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This Could Be the Silliest Comment I Ever Received!
By JLP | February 4, 2008
Over the weekend, I recieved the following comment from an old post I did last year that compared Bill Gates’ Net Worth to John D. Rockefeller’s. I have to wonder what people are thinking when they write this kind of stuff:
If Bill Gates is the riches man in the U.S. with a net worth of 82 billion and that is only one person. My question is, what would happen if he and other multi-billioners got together and gave back to the people that made them that rich? What I am getting at is if the U.S population is only 301,139,947 and they gave 1 million to each person they wouldn’t even spend half of a billion dollars. That brings me to my next question, why are there so many people loosing their homes and living in poverty here in the U.S? It doesn’t sound fair to me.
LOL!
First, let’s look at their math:
That’s $301 TRILLION, not $301 million!
Second, let’s look at their logic:
What would happen if EVERY American citizen were given $1,000,00? We would have inflation out the ying yang! You would have too many dollars chasing too few goods. Although it sounds lovely, within a few months, we would again have poor people and things would look pretty much like they do now.
As far as giving back goes, isn’t Bill Gates already giving back to society? Is this commenter not familiar with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation?
Finally, the REASON there are so many people losing their homes and living in poverty is because the vast majority of them bought homes they shouldn’t have bought. They made dumb decisions and they are paying the price for those decisions. Does this reader honestly believe that these people should just be given their homes?
I probably shouldn’t entertain such drivel but I thought we could all use a laugh on a Monday morning.
Topics: Blogging | 12 Comments »
February 4th, 2008 at 12:21 pm
Let’s not forget the other reason he shouldn’t – he doesn’t actually HAVE $82 billion, he’s WORTH $82 billion. To cash out and give everyone their “fair share” would mean selling his MSFT holdings. And once he started doing that, how much would he be worth by the end of the trading day?
Your commenter is most likely on of those that was sold a house they couldn’t afford and now wants someone else to make the payments. Too funny.
February 4th, 2008 at 12:25 pm
Trevor,
Good point!
February 4th, 2008 at 12:26 pm
It might be a simple misunderstand at what a billion is. I believe in the UK what we call a billion is there a ’1000 million’ and our trillion is their billion. If one didn’t understand the difference in terminologies you could come up with that error.
February 4th, 2008 at 12:31 pm
Fox Cutter,
Thanks for the clarification. I wasn’t aware of the differences.
February 4th, 2008 at 1:04 pm
Yeah that is ridiculous. It would only be around $274,000 per person in the USA.
Like Trevor said, we’d have to take the money in MSFT stock.
HMmmmmmm, if Bill G SELLS his MSFT stock it would become worthless, but if he holds on to it, he’s worth $82 billion. I’ll have to get my head around that.
February 4th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
If everyone got $1 million we would only have inflation if it was a result of creating new money…
February 4th, 2008 at 1:59 pm
I can imagine that in the UK, Bill Gates must seem much richer.
Plus, I think he gives a heck of a lot of what he does have (which is less than what he’s “worth”) to a lot of good causes—vaccines, rescuing girls from forced prostitution, education, etc. Helping people all over the world. Maybe he did it just to make himself look less greedy, but that doesn’t mean they money’s doing any less good.
February 4th, 2008 at 2:34 pm
Everyone wants something for nothing. This is why I can’t stand those reality shows like Extreme Home Makover. People think that because a family decided to have kids they couldn’t afford and buy a house they couldn’t afford to maintain, that we should as a society band together and help them out by repairing their house and fixing their financial mistakes because “they deserve it”.
They don’t deserve shit. It makes me sick. The way we cater to single mothers and fathers is ridiculous. Everyone wants a handout. They get tax breaks, financial aid for college, tax credits, yada yada, it’s b.s.
February 4th, 2008 at 3:02 pm
Ernesto,
My point was that Bill G is inextricably connected to MSFT. What would the market do if he started selling his shares (to liquidate and pay out that $82 billion in the example above?) Do you think that if he was selling everything that the market would hold the price?
Like him or not, if he started selling everything MSFT would tank. It would be a sign of no confidence and the price would plummet. Retiring is one thing, selling is another.
February 4th, 2008 at 5:45 pm
Let’s make sure *both* sides of this housing market screwup get the firm, hard slap they deserve, since the overall tone here seems to be “these stupid greedy people deserve what they got.”
Mortgage lenders lent money they shouldn’t have to people who weren’t credit-worthy. They deserve the foreclosures and bankruptcy filings that are hitting them hard.
Borrowers bought houses they couldn’t afford, because they could. Greed motivated that, certainly, and that of course didn’t hurt the feelings of the mortgage brokers making tons of cash off each mortgage they pushed through. The *borrowers* do indeed deserve to lose their homes if they can’t afford them. However, they also deserve the protection of law that bankruptcy courts provide against being stripped too bare on their way out.
I shed no tears for the gigantic companies being punched below the belt by the housing market crash. They’re supposed to know better, but they screwed up big time. Investors “knew what they were getting into,” so no tears for them either. Even the citizen-unfriendly bankruptcy reforms this industry pushed through the legislature a few years back aren’t protecting them. Good.
Isn’t this “no sympathy for anybody” world such a wonderful place to live in?
February 6th, 2008 at 12:17 pm
in order for bill to sell $82billion of MSFT, he would need buyers with $82billion. if he’s selling, the stock will almost assuredly decrease so $82billion is no more. second, it isn’t all in MSFT stock. let’s not forget the capital gains taxes taking a chunk out of the $82billion as well. also, let’s not forget that the $82b in MSFT allows MSFT to operate on $82b of loaned money.
April 29th, 2008 at 9:34 am
Hey! Gates doesn´t have $82 billion, he “only” has $58 billion.
Buffet, the richest man on earth and the universe (that´s a true statement, think about it!) has $62b…
check it at
http://www.forbes.com