Bill Gates is one of the best people around today.

[Franko]

Discuss.

No...

[Franko]

Lets put things into perspective here, instead of claiming this guy is a wonderful philanthropic person, lets break it down into a few simple "known" facts...

Bill Gates net worth in 2011 is $56 Billion (that's his personal wealth)...

How did he acquire this vast fortune...

Through many underhanded business tactics in which many smaller companies were hurt and damaged with no thought or care for those who lost their livelihoods & businesses in the process...

There is no denying that he has donated some pretty large sums to charity but remember someone with this kind of money actually benefits financially themselves from doing so when you take into account all the legal loopholes in tax laws that a very clever team of accountants and lawyers who would obviously handle his financial affairs, would soon put to good use for the benefit of Mr Gates...

So... yes... while Mr Gates may appear to be a philanthropist and a very generous guy, just remember all those who had to suffer financially for him to become this so called philanthropist & good guy and the lives & livelihoods he wrecked in the process...

It's not jealousy or hatred I have for folk like him it's quite simply I can't understand why any one person would need such vast amounts of money which lets be honest, unless you were truly wreckless with it, no one person could spend that amount in one human lifetime on themselves...

So before you sing the praises of Mr Gates, consider how much more he could give (and others like him) and still be a very, very wealthy man with more than enough money left to live his life of luxury...

[Franko]

Bollocks Franko man! He has given away much more than he could've written off against tax. 28 billions he's given away so far! The mind boggles.

It's not a matter of how much he's given away so far, that doesn't make him some kind of guy to be admired when he and others like him have trampled over so many other people to get where they are today...

Like I said before he has trodden over many people on his way to the top (not to mention the use of cheap foreign labour, to make his products)...

There are far more worthy people in this world who personally do charity work in the poorest countries of the world and far more "normal" individuals all over the planet who's financial donations are the backbone of financing charity work worldwide...

Why not talk about these more deserving people instead and not make Bill Gates look like the saviour of all things wrong with this planet...

[Franko]

Like it or not, Gates Foundation is an *incredibly* important donor for international development and relief work. Things would be very different - worse - without them in the game.

Again you are giving him far more credit than he deserves, in 2009 in the US only a total of 13% of all money donated to charity came from ALL the US based "foundations" including his...

Worldwide the VAST majority of money donated to charities comes from the average person in the street. the figures are all there for you to google and see for yourself...

So I've no idea why folk here are trying to make this guy out to be something special when it's really Joe Public (including yourself if you donate) who should be getting the acknowledgments and credit and not all this arse licking and brown nosing of just one guy who donates a tiny drop in the ocean in the grand scheme of things... :rolleyes:

[Franko]

10s of billions! The guy is a legend!

Being Scottish, Franko can't see any benefits of giving money away.  It's not his fault

Still a small drop in ocean in comparison to total the public gives...

Being Scottish has nothing to do with it nor is the fact that all my money is on an elastic band...