tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8695598.post5112648941051308588..comments2023-12-17T19:35:07.459-08:00Comments on Bouphonia: A Matter of PrinciplePhilahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15849261651028725772noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8695598.post-89839466653224195662007-07-17T13:04:00.000-07:002007-07-17T13:04:00.000-07:00I personally have mixed feelings about the Bill an...<I>I personally have mixed feelings about the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation being anything but PR and self-serving tax dodge, but it seems about as close a thing among the modern tycoons to Carnegie's funding of public libraries all across the US as you might find.</I><BR/><BR/>My feelings about it are pretty negative. I'm sure they do some good, but they could do far more by changing Microsoft's methods of doing business (never mind the Foundation's investment priorities).<BR/><BR/>From what I know of Carnegie, he had sincere ideals, and those ideals are almost completely beyond the pale these days, politically speaking. So the comparison seems completely out of line to me, in historical terms...except to the extent that it's about rich people giving away money to address what they see (or depend on) as problems. Given that economics is supposed to be the philosophical center of our lives, it's a little frustrating to see how little time the "experts" spend explaining the larger context of economic decisions.<BR/><BR/>But then, this is one of those topics on which I'm a bit of an extremist.Philahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15849261651028725772noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8695598.post-54814735238049720202007-07-17T10:51:00.000-07:002007-07-17T10:51:00.000-07:00Tom,You're right...that was a typo. I've fixed it....Tom,<BR/><BR/>You're right...that was a typo. I've fixed it. Thanks!Philahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15849261651028725772noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8695598.post-32672420868207160492007-07-17T00:55:00.000-07:002007-07-17T00:55:00.000-07:00http://www.responsiblewealth.org/Here ya go, Phila...http://www.responsiblewealth.org/<BR/><BR/>Here ya go, Phila. This was set up to combat the elimination of the estate tax by Bill Gates, Sr (the father of the Microsoft weenie) and Buffet and a few other ultra-rich guys.<BR/><BR/><BR/>::: "We can have a democratic society or we can have great concentrated wealth in the hands of a few. We cannot have both."<BR/><BR/>– Louis Brandeis<BR/>Supreme Court Justice<BR/>(1916-39):::Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8695598.post-39136433214941860112007-07-17T00:51:00.000-07:002007-07-17T00:51:00.000-07:00Hey, wait a sec. Warren Buffet is in favour of rai...Hey, wait a sec. Warren Buffet is in favour of raising taxes on the ultra-rich like himself. He's a vocal critic of Bush's tax cuts on the wealthy.<BR/><BR/>I personally have mixed feelings about the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation being anything but PR and self-serving tax dodge, but it seems about as close a thing among the modern tycoons to Carnegie's funding of public libraries all across the US as you might find.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com