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Permanently Confused@68's avatar

I thought that a "foundation" was kinda what the word means: something to build on top of, and that the tons of $$ used to start them was self-perpetuating due to something called "Investments"? (It's a word I've heard, but am not familiar with the practice). So why do his foundations have to end?

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Adam Gluckman's avatar

Ya gotta love a good "Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy" reference. Hoopy frood indeed!

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Sadly Practical's avatar

If only Bill Gates hadn’t started out by thinking that rich people could impose all the “solutions” their hearts desired via grants rather than requiring corporations to pay their fair share. If only it hadn’t taken so long for them to acknowledge that smart people are not smart across all disciplines, and that there is danger in monopoly. Having worked in two fields where Gates Foundation money became a driver of institutional change that ultimately enriched Microsoft and then Google, with mixed to positive feelings about the beginnings and mixed to negative feelings about where we are now, I wish they would have just been taxed properly in the first place.

Give it all away, by all means, Bill. But imagine if we hadn’t had massive governmental cutbacks and budgets hadn’t required the annual trauma of balancing the desires of the tech true believers with staffing.

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Jens TINGLEFF's avatar

Musk is making mostly everyone else look good, and certainly Bill Gates.

I don't think Bill Gates are having serious thoughts about billions of humanoid androids and their invasion...

𝘔𝘶𝘴𝘬 𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘮𝘴 '10 𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘪𝘥 𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘴' 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘯𝘶𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘌𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘩

https://www.indy100.com/science-tech/elon-musk-robots-take-over-humans-earth-2671924475

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Zyxomma's avatar

Ta, Dok. It was Warren Buffett who pointed out that his secretary was taxed at a higher rate than he. Once upon a time, in a galaxy far, far away (TX), I worked as a dominatrix. Who paid me large sums of money to humiliate them? Top executives at oil companies and the like. They knew they had not earned their wealth, and I had fun making them suffer.

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Atrele Kasha's avatar

“I’d love for him to go in and meet the children that have now been infected with HIV because he cut that money.”

I'm pretty just Musk would run home and jerk off as hard as he could

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Hannah's avatar

My mom used to play bridge with Bill Gates 's mom.

His mom was seriously worried that he would never graduate HS, much less do anything with his life.

True mom story.

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Gary Seven in Space's avatar

Gates gets a pass…

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Elizabeth Behnke's avatar

Mark Cuban also seems decent for a plutocrat!

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What A Debacle's avatar

It occurs to me that if an anonymous, terminally ill billionaire were to start offering free sniper rifles to terminally ill oligarch haters... it might be interesting.

An interesting movie I mean.

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Agatha Englebert's avatar

Mr Bill Gates only wants to be seen as a philantnropist. He disassociates himself from Microsoft. Microsoft became rich by charging too much for its products to captive customers. They changed the system unnecessarily often, for a steep price, and you needed expensive updates all the time. If rich people all over the world paid taxes, we wouldn’t need handouts.

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Bagels of Doom's avatar

We should egg Elno on to be the first Martian. Go Elno! Mars is going to be super fun!

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Merrie Mac, Libelsländerin's avatar

Eating, after all, is just pre-composting.

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displacedCTYankee's avatar

Could Bill Gates please give a paltry few billion to guaranteeing that Microsoft stops "upgrading" Windows 10, 11, and Office 360? I liked them just the way they were five years ago.

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Permanently Confused@68's avatar

"Upgrades" have caused my gf and myself to develop an unhealthy disdain for 20-something engineers. Get LIVES people!

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displacedCTYankee's avatar

Engineers of all kinds (no, I am NOT an engineer) had a saying: "If it ain't broke don't fix it." Now it's as if somebody proclaimed a "Coders Full Employment Act." Example: If a coder looks at a perfectly functioning web site for, say, ordering something, and they can't find anything to actually CHANGE, at least MOVE something, say a check-box, to an obscure corner of the screen, and make the user have to go find it. This drives me mad.

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Goonemeritus's avatar

I don't know what Bill's net worth is these days, but I just returned all my returnable cans and bottles from Easter so i'm pretty flush. And I have been pointing out DOGE is pretty mean spirited for weeks.

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Jeff, still got my guitar's avatar

People have been slagging Bill Gates since the beginning of Microsoft. First it was anger at MS and Bill, sort of together. When he became the richest man in the world then people didn't care about

MS anymore, just complained about him. People are mad at him because now he's giving away the billions. Probably cause they can't complain he's "one of those rotten billionaires" anymore.

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Stephen St John's avatar

I can think of at least 4 billionaires that try to do good - Gates, Warren Buffett, George Soros, and Mark Cuban.

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Gary Seven in Space's avatar

Ex Mrs Bezos

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displacedCTYankee's avatar

Years ago an IT guy referred to MS as "The Dark Side." That was when I learned that Stars Wars was a movie and The Dark Side was a thing.

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Permanently Confused@68's avatar

Well, a made-up thing anyway. Or not made up?

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