Quote:
Originally posted by Diogenes Of Pumpkintown:
#1 -- So what are you saying? One person can't make a difference in this world, so we might as well be unfair to one another?
Btw, there are reasons for Mr. Gates to give away large sums of money to charity other than the kindness in his heart, like the significant tax advantages he gains by doing so.
#5 & #6 -- Did I say he became a billionare on his first day of work? My point was that he has had a RELATIVELY easy time of it in his life, so the image of him preaching about the virtues of hard work at low end jobs as the gateway to prosperity is not exactly convincing.
#9 -- As it should be in a well ordered society? Huh? Caring only for money and seeing people as slaves is the natural and normal state of humankind, eh? Wonderful philosophy you have there.
[This message has been edited by Diogenes Of Pumpkintown (edited 08-22-2001).]
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1>If you look at the original quote it is about life not being fair, in other words, sometimes you will fail and sometimes things will not go your way, or you might not get what you want, so don't sit and bitch about it and whine to anyone that will listen. Take these failures and mistakes and use them to your advantage...you cannot change to past but you can learn from it
As for Mr. Gates giving his money away, it has nothing to do with tax advantages...did you make this up? The majority of his wealth is held in Microsoft stock, you do not pay taxes when you hold the stock, only when you sell, then you pay a little something called capital gains tax...and there is no 'tax shelter' for capital gains...you cannot escape capital gains tax through donating money to charity.
5&6> How do you define Relatively...he had parents that made money, but did not 'fund' his way through life. Sure he did not have to wait tables to pay his way through college, but I didn't either. So what if his first job was not minimum wage, it was probably less then minimum wage when you factor in hours worked to income. He started with Paul Allen working around 16-20 hour days, going months with no income. The very first employee he hired (a secretary) worked not knowing if she would get paid from week to week. He actually told her that in the interview "I may not always be able to pay you". Sure he is a billionaire now, but he
did work his way there
9>I think again you misunderstand the original quote. He is saying that when you are at work, you work. The company should not be a vehicle for finding yourself. You should devote your work time
firstly to bettering the compnay, and if this makes you a better person at the same time, then so be it.
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