money.cnn.com— Warren Buffett: The world's second richest man - who's now worth $44 billion - will start giving away 85% of his wealth in July - most of it to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Jun 25, 2006View in Crawl 4
"After a certain level of wealth you can live like a king for the rest of your life and your children will be provided for. What is the point of amassing more wealth? I don't have a problem with people being wealthy but after a certain point it is just vanity or lust for power that drives these people and then I have a problem with it."You could invest tens of billions in developing fusion power.You could invest in finding an affordable method of manned access to orbit.You could invest in extremely high-tech medical technologies, advancing medicine many decades in only one or two decades.You could invest in highly automated, environmentally clean methods of manufacturing.In other words, you could invest the funds in ways that would change the world for the better, whileas if all that extra money were to simply go to the Government, it would be pissed away into social(ist) programs.Either way, it is criminal to stop people from making more money than someone else thinks they "need".Where would the limit be? Some people may say it would be limited to a comfortable, wealthy lifestyle, but a poorer person might say once a person had a 3-bedroom house and two cars, that that should be the limit.Where would individual initiative go once people were limited to such low levels and nothing better?Down the toilet, and jusifiably - after all, if all your efforts would only yeild you so much, then why strive for more?Bottom line - governments should never, ever place a cap on what a person may earn or aquire.It would be communist.
"BUT!!!....how would you like to be one of his children? He has said that he doesn't believe in passing wealth from generation to generation. Bummer for his children."What you wind up with is a bunch of Paris Hilton clones. No thanks. They're the type of people giving the entire country a bad name.
This is just nothing short of amazing. For every single person in the USA, Buffet is giving away $125 - are you willing to "match" him and part with $125 of your own money? If so, please do so - I know I will try. To think that most of his life has gone into the accumulation of this wealth, makes it so very inspiring. I hope other billionaires will follow his (and others) example.
the wealth isn't accumulated, it's created. this is what communists/socialists, fascists, etc... don't understand. they believe there is a fixed amount of wealth that is redistributed. You can think of in terms of value. Someone produces more value, so they produce more wealth.
@sansburyOK. You go from litererary hand waving to argumentum ad hominem. Do you have anything that you can actually add to the conversation or do you just hate this man so much you can't form a logical thought in the presence of his quotation?
@AndrewLZIs wealth creation infinite? Does it know no limit? At any point in the human experience (past or present) would it be possible for an individual to create more wealth. Are fortunes ever created not through the creation of wealth? Would you put a company like Enron in the category of a fortune not created through wealth creation? What about monopolies? I'm not sold on the idea of scarcity myself so don't think I am completely hostile to your viewpoint. I do believe the idea that fortunes are always created through the generation of wealth (as opposed to its redistribution) is ludicrous.
It's good to see Warren Buffet kicking in to help those in need. Hopefully this will set off a trend, and other super-wealthy folks will do the same.BTW, a few of the comments on this page were hilarious... I about had a hernea laughing.
spybotJun 25, 2006
i agree. something is fishy in a big bad version of fishy
jpowell180Jun 25, 2006
"After a certain level of wealth you can live like a king for the rest of your life and your children will be provided for. What is the point of amassing more wealth? I don't have a problem with people being wealthy but after a certain point it is just vanity or lust for power that drives these people and then I have a problem with it."You could invest tens of billions in developing fusion power.You could invest in finding an affordable method of manned access to orbit.You could invest in extremely high-tech medical technologies, advancing medicine many decades in only one or two decades.You could invest in highly automated, environmentally clean methods of manufacturing.In other words, you could invest the funds in ways that would change the world for the better, whileas if all that extra money were to simply go to the Government, it would be pissed away into social(ist) programs.Either way, it is criminal to stop people from making more money than someone else thinks they "need".Where would the limit be? Some people may say it would be limited to a comfortable, wealthy lifestyle, but a poorer person might say once a person had a 3-bedroom house and two cars, that that should be the limit.Where would individual initiative go once people were limited to such low levels and nothing better?Down the toilet, and jusifiably - after all, if all your efforts would only yeild you so much, then why strive for more?Bottom line - governments should never, ever place a cap on what a person may earn or aquire.It would be communist.
millixawJun 26, 2006
"BUT!!!....how would you like to be one of his children? He has said that he doesn't believe in passing wealth from generation to generation. Bummer for his children."What you wind up with is a bunch of Paris Hilton clones. No thanks. They're the type of people giving the entire country a bad name.
gummihJun 26, 2006
This is just nothing short of amazing. For every single person in the USA, Buffet is giving away $125 - are you willing to "match" him and part with $125 of your own money? If so, please do so - I know I will try. To think that most of his life has gone into the accumulation of this wealth, makes it so very inspiring. I hope other billionaires will follow his (and others) example.
andrewlzJun 29, 2006
the wealth isn't accumulated, it's created. this is what communists/socialists, fascists, etc... don't understand. they believe there is a fixed amount of wealth that is redistributed. You can think of in terms of value. Someone produces more value, so they produce more wealth.
benschJul 1, 2006
Wiping out socialism here? You mean wiping out our money?
amphoraJul 1, 2006
@sansburyOK. You go from litererary hand waving to argumentum ad hominem. Do you have anything that you can actually add to the conversation or do you just hate this man so much you can't form a logical thought in the presence of his quotation?
amphoraJul 1, 2006
@AndrewLZIs wealth creation infinite? Does it know no limit? At any point in the human experience (past or present) would it be possible for an individual to create more wealth. Are fortunes ever created not through the creation of wealth? Would you put a company like Enron in the category of a fortune not created through wealth creation? What about monopolies? I'm not sold on the idea of scarcity myself so don't think I am completely hostile to your viewpoint. I do believe the idea that fortunes are always created through the generation of wealth (as opposed to its redistribution) is ludicrous.
modpancakeJul 1, 2006
It's good to see Warren Buffet kicking in to help those in need. Hopefully this will set off a trend, and other super-wealthy folks will do the same.BTW, a few of the comments on this page were hilarious... I about had a hernea laughing.