I don’t have a problem with guilt about money. The way I see it is that my money represents an enormous number of claim checks on society. It’s like I have these little pieces of paper that I can turn into consumption. If I wanted to, I could hire 10,000 people to do nothing but paint my picture every day for the rest of my life. And the GNP would go up. But the utility of the product would be zilch, and I would be keeping those 10,000 people from doing AIDS research, or teaching, or nursing. I don’t do that though. I don’t use very many of those claim checks. There’s nothing material I want very much. And I’m going to give virtually all of those claim checks to charity when my wife and I die.
Lately there has been a lot of talk about secret societies, new world order and illuminati all through out the internet. What are your thoughts, is this just speculation or is there some truth to it?
Here, Hal Lindsey discusses the Billionaires CLub: Bill Gates, David Rockefeller, Ted Turner, Oprah Winfrey Warren Buffet, George Soros, and Michael Bloomberg
Bill Gates outlines plan to cap global population…
You know things are good when you can’t find anything else to do with your money but to give it all away lol. With Bill Gates and Warren Buffett pledging to give their fortunes away, website bookies are betting which billionaire will jump in with the growing billionaire give away; check it out:
Bookmaker.com is inviting punters to place a bet on which wealthy individuals will join Gates, Buffett and other Forbes 400 billionaires in pledging half their fortune to charitable causes. According to a spokesperson for the gambling website, the bookies “calculated these odds by analyzing media reports and expert opinions being published lately on the topic.”
You can see the odds here if you fancy trying your luck. As of August 16th, hedge funder John Paulson, financier Carl Icahn and philanthropist George Soros are listed as the most likely billionaires to join Gates and co. Among the least likely, according to Bookmaker.com’s calculations: trader Paul Tudor Jones II, investor David Tepper and hedge fund head Bruce Kovner.
Bill Gates and Warren Buffett are setting the bar on how the wealthy should give charitable contributions. Gates and Buffet are urging the super wealthy to follow in their footsteps and give at least half their wealth away during their lifetime or at death. To the average person this may seem ridicules, but when you really think about it if a person who is worth 4 billion dollars gave away 2 billion it would not constitute a lifestyle change for them. Someone who is worth 2 billion more than likely has the same quality of life as someone worth 4 billion; when I looked at things from this perspective I could really understand why Gates and Buffett may ask others to pledge most of their wealth to charity.
On the other hand, Forbes.com throws a curve ball to this concept of the two moguls giving their wealth away, stating that it will actually hinder the economy rather than help; check it out:
In its latest issue, Fortune magazine reports that “Bill Gates, Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett are asking the nation’s billionaires to pledge at least half their net worth to charity, in their lifetime or at death.” Gates told Fortune that 50% of one’s wealth would constitute the “low bar” for giving, while Buffett has pledged to give 99% of his wealth away.
At first glance this is something to celebrate, for it rightly confirms that capitalism is, at its core, quite compassionate. The charitable ways of Gates and Buffett also provide living proof that the “trickle-down theory” is in fact reality.
And when we consider that the greedy hand of government will help itself to half of Gates’ and Buffett’s money upon death anyway, the idea of them depriving our federal masters while supporting good causes becomes even more appealing.
But while it’s exciting to contemplate the giving nature of Gates and Buffett, if their true desire is to help their fellow man, they should hoard every penny of their significant wealth. For the two richest men in the U.S. to monetize their wealth in order to support charities is for them to oversee the conversion of production goods to consumption goods. Some will no doubt benefit in the near term, but the removal of limited capital from the productive parts of the economy will ultimately reduce our standard of living, drive up unemployment and make individuals more as opposed to less needful of charity. Read More Here
Each year, Warren Buffett writes a letter to the shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway, a letter that is now as famous for his down-home wit and wisdom about investment and the foibles of Wall Street as it is for his report on Berkshire’s year. Here follows selected excerpts from his latest letter of his thoughts about bail-outs, bank bosses, risk management, real estate markets, M&A advisors, tap-dancing to work and more.
On Wall Street Bail-Outs
It has not been shareholders who have botched the operations of some of our country’s largest financial institutions. Yet they have borne the burden, with 90% or more of the value of their holdings wiped out in most cases of failure. Collectively, they have lost more than $500 billion in just the four largest financial fiascos of the last two years. To say these owners have been “bailed-out” is to make a mockery of the term.
On Wall Street Pay
The CEOs and directors of the failed companies..have largely gone unscathed…It is the behavior of these CEOs and directors that needs to be changed: If their institutions and the country are harmed by their recklessness, they should pay a heavy price – one not reimbursable by the companies they’ve damaged nor by insurance. CEOs and, in many cases, directors have long benefitted from oversized financial carrots; some meaningful sticks now need to be part of their employment picture as well.
On Risk Management
A CEO must not delegate risk control. It’s simply too important. At Berkshire, I both initiate and monitor every derivatives contract on our books, with the exception of operations-related contracts at a few of our subsidiaries… If Berkshire ever gets in trouble, it will be my fault. It will not be because of misjudgments made by a Risk Committee or Chief Risk Officer.
On Bank Governance
A board of directors of a huge financial institution is derelict if it does not insist that its CEO bear full responsibility for risk control. If he’s incapable of handling that job, he should look for other employment. And if he fails at it – with the government thereupon required to step in with funds or guarantees – the financial consequences for him and his board should be severe. For More Click Here
Alexis Diaz has always been a natural born Actress. From the start of a young age she had participated in plays and competed in talent shows. Always driven she had attended Temple university in Philadelphia, where she received her Bachelors of Arts Degree in theater.MORE
I don’t have a problem with guilt about money. The way I see it is that my money represents an enormous number of claim checks on society. It’s like I have these little pieces of paper that I can turn into consumption. If I wanted to, I could hire 10,000 people to do nothing but paint my picture every day for the rest of my life. And the GNP would go up. But the utility of the product would be zilch, and I would be keeping those 10,000 people from doing AIDS research, or teaching, or nursing. I don’t do that though. I don’t use very many of those claim checks. There’s nothing material I want very much. And I’m going to give virtually all of those claim checks to charity when my wife and I die.
