Warren Buffet (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/26/AR2006062601229.html)

BELIEVING THAT billionaires should leave their kids enough to do anything but not enough to do nothing, Warren E. Buffett always planned to devote most of his fortune to philanthropy. But he did not plan to do it while still living, and he did not plan to endow somebody else's foundation. On Sunday, Mr. Buffett, who is 75 and in good health, announced a change of mind. The world's second-richest man will start giving his wealth away next month, and most of it will go to the charity founded by the world's richest couple: the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. (Mr. Buffett and Ms. Gates are directors of The Washington Post Co.)

Andrew Carnegie gave away $7.2 billion, measured in today's dollars. John D. Rockefeller and his eponymous son gave away a combined $12.6 billion. Mr. Buffett's donation to the Gates Foundation of 10 million shares in his investment company, Berkshire Hathaway Inc., is worth $30.7 billion at today's share price and may be worth substantially more by the time all the stock is handed over. But the scale of Mr. Buffett's philanthropy is matched by its good sense. Rather than insisting that his name be engraved on libraries and concert halls built with his money, Mr. Buffett has chosen to give through fellow billionaires who have already figured out how to use philanthropic money effectively. Like the master investor that he is, Mr. Buffett has identified star managers and taken a stake in their enterprise.

It would be nice if this example inspired others. Smallish private foundations often achieve less than might be hoped: Some have large overheads relative to grants; others hold down staff costs but compromise on professional standards. On the other hand, larger and well-run philanthropic foundations can be wonderful things: They are at least as sophisticated as government programs but are untrammeled by the oversight and second-guessing that necessarily come with taxpayers' money. This frees them to concentrate their resources on a few big challenges without regard to political considerations and to make long-term commitments that governments have trouble sustaining. Before the Gates Foundation became involved in global health, vaccine makers had all but withdrawn from the developing world because they couldn't predict when public money would be available to finance vaccine purchases. By endowing a vaccine purchase fund with $1.5 billion, the Gates Foundation transformed incentives for the vaccine industry. The increased inoculation rate in poor countries has already saved more than a million lives.

The Gates Foundation had already been expanding: It expects to give away $1.5 billion this year, up from about $1.2 billion two years ago. Mr. Buffett wants his money used at a rate of about $1.5 billion per year, meaning that the pace of grants will double. This is bound to present challenges for an outfit that employs just over 200 people. But the Gates Foundation's mix of scientists and business types has already proved its creativity. "What can be more logical, in whatever you want done, than finding someone better equipped than you are to do it?" Mr. Buffett told Fortune magazine as he explained his decision to go with the Gates team. "Who wouldn't select Tiger Woods to take his place in a high-stakes golf game?"

I have to give a lot of credit to the Gates as well.

I think both are heroes. They are the ultimate in successful business folks who are using their wealth for the betterment of mankind. I have no doubt that the Gates foundation is much better at spending money wisely and more efficiently than government or most charities.

Stephen Colbert had a good quote when he discussed this: "Warren Buffett is so rich he hired Bill Gates to spend his money."

LOL! Isn't Bill Gates richer than Warren Buffet?

LOL! Isn't Bill Gates richer than Warren Buffet?
Well, yeah, but we can't let things like that get in the way of a good one-liner. :)

A local radio show was talking about this last night. One of the listeners called in and asked what his children felt about him donating the bulk of his wealth. I just had to laugh. His poor children will only be getting the remaining 10 billion. I hope they can make ends meet.

I was wondering how much he left him... of course, maybe he's got a lot of them. :p If every sperm he ever produced fertilized an egg....

By donating stock instead of cash, he is able to do what he wants with his money without having to pay taxes on the Cap Gains.

Notable tax dodge from one of the weathiest men on the planet.

The charities can now cash out the stocks tax free, Buffet still gets his name on more brass plaques and stuff, and good work is carried out.

By donating stock instead of cash, he is able to do what he wants with his money without having to pay taxes on the Cap Gains. Notable tax dodge from one of the weathiest men on the planet.He wouldn't pay taxes anyway since it's a bequest to a charitable organization, so he isn't "dodging" anything. The charity doesn't pay income tax either, so they aren't dodging anything either.

I think the bequest is in the form of stocks just because it's convenient and because selling a ton of stock will make it a lot more volatile. (His stocks dropped 2% in value by the announcement alone.)

He wouldn't pay taxes anyway since it's a bequest to a charitable organization, so he isn't "dodging" anything. The charity doesn't pay income tax either, so they aren't dodging anything either.

I think the bequest is in the form of stocks just because it's convenient and because selling a ton of stock will make it a lot more volatile. (His stocks dropped 2% in value by the announcement alone.)

I said that.

Thanks for repeating what I said in a different way.

I don't know if it's still accurate, but I remember while I was at Microsoft, Bill always stated that his kids were only going to get a million each and that the rest of his wealth was going to the Foundation. It may not be true now, even a million has devalued a lot since even the 90's.

Bah! Rich old guys with money, heroes my a$$. Heroes are people with NOTHING who go and help people with LESS. Those are heroes.
I also wish I was rich to invest my money and have its interest do my good deeds while I live a life of luxury and wealth throwing away food and wasting water and not recycling, etc.
Thanks but no thanks. If you got rich, filthy rich, selling stuff to the average joe, maybe, just maybe you should have lowered the prices a bit and increased your employees wages.

Bah.

I think he got rich investing rich people's money.

You might want to read about the guy before you condemn him: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_Buffet

Despite his immense wealth, Buffett is famous for his unpretentious and frugal lifestyle. He continues to live in the same house in Omaha he bought in 1958 for $31,500,[5] although he also owns a summer house in Laguna Beach, California. His annual salary from Berkshire Hathaway of $100,000[1] is nominal by the standards of senior executive remuneration in the United States.[6]

He's a progressive:

Views on taxes
[edit]

Estate tax

Buffett told The New York Times that the inheritance tax played a "critical role" in promoting economic growth by helping create a society in which success is based on merit rather than inheritance. Repealing the estate tax, he said, would be equivalent to "choosing the 2020 Olympic team by picking the eldest sons of the gold-medal winners in the 2000 Olympics."
[edit]

Dividend tax

When the U.S. Senate discussed a proposal that dividends be made 50% tax free in 2003, then 100% tax free in 2004 through 2006, Buffett wrote an opinion piece in the Washington Post saying it would "further tilt the tax scales toward the rich".

Buffett posed a hypothetical situation in which Berkshire Hathaway, which does not pay a dividend, paid $1 billion in dividends next year. His 31% ownership would give him an additional $310 million in income (tax free). This would reduce his tax rate from about 30% to 3%, while his office secretary would still have a tax rate of about 30%. "The 3% overall federal tax rate I would pay - if a Berkshire dividend were to be tax free - seems a bit light", Buffett wrote.

Instead of the Senate's tax-cut plan, Buffett proposed it provide tax reductions to those who need and will spend the money in the form of a Social Security tax "holiday" or a tax rebate to lower-income people. "Putting $1,000 in the pockets of 310,000 families with urgent needs is going to provide far more stimulus to the economy than putting the same $310 million in my pockets", Buffett added.
[edit]

Property tax

Warren Buffett used his own properties to illustrate an example.

His home in Omaha, Nebraska, is valued at about $500,000 and its recent annual property tax was $14,401. His first home in Laguna Beach, California, purchased in the 1970s is valued at $4 million and its recent annual property tax was $2,264. His second home adjacent to the first was bought in the 1990s and is valued at $2 million with a recent tax of $12,202.

Buffett said in a Wall Street Journal interview that taxes on the two homes should be based on value, just like his home in Omaha, but instead is based on purchase date, as a consequence of limitations on increases in property tax established by California Proposition 13 (1978).

"In effect, it makes no sense", Buffett told the Wall Street Journal, in reference to large differences in tax assessments by purchase date.
[edit]

Income tax

Buffett opposed President George W. Bush's income tax cuts as favoring the wealthy. "If class warfare is being waged in America", he wrote, "my class is clearly winning". In the 2004 presidential election he supported Democratic candidate John Kerry and served as Kerry's economic adviser.

Bah! Rich old guys with money, heroes my a$$. Heroes are people with NOTHING who go and help people with LESS. Those are heroes.
I also wish I was rich to invest my money and have its interest do my good deeds while I live a life of luxury and wealth throwing away food and wasting water and not recycling, etc.
Thanks but no thanks. If you got rich, filthy rich, selling stuff to the average joe, maybe, just maybe you should have lowered the prices a bit and increased your employees wages.

Bah.

Bah also :) . Do I sense some envy? Automatically condemning rich, old people. is called intolerance and prejudice. Sure, there are lots of heroes out there. They come in all shapes, sizes and backgrounds. Being rich doesn't disqualify someone from being a hero.

Who do you think will have the capacity to do more good? A person with NOTHING or a person with LOTS OF MONEY. We're not talking esoteric, high-moral ground, idealistic stuff here. We're talking real stuff like food, water, medicine and education.

There is a rich family in Canada called the Bronfmans (of Seagrams distillery fame). They also lived very frugally, including mending their own socks. Unfortunately, this lasts one, maybe two generations. Their offspring tend to take things for granted.

WITH the possible exception of Robert Mondavi and his truculent offspring, no family in the wine and spirits world has attracted more attention over the years than the Bronfmans, the Canadian founders of the Seagram liquor empire. From Prohibition, when their illegal booze slaked our national thirst, to the 1990's, when the lure of show business and Hollywood caused them to lose both Seagram and a vast fortune, the Bronfmans were rarely out of the press. Their immense wealth, their shame over their bootlegger reputation, and their unrelenting quest for social status and corporate respectability, abetted by legions of flacks, made them irresistible targets in the financial pages and the gossip columns.
Source (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/25/books/review/25prial.html?ex=1308888000&en=8544f083814b36b8&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss)

Sounds like the drug lords of their day.

Lawsuits and loopholes
The Bronfman family got permission from Revenue Canada in 1991 to move $2 billion in assets out of the country without paying capital gains taxes.

They avoided paying as much as $700 million in taxes when they moved two family trusts to the United States.

The Bronfmans used a loophole in the Income Tax Act to get their money out of Canada legally. The loophole has since been closed, but social activist George Harris sued the federal government for letting the Bronfmans evade the taxes.

Harris lost the lawsuit last year.

Source: Canadian Taxpayer Federation



Yup a real bunch of hero's

Ok, how is that related to Warren Buffett?

well, he had to start up that kind of stuff since 6/6/6 didn't work out =/

Ok, how is that related to Warren Buffett?
Thicket was comparing their niceness with Warren Buffet's niceness.

Warren buffet is listed on current board of directors for Coca-Cola. And a member of Bilderberg.

Population-elimination advocates

Ted Turner: "If I could do things over, I would never have had five children."1 (Turner did not indicate which of his kids he would have eliminated. They must wonder.) "Everybody should have one child, like China has. People who abhor the China one-child policy are 'dumb-dumbs'."1 (Turner has already given $1 billion to population elimination.) "What we need to have for 100 years is a [worldwide] one-child policy."

Warren Buffett: (The primary funder of International Projects Assistance Services, which manufactures a hand-held suction pump used in developing countries to initiate abortion.)2 "Buffett money has enabled dozens of Planned Parenthood clinics to add abortion… services."2 "The Buffett Foundation has helped finance research on the abortion pill, RU-486."
1 Reuters, September 11, 1998.
2 Business Week, October 25, 1999.
3 Soul Magazine, January, 1999.

Bill Gates:Gave $545,000 to the German Foundation for World Population (Deutsche Stiftung Weltbevolkerung) to help bring about "a humane decline in world population growth. (Sources - Gates Foundation and German Foundation web site.) On October 13, 1999, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation gave a grant of $1.7 million to the International Planned Parenthood Federation.


Warren Buffett (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_%26_Melinda_Gates_Foundation#The_Warren_Buffe tt_Donation)Gives 30 B to Gates, 3.3B to promote RU486

RU486 or mifepristone, aka The "abortion pill"
-Women using mifepristone (RU-486) have suffered numerous health problems including DEATH.

It's nice that these Philanthropists are so interested in helping us not have children. Which leads me to their charitable vaccination programs.

Tetanus vaccines deliberately designed to abort third-world babies
Do tetanus vaccines really kill babies? Only if the vaccine is intentionally altered.

Has that ever happened?

The fact that tetanus vaccines were used to kill babies in the Philippines was documented by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in 1951 and verified by the Philippine Department of Health and the Philippine Medical Association.2 (Note: This BBC program has never been aired on United States television.)
How is the vaccine altered? A chemical called Human Chorionic Gonadotrophin (HCG), a hormone essential for maintaining pregnancy, is intentionally put in the tetanus vaccines and given to women of child-bearing age. Dr. Reynaldo Echavez of the Philippine Medical Association stated that the presence of the HCG in the tetanus shot would cause the women to develop HCG antibodies, which will then cause spontaneous abortion if the women become pregnant.
Did it actually kill babies? Indeed, many Filipino women, including Dr. Vilma Gonzaga, suffered miscarriages as a direct result of the intentionally altered tetanus vaccine.

Is this an isolated incident?

The BBC report said, "There are several research programmes around the world testing the contraceptive vaccine linked to tetanus, which creates an immune response."
How is this related to the Gates Foundation gift? According to published reports, the tetanus program funded by the Gates Foundation shares two important elements with the Philippines attack on babies:

1) it is focused on providing tetanus vaccines only to women of child-bearing age; and
2) the vaccine is reportedly being provided by the World Health Organization (they also provided the Philippines vaccine3).

Hero? I guess it depends on your perspective.

Warren Buffett: (The primary funder of International Projects Assistance Services, which manufactures a hand-held suction pump used in developing countries to initiate abortion

If they just adjust that the right way, they would not have a need for the abortion in the first place.

Lol Swiftfox... I never said the Bronfmans were heroes. I said they were rich, frugal and darned their own socks. My point was that many rich people don't throw their money around. I believe that frugality is one of the reasons they become rich.

They made their initial fortune selling booze to Americans during Prohibition out of Estevan, Saskatchewan.

There's a good book titled The Bronfman Dynasty by Peter C. Newman if you want to read about their rise to wealth.

Bill Gates:Gave $545,000 to the German Foundation for World Population (Deutsche Stiftung Weltbevolkerung) to help bring about "a humane decline in world population growth. (Sources - Gates Foundation and German Foundation web site.) On October 13, 1999, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation gave a grant of $1.7 million to the International Planned Parenthood Federation.
Excellent! Providing birth control and education to people in 3rd world countries is something that's definitely worth funding.

How is this related to the Gates Foundation gift? According to published reports, the tetanus program funded by the Gates Foundation shares two important elements with the Philippines attack on babies:

1) it is focused on providing tetanus vaccines only to women of child-bearing age; and
2) the vaccine is reportedly being provided by the World Health Organization (they also provided the Philippines vaccine3).
Hello, McFly! Neonatal tetanus is a major contributor to high infant mortality rates in 3rd world countries.

Bill Gates:Gave $545,000 to the German Foundation for World Population (Deutsche Stiftung Weltbevolkerung) to help bring about "a humane decline in world population growth.


Did it actually kill babies? Indeed, many Filipino women, including Dr. Vilma Gonzaga, suffered miscarriages as a direct result of the intentionally altered tetanus vaccine.

Whatever you say Biff.

Leave it to Swifty to find a conspiracy lurking behind every good act.:crazy:

If the WHO was trying to kill children then they were doing a crappy job. In the decade following their arrival in the Philippines, both the infant mortality rate and the maternal mortality rate dropped by more than 25%.

Boy, those WHO folks are a real bunch of butchers. :rolleyes:

LOL it just gets better


The Boston Herald article reported Roach’s comments as follows: “His prediction: America has no better than a 10 percent chance of avoiding economic "Armageddon…Roach sees a 30 percent chance of a slump soon and a 60 percent chance that ‘we'll muddle through for a while and delay the eventual Armageddon.’"
Furthermore, globalist banker & billionaire Warren Buffett is warning of a global financial collapse and the precipitous drop in the dollar in a recent Forbes Magazine. Buffett has personally bet at least $20 billion against the U.S. dollar, and said the following: "The rest of the world owns $10 trillion of us, or $3 trillion net. If lots of people try to leave the market, we'll have chaos because they won't get through the door."

The article went further: “A continuing fall in the dollar ‘could cause major disruptions in financial markets. There could be unpredictable side effects. It could be precipitated by some exogenous event like a Long-Term Capital Management,’ Buffett says, referring to the 1998 collapse of a steeply leveraged hedge fund.”

Warren Buffett is strongly linked to the Rothschild banking syndicate, and Buffett brought Arnold Schwarzenegger to visit Lord Jacob Rothschild’s Buckinghamshire estate in 2002. Buffett’s dire warnings likely represent the sentiments of the Rothschilds and others in European financier dynasties dominating the New World Order overclass; those who hope to use a worldwide depression to seize assets, depopulate the planet of “useless eaters,” and create a unipolar biometric police state

-----------------------------
Billionaire software kingpin and Bilderberg member Bill Gates, who recently hosted Chinese police state head President Hu, is also shorting the dollar. Last January, Bloomberg quoted Gates predicting a collapse in the U.S. currency. He said, “I’m short the dollar. The ‘ol dollar, it’s gonna go down…It is a bit scary. We're in uncharted territory when the world's reserve currency has so much outstanding debt.”
The article continued: “Gates's concern that widening U.S. budget and trade deficits are undermining the dollar was echoed in Davos by policymakers including European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.”
Billionare investor and Bilderberg member George Soros recently predicted a U.S. recession in 2006 or 2007. Soros believes a the U.S. housing bubble will soon collapse the Fed cannot keep the dollar propped up. Soros told the press, “Europe is growing relatively well... but a hard landing in the U.S. will be associated with a decline in the dollar which would hurt the European economy."

When THESE guys are betting on a collapse you better pay attention. Soon you may not be able to afford even that.

There's good reason to be concerned about the dollar. I don't expect an economic "Armageddon" but I fully expect things to get worse before they get better.

...Population-elimination advocates...I like these guys better already.

Sounds like the drug lords of their day.


Nothing wrong with rum running.

LOL it just gets better


The Boston Herald article reported Roach’s comments as follows: “His prediction: America has no better than a 10 percent chance of avoiding economic "Armageddon…Roach sees a 30 percent chance of a slump soon and a 60 percent chance that ‘we'll muddle through for a while and delay the eventual Armageddon.’"
Furthermore, globalist banker & billionaire Warren Buffett is warning of a global financial collapse and the precipitous drop in the dollar in a recent Forbes Magazine. Buffett has personally bet at least $20 billion against the U.S. dollar, and said the following: "The rest of the world owns $10 trillion of us, or $3 trillion net. If lots of people try to leave the market, we'll have chaos because they won't get through the door."

The article went further: “A continuing fall in the dollar ‘could cause major disruptions in financial markets. There could be unpredictable side effects. It could be precipitated by some exogenous event like a Long-Term Capital Management,’ Buffett says, referring to the 1998 collapse of a steeply leveraged hedge fund.”

Warren Buffett is strongly linked to the Rothschild banking syndicate, and Buffett brought Arnold Schwarzenegger to visit Lord Jacob Rothschild’s Buckinghamshire estate in 2002. Buffett’s dire warnings likely represent the sentiments of the Rothschilds and others in European financier dynasties dominating the New World Order overclass; those who hope to use a worldwide depression to seize assets, depopulate the planet of “useless eaters,” and create a unipolar biometric police state

Oh, good lord. The Protocols of the Elders of Zion shtick again. "The Yids own everything, they're trying to control us all. Lawdy lawdy."

-----------------------------
Billionaire software kingpin and Bilderberg member Bill Gates, who recently hosted Chinese police state head President Hu, is also shorting the dollar. Last January, Bloomberg quoted Gates predicting a collapse in the U.S. currency. He said, “I’m short the dollar. The ‘ol dollar, it’s gonna go down…It is a bit scary. We're in uncharted territory when the world's reserve currency has so much outstanding debt.”
The article continued: “Gates's concern that widening U.S. budget and trade deficits are undermining the dollar was echoed in Davos by policymakers including European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.”
Billionare investor and Bilderberg member George Soros recently predicted a U.S. recession in 2006 or 2007. Soros believes a the U.S. housing bubble will soon collapse the Fed cannot keep the dollar propped up. Soros told the press, “Europe is growing relatively well... but a hard landing in the U.S. will be associated with a decline in the dollar which would hurt the European economy."

When THESE guys are betting on a collapse you better pay attention. Soon you may not be able to afford even that.

Aye, it served as a warning. We, as a nation, need to get our debt under control. Part of that means not giving the extraordinarily wealthy huge tax breaks.

Who said anything about some Elder Zion yadda yada. If you don't think the Eliete of the world pull the strings of governments then you are sadly mistaken.

Who said anything about some Elder Zion yadda yada. If you don't think the Eliete of the world pull the strings of governments then you are sadly mistaken.

The Protocols of the Elders of Zion basically said the same thing you just said.

Wealthy Jewish banking families (ie the Rothschilds and some others) controlled the world.

Its particularly ridiculous.

Who said anything about some Elder Zion yadda yada. If you don't think the Eliete of the world pull the strings of governments then you are sadly mistaken.
So by that logic, Bill Gates is responsible for 9/11?

It was a diabolical plan to force people to upgrade to XP for added security features...with a well planned release of patches to fix exploitable loopholes purposely left in so people will buy Vista.

Bill Gates is also haxx0ringz your MicroHurts and causing starvation in Africa.