💯 The point of Capitalism is to make profit. To make profit, by definition, you must take more from a transaction than you put in. Do so over and over again, and you become rich. Since the ‘80’s, the driving goal of society is to become rich (“Greed is good”). This leaves little room for compassion.
Ever hear of Bill Gates? who gives away at least a third of his income.
Bill Gates "philanthropy" does a ton of evil s***. EG, he pushed for one of the covid vaccines to be privatized. That philanthropy is nothing more than whitewashing a destructive legacy, all while putting his thumb on the scales.
Tax Bill into oblivion and far more good would be done.
Which still doesn't touch on his labor exploitation. His union busting. His buying competition to stifle competition. The class action labor lawsuit over keeping workers "temporary" for 10 years or more to deny benefits. Etc. Etc.
I'll be impressed when Gates uses 'our' wealth to change tax policy that gives us back a fair share of our own money. Geez.
Does Gates have any power to change tax policy, and give you back a fair share?
Yeah. Pretty sure it's do-able. Point being, 'philanthropy' is a cop out for those with billions of other people's money who do nothing that costs them in the end. It's the mother of all cons really. UNTIL THEN... he's just another billionaire 'poser', re-washing our money.
Exactly youtu.be/mS9CFBlLOcg
He could put our billions anywhere he likes. Buying off... er, lobbying Congress is usually where one starts to get what you want. Asking your billionaire buds (old a@@ Buffet?) to join up Running PSA's, starting a movement? Opening his mouth and advocating? Like the poor folk do?
In Citizens United, SCOTUS decided that money was the same as speech. That means that Bill Gates, with a net worth of $116B, can roar at a volume of a jet engine, while the median U.S. household can barely whisper. So, yes, if Bill Gates decided that tax policy needed to change, he could do it.
And, honestly, if anyone is going to make the extraordinary claim that Gates pays his assessed taxes, you'd need to prove that he's not dodging them through The Gates Foundation and other "charities" that have 80%+ "overhead"
It’s often hard for people to comprehend the extent to which billionaires like Bill Gates are hoarding our country’s resources. You could make $1,000,000 a day, every day, for 100 years and still not have 1/3 of what Gates has amassed. That kind of imbalance is neither natural nor sustainable.
So really, Gates 'returns' a third of the money he siphons off from 'our' national wealth, i.e. produced by the workers of this country, who he then, financially abuses in order to give back to himself. Sweeeet William!
Philanthropy is just another word for 'tax avoidance', which for most billionaire sleaze bags ends up generating significant taxpayer subsidies funneled back to billionaire coffers in the form of tax breaks, tax avoidance, financial product manipulation, and influence peddling.