Chucky's Right.
MEXICO CITY (by Mark Stevens) : The world's third-richest man, Mexican telecom magnate Carlos Slim, poked gentle fun at the philanthropy of Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, and said businessmen can do more good by building solid companies than by "going around like Santa Claus" donating money.
Note By Republicus: Well, he's right, in principle, but is he making some kind of sick joke? He should put his money where his mouth is and build some solid companies south of the border to stop the exodus of his unemployed countrymen into the United States, who hop over the fence, work here illegaly, and then--like Santa Claus--send back home billions of dollars of remittances a year (i.e. an exodus of cash out of the United States).
posted by John | 2:08 PM
22 Comments:
A person cannot make that kind of statement unless they are willing to stand behind it.
He does have a point...Gates has done much for the economy of this country. He also treated his employees very well...for a time (from someone who was on the inside...for a time.)
I forgot to add...
That Slim overlooks that fact, that Gates built a solid company.
Gates deserves every penny. And Clinton should be very grateful that his beleagured presidency was saved by him (despite the fact that he--and his veep Al "I invented the Internet" Gore-- take the credit as often as they can for the expansion in the tech sector, and, furthermore, adding injury to insult, suing Microsoft for "unfairly" making too much money at the expense of copycats).
It was after the government went after Gates that he had to make cuts to employee perks. But, that had been one of the best jobs my husband ever had.
Yes, Gates deserves every penny even though we don't work for him any more.
If the government would just realize that it isn't welfare that builds the economy. It isn't government programs. It is companies like Microsoft who hire people, who in turn spend that money on goods and services to other companies who hire people who spend that money and so on.
People who start and run solid companies also run the risk of failing at it. That is what makes entrepreneurs so valued (in my book). Bill Gates didn't start out with wads of cash. He started with an idea and ran with it. And now others want a piece of that.
The difference between the US and Mexico is that there is a real and stark difference between the "haves" and "have-nots" on a level that is truly astonishing. People talk about class envy here, but in Mexico the sheer numbers of the have-nots and the level of their poverty is hardly imaginable to the minds of people in the States. Republicus is spot-on in saying their economy needs better growth, and it has to come from within Mexico.
bill and melinda are globalists and would love nothing more than to see this country fall.
they are behind a drive to get arabic taught as required courses in american schools.
boys and girls, we are a wal-mart economy, not a gates economy.
although i believe we should be transparent in our giving, it doesn't mean we should go about bragging about it.
Hmmm.....well, I cannot see how his wanting to improve our national system of education betrays a hidden desire to see the US fall.
Andrew Carnegie had the same ambitions towards the educational system, as did other capitalists like Vanderbilt, Rockefeller and Ford.
I personally would like to see our kids offered a chance to learn Chinese, Japanese as well as Arabic, and make a requirement to learn at least ONE European language before they graduate. I am still pretty sure that does not mean that I want the US to fall...
he's a globalist, phelonius...
he does little for u.s. charities. now, wal-mart on the other had offers tens of millions of dollars in u.s. scholarships and especially to kids who want to attend university in arkansas - my favorite place.
i'm for u.s. sovereignty!
nanc
How is making our kids more competitive make us against sovereignty?
Seems to me that the more we know the more competitive we are going to be.
Interesting side note: most of the products that are purchased at Wal-Mart are manufactured outisde of this country.
Two of my sons will be taking Mandrin Chinese next school year. The more we know about communicating with the world the better prepared we are to interact with the world. This gives our country a BOOST on the world stage.
When the Olympics came to Utah they didn't have to go outside the community to find most of the people who could interpret for the various international athletes. There were plenty of people locally who could speak just about any language that was needed...flutently.
Our own State Governor was once a US ambassador to Singapore and a trade minister to East Asia for the Bush, Sr. Administration. He speaks fluent Mandarin.
Understanding comes from understanding what is being said.
i agree we need to know the languages of others - that's not the point i was trying to make.
i see knowing arabic and it being taught in public schools as two different things.
wal-mart owns china as beamish would say.
globalization is a very bad thing - our sovereignty is being lost with every swipe of the paintbrush.
Well, Nanc, how are going to learn Arabic if it is not offered in schools?
I left out the word "kids" in the previous message.
Besides that, I am interested in how one of the most successful software companies in the history of the planet, and most certainly our nation, that employs thousands of americans, can somehow be unpatriotic? The last that I checked, Microsoft has paid its taxes, employed legal americans, and has broken no law that even the federal government could find.
Please define "globalist" for me so that those of us with a lesser mental ability can understand.
phelonius - just what countries do you think are benefitting from microsoft the most?
google microsoft overseas jobs. bill's no better than teresa heinz kerry when she moved jobs in the six digits out of this country.
arabic should be an elective if taught in public schools at all.
P.S. James, that "high five" wasn't because of the abuse he gave you, but because it's good to see him.
John, I have a difficult time with people who take personal shots at others in a debate. I hope everyone sees Douglass' comments as that and nothing more.
Douglass. Good do to see ya. All of you.
Where's Bargholz?
Kelly, I'm pretty sure he was kidding.
But if not, Phelonius doesn't need me to referee.
I am sure that Phelonius can take care of himself on that too...
Please forgive me for my sensitivity. I tend to do that... as you know. But, even you could see that it wasn't very nice...
even if he was just joking.
Douglas is good for comic relief.
For some reason, he is interested in my testicles. He thinks I have been "emasculinated." Bwhahahahaha
Douglas dun gots his edumacashun an he be showin' it off!
Nanc, the need to compete globally has everything to do with protecting American interests. Microsoft is one of many companies that has business contracts all over the globe. If Gates had not expanded, then we would be using some other software system in our business computers, and the thousands of companies that write compatible software for MS systems would be writing for that other system. Bill just got there with the most and the best, and the free market did the rest. Maybe that would have been a german company, or a swedish company, or perhaps even Apple would have taken it.
Not competing globally would mean that the US would slowly shrink until we were just another third-world struggling economy. It is the nature of capitalism that every country that participates in the free market also benefits. It is the free market that makes the US the most prosperous country in the world.
I guess if you want to call that comic relief.
Anyway, back to the discussion.
The idea of teaching Arabic in schools is not bad in and of itself. Making it mandatory... well you would have to come up with ALL those teachers who knew it well enough to teach it. I just don't see that as feasible.
Another side to this...in most European countries English is taught as a requirement. This does not change the sovereignty of those countries, but allows them an edge globally as they compete for our business and the business of other countries.
I have a good friend in Finland who is quite fluent in English. He came over here as a foreign exchange student and then obtained his college education here in the US. He knew English quite well before coming here.
There was one time, as a teenager, that I was in the car with him and another foreign exchange student from Germany. The two could speak to each other in German and English. I could only speak English. They had great fun talking about me in German knowing that I could not understand.
He continues to call Finland his home and does much to help Finland in the global economy while at the same time keeping his roots in Suomi.
I also have an uncle who spent a few years working as a dentist in Saudi Arabia. It was good that he had a little knowledge of the language and culture. He was able to make good money over there. Although, he would not choose to live there long term.
Phil,
Im glad you got my comedy. (It's dougl-ass for a reason.)
On the free market I agree with all of your remarks on competition.
This is excellent:
"Not competing globally would mean that the US would slowly shrink until we were just another third-world struggling economy. It is the nature of capitalism that every country that participates in the free market also benefits. It is the free market that makes the US the most prosperous country in the world."
Douglass,
I think a lot of the reason that so many people are afraid to trust the free market is that to some extent it is not terribly predictable, and there has been a lot of press in the last few years (since the NAFTA treaty) that puts fear in our minds about trusting capitalism.
Japan, for example, places high tariffs on importing rice because they are afraid that their own rice-growers cannot compete against Chinese or Thailand rice growers. The net result, though, is that the buyers in China and Thailand pay consistently lower prices for rice while the Japanese pay a premium price.
It is the same as if two people are in a boat. If your partner shoots a hole in his side of the boat, does it make sense, then, for you to also shoot a hole in your side of the boat? That is how heavy protectionism and isolationism works economically.
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