Give it Up

I should give more thought to this post, but I'm not. Just stating this outright. 

Last week (?) the NYT Magazine had an interview with Bill Gates. I'll be honest, I read probably the first third. It seemed to be all about his Bill Gates Foundation (now minus Melinda) and how it has plans on shutting down............in 20 years with most, if not all, of Gate's $200 billion spent on charitable endeavours. 

Many of those are overseas projects in underdeveloped regions where opportunities for improvement are scarce. 

It's all very nice and there are some softball questions, but ones of deep meaning too. 

I don't know if it is telling or not, but Warren Buffett stopped putting funds into the Bill Gates Foundation. Buffett started the Giving Pledge where billionaires agree to give x% of their wealth to charity. Gates and his then wife were doing it. Jeff Bezos and his first wife were too. I believe McKenzie Scott has pulled that pledge, as her plan is to give it all away now, not at her death. 

Nor do I know Gate's true feelings on his fellow billionaire boy's club or his political views per se. I get - though don't necessarily agree with - that CEOs and the like have to somewhat kiss up to certain level politicians to play "the game".  Tim Cook comes to mind in his spinelessness. Bezos for sure. Gates?  Dunno. 

He doesn't have kind words to say about the BLOTUS administration, though I didn't see anything pointedly said about the man himself. 

Elon on the other hand?  I just took two screenshots that I think says a lot. The second one is just scathing. 

Elon, if he had a humanitarian bone in his body, should be seething over this, but I suspect he is more like C. Montgomery Burns, clasping his hands and saying "excellent". 

And when you have $200 BILLION, you should be able to say those things on a higher platform and call them out. 

The Apple+ show Loot has Maya Rudolph has basically a clueless McKenzie Bezos. But at the end of season 1 her character is on a televised panel with other billionaires and she calls them all out on not spending their money now (and all of it) to make the world a better place. 

It hit home with me that these discussions truly don't seem to be happening with the ultra-rich. 

Still, I hope Gates made Musk sting - even for a moment. 

Song by: Talk Talk