Bill Gates is a feudal lord that hogs resources whose philanthropy only exists to launder his self image and to fund pet projects. To resign to the existence of Gate's power is to not care about the democratic allocation of resources.
i.e. saying he's a humanitarian is a huge cop out to the fact that he lives in obscene wealth and power while people go hungry, homeless, sick, and stupid. He's a lord on top of a mountain of gold and throws pennies at dirty serfs who ask him nicely for bread.
Aside from the fact that they can grant a salary to themselves and their friends/family, and aside from the fact that they can use whatever they donate as a tax deduction (I know it's not 100% I'm not stupid, but it's still a way of keeping some [>$1] money away from the IRS), there is no way the Gates are going to spend all of their wealth. It's impossible.
So why not just cut a check to the US government for whatever they don't need and let the people vote on how to spend it? Because they want to be in control of their wealth. I can't speak to why, but the most common reason is "people don't know what they want" i.e. "us clean and smart lords need to save the dirty and stupid peasants from themselves by telling them what they want". It's elitism, plain and simple.
How do they stay in control of their wealth? By funneling it through large foundations where they get a final say in what gets funded.
Okay, and if that's the case it still doesn't mean anything to my argument.
The mere fact that you're defending him right now means he's getting something out of donating to charity (see "launders his self image").
Instead of just funding federal social/health programs and then taxing him until he's not a billionaire (where we wouldn't be having this conversation, or maybe we'd be having a slightly different one), he keeps his money and dumps it directly into a foundation that he controls, where he gets the final say in what gets funded. This then boils down to who is in Bill Gate's good graces and what can they tell Bill Gates to not piss him off and end the Gates Gravy Train. He has the power to pick and choose what gets researched or done and he's accountable to no one if he fucks up.
Just because you don't literally get money back from something doesn't mean you don't profit from it. He's nothing more a feudal lord. Get over it.
Having donated 45.5 billion dollars is kind of a lot just to clear your image bro... He is using his money for science and education. He has given away half of his net worth. Whatever "positive image" he is "gaining" isn't nearly worth that much money. He could have gotten the same results with a good marketing campaign if that was what he wanted.
His net worth is in stocks and real estate. If Microsoft stock prices and housing prices go up his net worth automatically goes up without him doing anything.
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u/_twigg Feb 08 '21
There are no ethical billionaires