Bill Gates Donates $3 Billion to Charity

Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to just give away $3 billion to charity without it even nearly bankrupting you?

Comment found on the article at c.net news: http://news.com.com/5208-7343-0.html?forumID=1&threadID=1443&messageID=6694&start=-1

Thank you Citizen Gates for giving us a bonus, thank you Citizen Gates on giving away your bonus to charity, Thank you Citizen Gates on donating the money to your own Foundation that supplies Windows PC’s to Libraries that helps them buy more Wintel Cartel PC’s that lines your own pockets with money in return, Thank you Citizen Gates for being so smart that the Little Citizens won’t be able to figure this out, Thank you!

Also, if you’re interested in reading what a real journalist has to say about gates, as opposed to reading regurgitated PR slop, check out this article at Greg Palast’s site - http://www.gregpalast.com/detail.cfm?artid=241&row=1

Oops - I guess this supposed “journalist” Greg Palast would rather have schools be without computers, kids without vaccinations, etc. Believe it or not, people in Africa have received free medical treatment that they would not have received otherwise. Inner city schools have received free computers and net access that they wouldn’t have otherwise received.

Majeye - that is a stretch…even for you. About the donations being Wintel PCs…I wonder why. You know, poor libraries and schools commit so much to MS’s bottom line :stuck_out_tongue:

Ahhh. I was looking at the ‘Who’s Online’ section and noticed kirupa was on this thread for more than ten minutes… It’s gotta be love :love:

It takes time to read through satire…err “kwality writing” posed as journalism :stuck_out_tongue:

well what you consider satire, and ‘kwality writing’ i consider investigative journalism at its finest (Palast broke the story about the theft of the 2000 election, and was all but censored in America), and what i consider regurgitated PR for Gates (posing as journalism), you consider the word of god…

Well - have you ever seen firsthand the effects of the BG and MG foundation on schools, libraries, etc.? Some people in the world such as Greg simply can’t be pleased. He is wrong for helping, he is wrong for not helping :stuck_out_tongue:

No i have never witnessed firsthand the effects of BG and MG’s supposed charity… and im sure neither of us have ever been to Africa, and witnessed firsthand the effects of his TRIPS program…

I think that Greg’s point is that what Bill Gates’ idea of helping is not exactly the same as everybody else’s idea of helping… I could explain it, but i’d just be paraphrasing his article, (the one that you have decided is shoddy), so i’ll save some typing, and we’ll have to just agree to disagree…

I’m glad you have so much faith in something that you simply read in an article.

I have been to India where I did see firsthand his charitable donations to help vaccinate and fight AIDS. I have no doubt that similar results occur in Africa, for the delivery method employed there is similar to what has been done in India. I spend a great deal of my time volunteering in areas such as libraries, and I actually have seen firsthand what their charity has been able to accomplish in providing equipment and train individuals.

So, while you base your experiences on some article you read, I base mine on what I have witnessed in the real world :stuck_out_tongue:

To be fair, other companies also donate to similar causes. A charity that I donate to in India has had computers donated by HP. Steve Wozniak, the co-founder of Apple, has done some really great things to help schools around the country. So have Steve Jobs, Michael Dell, among many others.

One will be amazed at how far $1 dollar goes in 3rd world countries!

:stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

Great, im glad that you are doing stuff… I’ve never seen the effects of his ‘charity’, and you have… All i am saying is that there are two sides to every story, and we represent opposite sides. You are of the belief that Bill Gates is a decent man, who does his best to help the poor victims of the world, and i am of the belief that his interests revolve soley around making money, and trying to keep the tarnish off of his public image.

I see through his PR ploy of donating money to a charity, when its his own charity. Get it??

So, while you base your experiences on some article you read, I base mine on what I have witnessed in the real world

Low blow… I base my arguements on what i have witnessed in the real world too… While it’s commendable that you’re paying homage to the few positive things that the rich and famous do, i can’t help but notice the way that the richest countries (corporations and politicians, hand in hand), continually exploit the poorest nations, and trap them into unfair trade agreements, offering loans (packaged with many stipulations) instead of monetary gifts, and policies that perpetuate poverty in underdeveloped countries.

I am disgusted by the fact that the love of money (greed) trumps humanitarian values every time. And that’s as real as it gets.

“The power of accurate observation is often called cynicism by those that do not have it.” - George Bernard Shaw

Yes - because it is his OWN charity, he is able to provide help with less bureacratic interference. If he went via the UN, the World Bank, or the Asian Development Bank, you and your sources will be complaining about it also :stuck_out_tongue:

Bill Gates never expects countries to pay him back for his money. That is the difference between his organization and the others that you are muddling together.

About him promoting Windows PCs…well, of course that’s what he would do. Sun/IBM donate Linux based machines around the world, Apple donates Macs, HP donates HPs, Dell donates Dells, etc. So I’m guessing they are doing it because they think that kids in a country where the average family income per day is less than a dollar will somehow buy their products that even using local prices are beyond their means? :bad:

Bill Gates never expects countries to pay him back for his money. That is the difference between his organization and the others that you are muddling together.

Thats because his ‘payback’ comes in the extension of his Monopoly to a world-wide scale. Sure he sets up local libraries with some Microsoft Windows based PCs, but who then collects the money when they are forced to buy his propietary software??

So you knew i would suggest that, and threw forth the idea that nobody can afford this software, based soley on what the national average daily income is… Well, its an average, kirupa, which means that for every person below a dollar a day, there is an equal amount that is above that… For example, this means that for every sixty people that make no money in a day, there is one person who makes $60 dollars a day… (just an example)

If these countries are so economically distraught that they can’t afford this and that, then i would think that a priority would be clothing and shelter, not access to a Computer…

How the hell is a kid that comes from a family that has an income of less than a dollar per day going to benefit from having access to a computer?? Maybe he can search the internet, and gain access to information about the policies and corporations that help to keep him in poverty?? Or perhaps he can learn a fraction of English, and then become an AOL customer service representative, as it is much cheaper to pay him, then it would be to pay an American minimum wage… perhaps that is the goal…

Why is Bill Gates Giving Away Billions - http://www.newdemocracyworld.org/Bill-Gates-3.pdf

In other words, it’s ok for the kid to not have any skills so he can choose a field of work that pays him more than the average job in his country? Just because he is poor, he is not entitled to use a computer or learn something that could keep him from a sweatshop? That’s ignorance at its best.

It’s a choice. The kid doesn’t have to use a computer if he doesn’t want to. I haven’t heard any stories of kids being held at gunpoint in order to learn VB or format a computer. I’m sure you have though… :stuck_out_tongue:

Just because he is poor, he is not entitled to use a computer? That’s ignorance at its best.

Ignorance at its best is you putting words into my mouth. I never said that. My whole arguement is that Bill Gates is helping himself more than he is helping other people. Are others being helped. Yes. Who is ultimately beneffiting the most? Mr. Gates. That is my point.

I’m sure you have a ton of links for that aslo

Your ridicule is infuriating, but im sure that is its purpose…

By the way, did you read that last link, or was the title enough for you to make up your mind? Or hey, i posted it, so it must be flawed, right??

I only respond to what you wrote. I’m not sure how else one can interpret what you wrote above? How is it going to benefit him - I answered it in my previous post. Would it be better if he did not know how to access a computer? Or if he did not get vaccinated? Or if he does not have books in a library?

I briefed through your article…I unfortunately read all the ones that get posted. Bill Gates donated money. Rockefeller donated money. Therefore, Bill Gates = Rockefeller. Rockefeller = evil. Bill Gates = evil.

I don’t follow such logic for it is flawed at its core :stuck_out_tongue:

“How the hell is a kid that comes from a family that has an income of less than a dollar per day going to benefit from having access to a computer??”

does not equate to:

“Poor people have no rights to access computers…”

Speaking of flawed logic, you summed up that article with this equation: Bill Gates donated money. Rockefeller donated money. Therefore, Bill Gates = Rockefeller. Rockefeller = evil. Bill Gates = evil.

Please read and comprehend. It was a comparison that illustrated the authors point. His point wasn’t the comparison alone. His point was that, Bill Gates, like Rockefeller, uses PR campaigns to convince the masses that he is a good guy. It apparently works on some people…

hehe - getting various world issues confused now, aren’t we?

It’s PR to you for you have never witnessed any of things first hand besides an online article. Again, I am only writing what you mention.

I have witnessed first hand what happens. What you see as “PR”, I see it as an inner-city library in Birmingham that received computer access, a poor child in India that got vaccinated against polio, and a school in rural AL that got computers.

That inner-city library in Birmingham that received computer access, while arguably beneficial to the local kids, also helped to line the pockets of the company that sold those computers, and services. That poor child in India that got vaccinated against polio helped to make an American pharmaceutical company richer, and cheated the local, more affordable generic drug company out of what would have been a big contract for such an underadvantaged company.

As far as that school in rural AL that got computers - I didn’t know Alabama even had electricty. Good for them… :stuck_out_tongue:

seeing as how we will never see eye to eye on this, i wish to re-iterate my final point, which tended to get lost in my irate blatherings on about the international elite, and their plans to remain at the pinnacle of the worldwide class system through the use of propoganda techniques, and PR compaigns that masquerade as news, in order to dominate those on the lower rungs of society: I am disgusted by the fact that the love of money (greed) trumps humanitarian values every time.

hehe - reality majeye is different than what you read from those sources you claim as real journalists. You should see reality sometime. She is a cool person :slight_smile:

  1. The vaccines from what I saw were from an Indian pharma company - Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories to be more specific that actually make cheaper generic versions of US drugs. They even trade in the US stock market, but I’m sure you knew that. The doctors were rural doctors who got the training to treat such cases in the future. I guess your “real journalists” never bothered to mention this in their tirade.

EDIT: Bill Gates’s organization provided the funding for the vaccines and the training. Not sure why the local pharma. company wouldn’t do this out of their own charity without relying on outside help. Bad company. Bad!

  1. A school/library that did not have a computer previously now has it due to the generosity of a few organizations including the Gates Foundation. The computers were heavily subsidized by Dell. Believe it or not, Dell donated the hardware, MS donated the software, and the Gates foundation helped provide the training for the people to help run it. I am not sure how a company that sells something for zero economic profit would make a lot of money or line these mysterious pockets :stuck_out_tongue:

  2. Sweet Home Alabama!

These are only a few of the examples that probably go on daily by charitable organization such as the Bill Gates foundation. I have no doubt that if such things happened in AL and India, that it does not happen elsewhere.

:gm:

well the article i read was regarding the pharmaceutical methods in africa, not india, which neither of us are in a position to comment on, without quoting outside sources.

i made an assumption that the pharmaceuticals you were referring to, were coming from an American company, however, my assumption was wrong. (well, not technically, if you say they trade in the US stock market…)

You obviously know more about the great things the Bill Gates Foundation does than i ever will, as i have never seen firsthand their charity work, save for the PR releases that get passed off as news. Honestly, i do not believe that BG is or will ever be a decent person. A cunning and brilliant cut-throat business man that is at the top of his game? Yes. A good hearted person who generally cares? Sorry, no. That is my belief, and sometimes i base my arguements on my beliefs, and they (the arguements) can turn out to be wrong. It does not make my beliefs wrong (or right), but it does make me feel stupid for stepping out on a limb, and making an assumption when i do not know the facts.

EDIT: “Bill Gates’s organization provided the funding for the vaccines and the training.”

[COLOR=Red]Well look at it this way… When Bill Gates donates money to his own charity, and that charity uses that money to buy a bunch of MS software, for donation to a local school, where does that money end up?? Back in Bill Gates hands… [/COLOR]

can you feel my outrage?? :scream:


Regarding sources:

The sources that i read often portray the opposite side of the story that is trumpeted by every mainline media source, and therefore, i put more stock into what they say, simply because more often than not, they are not allowed to say it. Such is the case with Palast’s reporting - an American Investigative Journalist, reduced to writing for British papers, as American publishments are too tightly controlled by mega-corporations to print his work.

Crap on michael moore all you want (hell, i’ll even help you), but i really do think that Greg Palast has got his stuff together. Of course, anyone with a right-leaning political bias will not be able to admit this, just as someone with a left-leaning political bias will never admit that sometimes Bill O’Reilly can make some good points…