 03 January 2005 - 08:39 PM
