US billionaires pledge 50% of their wealth to charity

[woo me with science]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-10870361

Thirty-eight US billionaires have pledged at least 50% of their wealth to charity through a campaign started by investor Warren Buffet and Microsoft founder Bill Gates.

They include Mayor Michael Bloomberg, CNN founder Ted Turner and entertainment executive Barry Diller.

"The Giving Pledge" lists all the families and individuals who have committed to the project.

The site says the pledge is a "moral commitment" not a "legal contract".

The campaign was started in June to convince US billionaires to give away at least half of their fortunes either during their lifetimes or after their deaths.

Those who pledge their money to "philanthropic causes and charitable organisations" must publicly state their intention through a letter of explanation.

The organisation says many of the donors have committed to sums far greater than the 50% minimum level.

"While the Giving Pledge is specifically focused on billionaires, the idea takes its inspiration from efforts in the past and at present that encourage and recognize givers of all financial means and backgrounds," says Givingpledge.org.

Mr Buffet pledged 99% of his money in 2006 to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and family charities.

Bill and Melinda Gates have also given away more than $28bn (£17.6bn) to their own foundation.

[no limit]

1. Great news. How many billionares left in this country that have not pledged?

[FSogol]

2. But they will all cry (except Buffet) if their taxes increase 1%.

:cry:

[Donald Ian Rankin]

20. Are you sure of that?

My understanding is that billionaires are often relatively left-wing in their politics.

[theophilus]

3. This is really great.....but I hope they include job creation as

"charity". If they built plants and hired people to build solar panels, wind generators, infrastructure items, etc. and then made the items very, very affordable then I would really cheer. Private industry is not stepping up. We need help getting jobs and green changes, imo.

I hope this goes well and I think it IS a positive.

[hfojvt]

13. I sorta doubt if it is

you know what counts as a "charity". The Heritage Foundation and the Cato Institute, for just two. Bill Gates uses his foundation to promote charter schools http://www.gatesfoundation.org/speeches-commentary/Pages/bill-gates-2010-national-charter-schools-conference.aspx

a charitable foundation is only required to give away 5% of its assets every year. The rest is invested looking for maximum return. Thus, if they get more than a 5% return on their huge pile of money they are really only giving away a portion of their profits. The pile of money is still there, and growing under a tax shelter.

[shraby]

4. That's all well and good, but the people in this country

need those multi-billionaires to pay taxes on all their money first. That will help tamp this depression down a bit.

[woo me with science]

5. The structure that creates multi-billionaires

and that has transformed the ratio of employee salary to CEO salary from about 1:30 to 1:500 is still in place, though.

Yes, it's good for them to give. But something is broken that will not be fixed by throwing charity back.

[jwirr]

6. To the Gates foundation - isn't most of that spent overseas? Not

that they don't need help also but that says nothing about their attitude toward US citizens in trouble.

[rucky]

7. I applaud them...

but this is no replacement for public, taxpayer funded social programs.

[drm604]

8. Forgive me for being cynical but

can any of the right-wing or corporate front groups be considered to be "philanthropic causes and charitable organizations"? If so, I wonder how much of that 50% will be going to them.

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure that there are some sincere people who will do the right thing, but I also believe that there will be some who use this as a way to support various right-wing causes while claiming to be philanthropists.

Also, notice how they're careful to point out that 'the pledge is a "moral commitment" not a "legal contract"'?

[hfojvt]

14. yes they can, I looked it up

both Cato and Heritage can be considered "charities". I am not sure about things like "The Tax Foundation" or "Americans for the prosperous"

[woo me with science]

18. The Heritage Foundation is a charity?

Oh dear.

[Scurrilous]

9. K & R

:thumbsup:

[LWolf]

10. How many of those "charities,"

like the Gates Foundation, are involved in buying influence on political policy under the guise of "helping?"

[no limit]

19. Right, the gates foundation is actually a evil political front group for Gates What a bunch of crap.

[LWolf]

26. Ignorance and arrogance go together.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/leonie-haimson/the-most-dangerous-man-in_b_641832.html

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8727737

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8722947

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8871678

http://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2010/07/microsoft-and-math-education-depressing.html

[dkf]

11. Doesn't giving to charity reduce taxes?

Is this significant enough to increase our deficits?

[grasswire]

12. I only need five thou to start a business that will employ two more

How do I apply?

[Evasporque]

15. List of Charities:

CEO Legal Defense Fund

"When assets are frozen."

Helps cover the cost of legal fees of corporate CEO arrested for various charges.

My Dream Wedding

For daughters of aging billionaires now living off trust funds. My Dream Wedding fills the gap where
the trust fund might not be able to cover.

Yacht Tax Relief

Off shore fund to cover expenses incurred when taking delivery of mega-yachts.

Luxury Marine Engineering Scholarship

Covers tuition for bright marine engineering students specializing in Mega-Yacht design.

Butler College Grants

For training of professional Butlers.

This is just a few....

[no limit]

24. Would have been much better for them not to give anything. Amirite?

[Starry Messenger]

16. Taxes are needed, not phony charity.

x(

[Hello_Kitty]

22. Thank you. There are enough rich control freaks micromanaging poor people. eom

[snot]

17. WHICH "charity"?

"Arguments that charities can do the job better than government are naive . . . . About 90 percent of charity funds are both collected and spent locally, which means that rich communities tend to have well-funded charities, and poor communities tend to have poorly funded ones. For this reason, only 10 percent of all charitable donations are directed to the poor. Re-allocating charity donations to the communities that need them most will incur intense political opposition from the communities that fund them."

More at http://www.huppi.com/kangaroo/L-welfarecharity.htm

Also,

"In recent years there has been a disturbing trend in the number of people who have "donated" their money to support organizations. Wealthy businessmen donate the necessary sums to these support organizations in order to get their tax breaks. The assumption is these organizations will dispense the money to legitimate charitable organizations.

However, the system is inherently flawed. The members of each organization's respective board control the funds that come into the hands of these supporting organizations. The "donors" directly appoint these members and frequently place themselves at the head of the board. Once money is put into a supporting organization, they deploy a team of lawyers to conjure a legal melee that lasts until the closing of the fiscal year and be forced to actually pay as little as 5 percent of that money to charity. It would seem that wealthy businessmen can not only get their tax breaks, but also they can keep 95 percent of the money they were supposed to donate in the process."

More at http://www.ncrp.org/news-room/news-2005/343-charity-loopholes-benefit-rich

[4_TN_TITANS]

21. How sweet... they deserve to keep their tax cut!

:sarcasm:

[Fleshdancer]

23. I'm not a billionaire, but I plan on doing something like this too

I'm personally not a big fan of children inheriting money unless it's for a very specific purpose like higher education.

[Donnachaidh]

25. yeah, those tax writeoffs sure are wonderful

Great PR, and less taxes they have to pay -- so the taxpayers get to pay what they *should* be paying.

Folks really need to stop worshipping the wealthy who know how to game the system in their own favor. :shrug:

[jgraz]

27. Great. We've replaced our democratic social contract with Noblesse Oblige

:banghead: