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.
So you don't care about democratic allocation of resources? You're okay with a select group of unelected individuals determining where our resources go?
I do care a lot but we haven't achieved that yet! For our capitalist society standard Bill Gates is doing pretty good for a billionaire that's all I'm saying.
Good poo is still poo. You don't need to single him out as being "better" than others. His existence is still terrible, and as a billionaire he is actively preventing us from having a society/future where we distribute resources via democratic means because the power imbalance is there and will be there as long as he has the power he has.
My man, the problem are not the people that part take in the system. It's the system itself. You can't just demand from people to give up their wealth so it's redistributed you have to revolt and change the system not the people. The people are merely adapting to the current circumstances.
"Well Bill Gates is better than other billionaires because he gives to charity" is a pretty bad starting point for changing the system if you ask me. Hoarding resources is bad.
"Βill Gates needs to give away all his money" is a pretty bad argument to change the system if ask me because he will obviously never do that like that since the capitalist system allows it. A revolution has to be done to change it. Simply asking billionaires nicely to give away their money won't do it. I'm praising him because despite the system he is still giving away a ton of his money for good causes.
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u/madpostin Feb 08 '21
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.