The REAL reason why billionaires are suddenly giving away their money

Originally posted by catwhoknowsplusone
reply to post by dmefoc

 

No,

This is different. Headline news.

It is not headline news for no reason.

It is headline news because it is about people who have sat on their money. So what has changed.

Something big has changed, and it is not a change of heart by these greedy a holes. It is a change because they are scared of something.

Probably the same reason that CBS started that "Reality" show "Undercover Boss". They can see that the entire social perspective has shifted against them, and that if they don't do something to fix that, they'll end up banished from society (either in effect or in fact) before too long. It was okay when the case could be made that people were poor or unsuccessful due to their own laziness or bad decisions, but since the big Wall Street crash and bail-out pulled the veil away from the eyes of the middle class, the American Dream has lost its sense of being real and attainable for the vast majority of people who really did work hard and try to do the right thing.

It hasn't helped that the GOP has been clumsy as all hell in their fight to keep government from helping out the many tens of millions who've lost whatever future they once thought they'd secured for themelves and their families. It takes a few years for the majority in any society to finally respond to the news and media shifts, especially if those shifts are a complete 180 from where they'd been pushing beforehand.

Even TV dramas have been featuring average middle-class folks being intentionally screwed by the American corporate culture, and under the direction of the senior-level management on behalf of the billionares that own them. Stack enough TV dramas and big screen movies against one another with that reoccurring theme, and eventually you get a shift in the collective view of the public at large. I warned about this (on other forums) for years, and the middle-class "winners" thought I was being "hysyterical". The environment was there as far back at 2005, but it takes the TV and movie media a few years to reflect it, and then a few more years for the public to be reprogrammed. Now, it's the "let's eat the rich" period in US modern history, and those idiots can give away as much as they want, but the momentum has already shifted.

They did what they could by razzing up old white people into Tea Party Patriots for the 2010 mid-terms, but even that has started to blow up in their faces. They should've done something about this back in 2009, when they had the chance, but it's too late now.

I wonder what the actual ignition incident will end up being?

Originally posted by robertauthor
Time to pay the Ferryman

The money they are getting rid of is going to projects like in 2012 the Giant Ships

All this giving money is nonsense.... Its just how their explaining their sudden plummet on forbes
as they have to pay for their place in underground City... Boat or whatever they have instore.. for the
genocidal future they have planned for us all

im sure something along those lines are happeneing..i wouldnt be suprised if we see alot of big money people coming foward to say they are giving as well,just remember most rich people got that way for only caring about #1!! why would they want to help other people when they feel they are entitled to only the best?

I think they should keep their money. They earned it.

Stop whining about it as you're just jealous!

reply to post by catwhoknowsplusone


Wow this is some conspiracy theory. You must have thought this through all night. /s

Originally posted by JonInMichigan

I think they should keep their money. They earned it.

Stop whining about it as you're just jealous!

You'd probably insist that it's morally wrong to simply take it from them if we had the power to do so. Or rather, when we have the power to do so. You see, then THEY'D be the jealous ones who don't have money. Earning money? How do you earn anything? You find the socially acceptable way to take it (in exchange for performing a socially acceptable act or providing a socially acceptable product or service) from the gathered wealth within a society.

My family - back in 600 AD or so - found that killing wealthy people and taking their wealth was (for their specific society) a socially acceptable means of earning wealth. In fact, they ruled their little patch of Ireland for centuries, and never ran afoul of the law. Then again, they were the law in their little patch of Ireland.

When it becomes socially acceptable to drink Mai Tais out of the hollowed out skulls of ex-billionares as we use their money to completely eradicate everyone who defended their right to stacking the deck against the rest of the human race, then I guess it'll be their turn to whine and be jealous. Will you shill for us when that time comes?

reply to post by NorEaster


I was just being a contrarian but I do think that a lot of people are inappropriately hating those of us humans whose only crime is success. In fact, they like to compare hard work and the resulting success to stealing the money from people via murder and drinking from their skulls, as you juxtaposed modern day success with the thievery of your ancestors.

Maybe sometimes, but not always, someone just worked really really hard and was really really successful.

All this hatred towards success is a great way to demotivate the next generation from doing anything productive with their lives, but we are probably too late anyway as that ship has already sailed.

reply to post by catwhoknowsplusone

You make wealth sound like a bad thing. WRONG! What is wrong is poor people, being unmotivated, stupid, lazy, unambitious, good for nothing, is WRONG.

The wealthy people are doing things right, the poor people ain't, so lets start jumping on the underachievers, the unmotivated, and fiscally ignorant. Bashing the wealthy people is like "F" students ragging on the "A" students. Wha? It's the poor people that are social screw ups, just like the "F" students. Everything is upside down and backwards in their heads.

And, how many poor people would turn down a winning lotto ticket to avoid becoming one of those stinking evil wealthy people if they won? And just how many poor people buy lotto tickets in the hopes of getting wealthy off all the other stupid poor people buying lotto tickets? Even the poor want to take advantage of themselves in order to become wealthy, har. Hypocrites.

Stop being poor all you poor people, it's your kind that's wrecking our society, economy, and nation. And you poor people need to stop shopping at Wal-Mart too, you're only making the Chinese wealthy and yourselves poorer by doing so. Shop at Macy's and Byerly's. And stop coveting the wealthy too, that's not very becoming and jebus like either, ha.

Gawd, the unmotivated underachieving poor people make me so mad, lol. The wealthy aren't the problem, you's poor people are. What on Earth do the poor have against being wealthy anyhow? Will you not be happy until everyone is poor like you all? No wonder they are so poor, they apparently hate the rich so much they can't tolerate being rich themselves. Weirdos, ha.

reply to post by Shamanistical


yes, well here is my problem...ya see...
you have here this big company, let's say it's wal mart, although I really don't think wal mart is as bad of an employer as it's made out to be. Okay, in the upper echelon you have a bunch of "successful" administrators, making much more money than anyone needs to survive in our economy, some an outrageous amounts...
they worked hard, they deserve it right??

okay, they worked hard, I've worked hard, most of the people who have jobs feel that they have worked hard!! And, if you take the scientific defination of what work is......I bet I have worked harder than most of those administrators will ever dream of!
But, let's carry on....okay...they company has made lots of money this year, and they have decided to give a portion of it to their employees....
now, keep in mind....only so much money is taxed by social security, and no one likes taxes, no one wants to pay more taxes, so well, this company is no different. If they give the bulk of this money to the cashiers, the stockers, ect....well, their tax bill is certainly gonna go up, isn't it??
but, if they give it to those high salary employees, well, it will not be taxed will it?? So, they give their cashiers, their stockers, ect....a quarter cent an hours raise...
and the bulk of the money goes to the top....
and the excuse it made...."They've worked hard for it!"

so, well, that's all fine and dandy, but ya see, there's a few thousand employees at the bottom who have a family to support and $9.25 just isn't making the grade. So, well, luckily there is hud to pay for their rent, and heap to help with the electricity, they can buy their food with food stamps, and well, at least hold the household together....with the help of all of us...even his coworkers, who are in the same spot as they are, living on food stamps, hud, ect. There's is no real incentive to go looking for a higher wage, or even ask for one, and well, more than likely, it wouldn't do much good anyways....because this is how just about all of the economy is functioning at the present time!!

But, then there are a few within the company, that well, their earnings combined with the earnings of others in the household...don't qualify for all these programs, they are incentiivised to do something, only...their wife tries to get a job, but needs child care....only....they child care subisdies along with the requirements to get those subisidies have price child care far above her earning potential. He tries to find a higher paying job, and well...like I said, the whole danged economy just about is functioning like this, so prospects are poor, they are even poorer now that so many jobs have been lost! He considers taking some college courses at the college, only to find that they cost too much and his only option is to go into debt to take them. So, he goes and asks his boss for a raise, and he is referred to the food stamps, the hud, the heap, ect....which he already knows, he ain't gonna get! The people who are in this spot are the real poor in this country!! They don't have cellphones, they don't have nice cars, they don't get the quality healthcare that so many of yas claim to be the best in the world! Their kids wear hand me downs to school, their stressed out wives can't get time away from the kids because dad has taken a second part time job along with his first, just to make ends meet!

DO THEY SOUND MOTIVATED TO YOU!!! DOES IT SOUND LIKE THEY ARE WORKING HARD TO YOU!!!

I have to ask....
would you be so successful, if the gov't wasn't supporting so many of the lower paid employees of your company, because they know that our SOCIALISM, in the form of gov't aide, will help their poor employees!
Of which they don't want to pay their fair share, so they dole out the bulk of the raises primarily to those who earn so much, with no extra tax on their part is incurred!

Those administrators are livng a good life.
Those that you speak of the "unmotivated, the lazy", ect....are being fed pretty good, they have decent housing, they have their medical care taken care of, they have cable tv, a decent car, heck they can air out their homes on a cold winter day!!! Because we, the taxpayers are paying for it!!

But, for some of us, we'd be better off being LESS MOTIVATED, MORE LAZY, HECK, MAYBE IF WE JUST GET A DIVORCE, WE'D BE BETTER OFF!

I don't begrudge the rich, I don't begrudge the poor....
but, the way things are operating now is insane, and I truly am beginning to hate it!!
I've walked close to seven miles when I was young at times just to get to my college classes in time.
I've walked almost as far to get to the crappy job at the fast food resturaunt after I graduated (what can I say, there were men around who wanted the good jobs!).
I've worked hard 8 hours a day, five days a week, just to come home to tend to home and children, laundry and all that!
And, I am getting sick and tired of people portraying me as "lazy", "underacheiver", "unmotivated"...the only thing that this system has ever motivated me to do was separate from my husband and collect the aide, like so many others! And, if you come up and say I don't have integrity....well.....I had too much integrity to do that one!

reply to post by dawnstar


dawnstar, you're not an underachiever, but I do see flaws that are correctable in your process to get where you are. Walking 7 miles for college or school could be solved by possibly buying a used bicycle and making the trip easier and faster (I rode my bike to school versus walk). Another choice is children - why have children on a minimum wage? Children are expensive. Very expensive. This should be taught to us from day-1 through school - almost monthly - to drive the point home. I'm not saying you are bad - I am saying decisions could have been made to enhance the outcome. I know a guy who is unemployed, his wife is a waitress and they have four children. And he spends his wife's money on his hobbies and they barely scrape by. That kind of thinking can be "tuned" towards a better outcome, but they do what they do.

Today, high school students are doing all they can to ramp-up their social networking, socializing, hanging out and in the end - finding all sorts of ways to get laid, do the "baby thing" and start families. My sister-in-law said that when she taught school, a sixth grader had a child - then in eighth grade, she had her second. The girl's mother was "extatic" that her little baby was having kids to start her little family. This kind of thinking is not rational.

Rational thinking is what makes people successful. Making smart moves from childhood through adulthood through their business cycles. Investing energy at the right time for the right reasons is a pretty good definition of success. Whether it is energy as a sports star (not just blindly running around the field - but doing the right thing on the field) or a business man (not buying a failing business but investing in a useful and growing product). Too many people realize too late that success is the tradeoff of emotion for rational action. I will have a child when I can afford it. I will choose to study rather than go to my friend's party. I will not take a drug offered by by buddy. I will think before acting. My choice drives my successes. If people like my choices, they pay me more and I provide better value for my work.

reply to post by bonaire


my husband is a machinist...
there is one thing you cannot plan for and that is the crazy actions of the politicians in washington and their decisions that this country can function as a "service economy"!!

when I had the chldren, he was making $16 an hour and the future was bright....
things just aren't that bright any more, haven't been for quite awhile.
you can preach all you want about not having the children till you can financially afford it, I know have instilled this idea into my kid's brains, and now wonder if I will ever have grandchildren. Just be prepared for less children in the future if alot of people take your advice, becasue, well, children are very, very costly, and those administrators and the like who are actually able to afford the children aren't so massive in numbers that they can handle the job of repopulating the country by themselves, and well, who will the future administrators be administrating over then?


I am dangerous on a bike, I liked to walk, so I walked, okay!

By the way, the computer is also a great resource for the kids. I have one son that is a computer wiz, and much of what he knows he learned from the web, and those social sites. He's the one who keeps the computers running in this house, he's subcontracted himself out and helped install and network the computers of one of our big banks.. but, you think he can get a decent job doing this kind of work??

nope, not without the little paper that says he knows how from a certified school!! of which, he probably wouldn't qualify for much in college aide from the gov't except, oh, ya, he could go deeply into debt.

if I had kicked my husband out years ago, he could have met the financial qualifications and got practically a free education. or, if my husband was in one of those more "worthy" occupations.....if you want machines to do the dirty work, umm....you have to have machinists by the way, it might not be worthy, but it is necessary!....well, we could have saved a little bit...
but, na....they worked hard, they deserve it...or they are poor, we need to help!!

the system doesn't need to be changed, it needs a complete overhaul...starting with the mindset of the people!

working for our daily bread has turned into working for our daily crumb, for many, while a minority who are found to be "worthy" by some irrational logic that I cannot fanthom, the daily bread could feed a platoon! !

but, understand perfectly, some work hard, some plan good, only how many of yesterdays, good planners, hard workers, are being left by the wayside today? There's no guarentees, no sure things....especially in a system that doesn't on a solid foundation!

reply to post by dawnstar


Machinists are awesome - they are so critical in many jobs, they have to make more $. I live near a steel mill and there are a lot of guys who are like that in the area. Unions help them out a little bit but their big loss was when the Fed. Govt. stopped guaranteeing them work in the 1980s and then they laid off 5000 people.

I saw this news story just now (link below) - imagine what kind of future these 50-60 teens have if they live life like this into their 20s? This is what kids want to do now - get into big social groups and cause a ruckus. They're not learning a new trade, reading or advancing themselves.

www.wisn.com...

One thing a very successful college room-mate of mine taught me. He grew up in a home (in the 1970s) which did not allow TV watching. No TV - he did other things - played outside with friends, went to the library, did sports, etc. Today, the internet and TV is going to corrupt our next generation. Chinese kids are paid low and in their youth work in factories with very low almost "slave" labor - but they have nothing else to do, really. So, their goal is just to get a job and support as best they can. Here, our kids think work is "hard" and don't want to put out the effort and want to get into glamorous jobs or American Idol or other non-paying "job". Great to hear your husband is a hard worker and I hope our industries can make good work for our kids to grow into for our future. I was just in Hong Kong in October. They work hard over there - they really do. I almost got run over by a mob of workers on early Saturday morning in the subway who were running between one train to the next to get to their jobs. They work 9am to past 6pm in their offices with minimal breaks. They do spend their lunchtime socializing and walking outside of their offices - so they can split their time between work and social. However, they don't try to integrate social-time into work like we have done. In offices around the USA, I see more water-cooler talking groups and smoke breaks and people playing Facebook games than you'd ever see overseas in Asia.

One thing is we can't lose hope. Did you know that if we have 20% unemployment, that 80% of people are still employed? Media reports we have 10% unemployment, but so many of us are under-employed or are at risk. That means as long as you fight hard and reach out to jobs (and yes, this means possibly moving the family out of one area to another to actually earn an income) then the jobs will be there? I hear a lot of stories about people who can't find work. Thing is, they have not looked more than commuting distance from their homes and have federal money to fall back on until they can eventually find something. People have to "go to work" - that means possibly going and moving to get work. Personally, I've lived in four states and settled down here 15 years ago - but our company is about to fail and I may have to pick up and move if things don't work out with local job opportunities.

They know that some are near just like Ashton training lol. These secrets they keep shall weigh them down and prevent them from reaching what they want. Share with the populace what has been learned. They wont so its nice to give away now. But the 3rd world needed help 3 decades ago smh. Wonders who gots the gold bars??????? Billionairs Wheres Christopher Johnson

I think for the most part, many americans are pretty much stuck where they are at. They owe more on their houses than they are worth, even if they did shop wisely and bought something that they thought wasn't a hyperinflated price, they are under.
For these people to do what you suggest, well, they might as well just send the keys to the bank and take the credit hit. Since they aren't gonna find a buyer who is willing to pay them enough to cover the money owed, and renting property is major headache, even when one is living in the same area as the home you are renting. The effects on our economy if they all did that would just make things oh so much worse I think.

My husband has gone from apprentice machinist to journeyman tool and die maker in the 40 or so years he's been in the trade. I know of nurses, right out of school just about, get higher wages than he does...
They worked harder?? Hardly...They haven't even begun!! They planned better??...give me a break....

The skilled trade jobs have been demoralized, demeaned for so long, that now I am reading that there is a genuine shortage of tradesmen. Kind of wish my husband would take a few of our sons into the shop and teach them the trade...got a feeling there's gonna be better a better outlook for those professions in the future. But well, the small shop he is working for doesn't have work again, so he thinks he will be laid off in the next few weeks. Which, means that, well, he's the shop foremen of one, himself, he's been doing all the work the shop has been getting, and it is closing down for awhile, till the work comes in. I guess the big corps that the company was doing work for found a cheaper alternative overseas.

This country is gonna be in a major bind if the dollar drops too much more, our goods from overseas are gonna skyrocket in price, and we now have no alternative but to keep sending those dollars overseas. The machines that used to hum to produce them have been sitting idle too long, and our workers no longer have the skills needed to bring them back to life, or the willingness to run them. And, I don't blame the workers if they don't want to run them!! The pay is crap compared to those other occupations. I can see why they all want to go for the MBAs and such. But, in the long run, it is gonna hurt us alot.

Originally posted by topdog30
You're right!! All of us wealthy business owners started our companies so we could make a crap load of money in order to depopulate the world...you caught us!!

What is the real reason successful people are so hated??

I don't think the average person understands the risk one takes in starting a business or the hard work required in keeping the business profitable. If my business is not profitable, 215 people would be without a job. I can't allow that to happen!!

If you have Internet access, cell phone or cable tv you are not poor.

I enjoy helping less fortunate people. I'm also heavily involved with the make a wish foundation and feel every dollar spent is well worth it. I hate when people try to villainize anyone who has acquired wealth. Yes I know there are those that have acquired it through evil and unmoral business practices. But not all of us. How many of you know any of these billionaires personally??

I believe ALL OF US ARE GREEDY. We are born that way, do you have to teach you children to share or take??

I wish you ALL a successful 2011!!

Ok... then spread out the risk AND the rewards to your subordinates by creating a workable Co-Op. Otherwise you're just playing big loving brother who's taking on allll this oh-so-terrible risk but keeping the unfair lion's share (regardless of any risk you've taken on).

At the end of the day it just doesn't add up, even if you factor in all your hard work and risk, those who make dozens of times more than their subordinates are giving themselves an unhealthy margin of fat while the rest languish as gears in the machine. Just because it sounds cliche doesn't mean it's untrue... it's just business as usual and it's just as draining, uninspiring, enslaving, undignified and inadequate as its ever been for most human beings.

Originally posted by dawnstar
reply to post by bonaire

 

my husband is a machinist...
there is one thing you cannot plan for and that is the crazy actions of the politicians in washington and their decisions that this country can function as a "service economy"!!

when I had the chldren, he was making $16 an hour and the future was bright....
things just aren't that bright any more, haven't been for quite awhile.
you can preach all you want about not having the children till you can financially afford it, I know have instilled this idea into my kid's brains, and now wonder if I will ever have grandchildren. Just be prepared for less children in the future if alot of people take your advice, becasue, well, children are very, very costly, and those administrators and the like who are actually able to afford the children aren't so massive in numbers that they can handle the job of repopulating the country by themselves, and well, who will the future administrators be administrating over then?


I am dangerous on a bike, I liked to walk, so I walked, okay!

By the way, the computer is also a great resource for the kids. I have one son that is a computer wiz, and much of what he knows he learned from the web, and those social sites. He's the one who keeps the computers running in this house, he's subcontracted himself out and helped install and network the computers of one of our big banks.. but, you think he can get a decent job doing this kind of work??

nope, not without the little paper that says he knows how from a certified school!! of which, he probably wouldn't qualify for much in college aide from the gov't except, oh, ya, he could go deeply into debt.

if I had kicked my husband out years ago, he could have met the financial qualifications and got practically a free education. or, if my husband was in one of those more "worthy" occupations.....if you want machines to do the dirty work, umm....you have to have machinists by the way, it might not be worthy, but it is necessary!....well, we could have saved a little bit...
but, na....they worked hard, they deserve it...or they are poor, we need to help!!

the system doesn't need to be changed, it needs a complete overhaul...starting with the mindset of the people!

working for our daily bread has turned into working for our daily crumb, for many, while a minority who are found to be "worthy" by some irrational logic that I cannot fanthom, the daily bread could feed a platoon! !

but, understand perfectly, some work hard, some plan good, only how many of yesterdays, good planners, hard workers, are being left by the wayside today? There's no guarentees, no sure things....especially in a system that doesn't on a solid foundation!

edit on 4-1-2011 by dawnstar because: (no reason given)

Exactly.

The system just plain doesn't work. It's not about any individual, or even about any class or group of people, it's ALL of us participating in our modern civilization, its hierarchies, its top-down structures of economics and authority, of competition rather than cooperation, of stealing rather than sharing, of endless growth rather than sustainability, of de-facto slavery rather than freedom, of cold mechanical work/status/cut-throats/repeat rather than tight-knit localized and rich culture.