Did y'all see this? "Thirty US billionaires pledge to give away half their fortunes to charity"

[MorningGlow]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=4491217

Maybe some folks are "getting it"... :)

[I Have A Dream]

1. Fingers crossed...

:D

[MorningGlow]

7. Indeed!

We must hope.

[Celebration]

2. Warren Buffett

Do you all realize that he refuses to leave any money to his children? They get to administer some money in a charitable trust. But his son recently had to refinance an average size house. He also believes in the estate tax. He and Bill Gates are big buddies, but I don't think they see eye to eye on things like this.

[Kind of Blue]

5. Yeah, "But Peter Buffett doesn't seem to mind...

In his new memoir, Life Is What You Make It, he explains that he's glad his father didn't let him take the easy way out. With plenty of emotional support — but little financial support from his parents — Peter Buffett has become an Emmy Award-winning musician....

Mr. BUFFETT: Yeah, exactly. And, you know, we knew that he would always give his money back to society, essentially. We didn't know he would do it when he was still alive. And we didn't know we would be recipients of some of that. So to suddenly, in 2006, be told you are going to get a pledge of a billion dollars for a foundation was extraordinary. And thats to each of us, individually. It was an extraordinary thing...

And we found that young girls, adolescent girls in the developing world in particular, are the greatest undervalued asset we've ever seen. And if you support the girl, you support the family, you support the community, and it just ripples out all over the world, frankly.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126538348

I think Gates is in on this: "Buffett said he, Bill and Melinda Gates, and a few others have made 70 to 80 calls to some of the nation's wealthiest individuals. The people who agreed to the pledge are from 13 states, with the most participants in California and New York.

Gates and Buffett estimate their efforts could generate $600 billion dollars in charitable giving. "
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128980429

[Cleita]

3. Well, I'm not holding my breath for that money

funding anything meaningful like cheap and comprehensive, non-profit health insurance or things that people can use, like housing and food and free education for deserving kids. I'm sort of anti-charity because I don't believe charities solve social problems. It actually takes socialism to do that and a government that is not afraid to tax the wealthy to pay for those programs. Also charities are another way to make money. I found out that by law only a third of money collected is required to go directly into charitable efforts. The rest can be spent on administrative expenses and fund raising, meaning expensive mailings and fat cat salaries for executives. Also, those millionaires can take a nice fat tax deduction, stiffing the government Treasury even more meaning our schools and health programs will be further squeezed for lack of money.

[OneGrassRoot]

4. This group goes more in that direction...

http://www.faireconomy.org/issues/responsible_wealth

:)

[Proud_Lefty]

6. Great points

I've always had the feeling that most of these charities are a sham. I'm being hit up by my niece right now to donate or walk for the cancer society. I know that the cancer society makes a lot of money and I have no idea how much of that money goes for any type of cure or assistance. I keep hearing rumors that a cure has been found, but it can't be unleashed because too many people are making a lot of money off cancer patients and their loving family raising for the cancer society. I might be way off here, but it's how I feel and I would rather send money directly to the person in my niece's life with cancer. That's to say I had the extra money and wasn't already bombarded with donation requests. I just don't know how to tell my niece that - she'd be so offended.

[Why Syzygy]

8. .

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=245&topic_id=102791&mesg_id=102979

Why Syzygy Mon Oct-05-09 03:11 PM
Response to Original message
10. SPV

Next year Warren Buffett will do something that will improve our society.

“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.”
http://bankling.com/2009/warren-buffett-speaks-25-best-warren-buffett-quotes-on-his-strategies-investments-and-cheap-suits/

[MorningGlow]

9. !!

:thumbsup: :applause:

[Kind of Blue]

10. DITTO!!!