• Crashumbc@lemmy.world
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    5 hours ago

    Bullshit, he’s “transferring” his wealth to his own charity for tax reasons…

    It’s a trick to protect his money for his children.

    • MimicJar@lemmy.world
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      2 hours ago

      Not according to the opening sentence?

      The Gates Foundation plans to give away $US200 billion ($313 billion) over the next 20 years before shutting down entirely in 2045

      • Dragonstaff@leminal.space
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        23 minutes ago

        Sure. The Gates Foundation gives the money to the Totally Not A Tax Dodge foundation which quietly pays the Gates kids as much as they want. I’m sure it will be more elegant than that, but that’s the basic grift.

        Meanwhile, Gates uses his reputation as a philanthropist, and all the soft power from controlling billions to further his own interests and cement his personal philosophy as the only option.

        The charity means that the American people have no control at all over how the money is spent, so the plebians have to beg at their door for money to be used in the way that Gates says it must be used.

    • finitebanjo@lemmy.world
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      41 minutes ago

      Do you have a comprehensive plan on how to immediately spend 200Bn USD evenly and fairly only to the most impoverished people on earth in such a way that maximises longterm benefit more than spreading it out over 20 years?

      Also, if you sell off 200Bn USD worth of stocks in a day then you’re not going to make 200Bn USD off the sales.

    • SoftestSapphic@lemmy.world
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      3 hours ago

      Because he wants to benefit personally from his wealth and be seen as a good person.

      And the idiots will keep eating it up

      • finitebanjo@lemmy.world
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        42 minutes ago

        I mean, 99% of his wealth gone still leaves him with over a billion dollars. Might be more of a logistics and planning issue.

  • radiohead37@lemmynsfw.com
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    9 hours ago

    He has been making this kind of promise since the early 2000s, but never follows through. Just the goal post keeps moving to the right.

    • ripcord@lemmy.world
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      7 hours ago

      Supposedly he’s already given away half, why is it unthinkable that he’s planning to give away the other half?

      • SoftestSapphic@lemmy.world
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        3 hours ago

        Because good people don’t hoard wealth to begin with.

        He does this so people don’t hate him for helping to destabilize the global economy.

        • finitebanjo@lemmy.world
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          40 minutes ago

          I think only allowing bad people to hoard wealth would be a moral failure if a good person had the opportunity to choose.

    • NotAnotherLemmyUser@lemmy.worldOP
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      7 hours ago

      While the goal post keeps moving, it’s the opposite of your statement. As explained in the article:

      That target would represent a doubling in spending for the nonprofit, which has disbursed more than $US100 billion since it was co-founded by Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates in 2000. Originally, the foundation was set to close 20 years after the Microsoft co-founder’s death.

      “I have decided to give my money back to society much faster than I had originally planned,” Gates, 69, wrote in a statement. “I will give away virtually all my wealth through the Gates Foundation over the next 20 years to the cause of saving and improving lives around the world.”

  • spooky2092@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    8 hours ago

    Get fucked with a rusty rake bill, you helped stop the COVID vaccines from being patent exempt, among plenty of other awful shit, all for more money.

    • finitebanjo@lemmy.world
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      38 minutes ago

      The vaccines were patent exempt, WTO adopted it officially in 2022, which the Gates Foundation endorsed shortly after Bill’s initial objection.

      • Dragonstaff@leminal.space
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        17 minutes ago

        2022…I wonder how many people died to protect corporation’s profits in two years of a global pandemic.

  • warm@kbin.earth
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    9 hours ago

    Give it away now instead you piece of shit. If he actually gave a shit he would have donated it all to charities already. It’s just a billionaire farse, fuck him and the rest of em.

    • finitebanjo@lemmy.world
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      36 minutes ago

      He is. He is already giving it all away. He’s been doing it for 25 years and he will continue to do it for the next 20 years.

      You have to understand that his value grows over time and selling his stocks en masse would decrease their market value. He’s been maximizing the amount of good done very effectively.

    • spooky2092@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      8 hours ago

      he actually gave a shit he would have donated it all to charities already. It’s just a billionaire farse,

      Just not his own goddamned tax avoidance scheme charity

          • PunnyName@lemmy.world
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            1 hour ago

            Careful now. Don’t go painting all charities as a form of tax avoidance just because a lot are used for that.

            There are many great charities for many great causes out there.

  • Ecco the dolphin@lemmy.ml
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    9 hours ago

    Bank Robber vows to give away his stolen funds by 20 years from now to charities of his choosing. He’s one of the good ones! So uplifting!

    • finitebanjo@lemmy.world
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      35 minutes ago

      Oh those poor US tech workers, living in ghettos, forced to rely on Windows XP and Microsoft Azure in order to survive. Woe is they. How could Bill have done this to them? /s

  • brachiosaurus@mander.xyz
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    10 hours ago

    Don’t advertise scum. This guys is trying to literally spend 99% of his fortune to wipe off all the shit he has done.

  • geneva_convenience@lemmy.ml
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    12 hours ago

    The most whitewashed billionaire in existence. Insane people still buy into this slush fund campaign.

    Bill Gates is more evil than Elon Musk.

    • ripcord@lemmy.world
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      7 hours ago

      How so? Specifically?

      Cause Musk is actively trying to destroy democracy and kill poor people.

    • Problem-based person@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      12 hours ago

      For real, but since Old Evil Billionaire is piling on New Evil Billionaire, he becomes Sweet Old Philantropist. Gates made his fortune by stabbing everyone on the back and charging them for the knife.

      • geneva_convenience@lemmy.ml
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        11 hours ago

        Trying to get a monopoly on vaccines through a “nonprofit” and do neocolonialism.

        https://www.wired.com/story/opinion-the-world-loses-under-bill-gates-vaccine-colonialism/

        Global health czar Bill Gates had other thoughts. Maintaining his steadfast commitment to intellectual property rights, Gates pushed for a plan that would permit companies to hold exclusive rights to lifesaving medicines, no matter how much they benefited from public funding.

        Given the enormous influence Gates has in the global public health world, his vision ultimately won out in the Covax program—which enshrines monopoly patent rights and relies on the charitable whims of rich countries and pharmaceutical giants to provide vaccines to most of the world. A chorus of support from pharmaceutical companies and the Trump administration didn’t hurt.

        Should we be surprised that a monopolist-turned-philanthropist maintains his commitment to monopoly patent rights as a philanthropist too?

        Bill Gates is about as “nonprofit” as OpenAI.

        • finitebanjo@lemmy.world
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          30 minutes ago

          The WTO adopted partial patent waivers in 2022, many nations allowed complete vaccine patent exemption, and very soon after the Bill Gates statement your article cites the Gates Foundation made a full reversal and endorsed it.

        • Jourei@lemm.ee
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          10 hours ago

          Aight, yeah, thank you! Gates isn’t that much in the headlines for the things he does, I remember him owning/buying a ton of land too now?

  • Null User Object@lemmy.world
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    17 hours ago

    Tax Eat the rich!

    Here’s the thing. Even if he lives up to this promise, it’s still him deciding where that money should go, and it won’t be towards long term support of social safety nets for the commoners. He should just have been paying his fair share of taxes all along and into the future.

    • Em Adespoton@lemmy.ca
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      16 hours ago

      Based on current spending, it will most likely be spent getting drinkable water to the majority of the world’s population.

      I don’t like how he got his money, but he’s been reasonably responsible with it since his divorce.

      That said, he has over $113b dollars. If he gives away 99% of it, he’ll still have over a billion dollars.

      • Bronzebeard@lemm.ee
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        9 hours ago

        He’s been buying up huge swathes of farm land in the middle of the country. Not everything he’s doing has been philanthropy

      • brachiosaurus@mander.xyz
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        10 hours ago

        There are books on him exposing how half of his charities are frauds. Given his past records humanity should be wary of putting this man anywhere near anything drinkable or useful

      • Draces@lemmy.world
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        16 hours ago

        Behind the bastards has a good two parter on him. I wouldn’t say he’s been responsible with it.

    • madeinthebackseat@lemmy.world
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      13 hours ago

      …or paying his employees more.

      Funny how we don’t have a popular term for the portion of an employee’s deserved wage that turns into “record shareholder profit.”

      Imagine if all corporations were required to put a line item on check stubs showing how much you made them.

    • Almacca@aussie.zone
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      11 hours ago

      While I’m all for taxing the rich more than the current system of not at all, I think in the long term it would be better to instigate or modify systems so that we don’t get these exceedingly greedy people going unchecked in the first place. How about a cap on the ratio between the highest and the lowest paid employee in any organisation for a start? Boss wants a raise, everyone gets a raise.

    • SkunkWorkz@lemmy.world
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      12 hours ago

      Yeah but that’s communism, so no way it would’ve ever happened. The average American voter thinks they can become billionaires some day.

      • Skvlp@lemm.ee
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        11 hours ago

        Does the word communism even have meaning any more, or is it just something to yell when confused people get confused?

          • Skvlp@lemm.ee
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            10 hours ago

            I know, I caught the silent /s at the end of your post :) You are referring to people who don’t use it sarcastically - does the word communism have meaning left when they use it?

    • Rikudou_Sage@lemmings.world
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      8 hours ago

      Because he isn’t doing anything either. He promised to get rid of it in 20 years.

      First, he’s a psychopath, I don’t trust a word he says. Additionally, in 20 years he’ll be almost 90. Aka huge chance he’ll be actually dead of old age.

      And last, you don’t get to fuck the world for decades and then suddenly become a good person because you promise to stop being a shitstain in another 2 decades.

    • Skymt@lemmy.world
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      13 hours ago

      I find it lovely that he’s racked by guilt over his legacy and tries to do something about it.

      • Saleh@feddit.org
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        12 hours ago

        Racked by guilt? His company is helping commit genocide by providing AI tools to automatically designate civilians as targets for military strikes.

        I’d rather he keeps his money and uses his influence to stop that. He chooses not to do so every day.

        • Skymt@lemmy.world
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          11 hours ago

          I don’t think he has that influence any more.

          And yeah, genocide would be one of the reasons to feel guilty, but it’s far from the only one.

  • Libra00@lemmy.ml
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    16 hours ago

    …and still be a billionaire.

    Why should oligarchs get to decide where the proceeds of their exploitation get spent?

  • crank0271@lemmy.world
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    18 hours ago

    I’ve been sending his chain emails along since the 90s so he owes me some serious interest.