Posted on 06/25/2006 7:02:29 PM PDT by AmericanDave
By Robert MacMillan
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Billionaire investor Warren Buffett is donating a total of $37 billion -- most of his personal fortune -- to a foundation started by Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates and to several family foundations, making it the largest-ever individual charitable gift in the United States.
Buffett, 75, is the chief executive of investment firm Berkshire Hathaway. He is worth an estimated $44 billion, according to Forbes magazine, making him the second-richest man behind Gates, who is worth about $50 billion.
The $37 billion comprises about 85 percent of Buffett's fortune.
In a letter to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Buffett, 75, said he will set aside 10 million shares of Berkshire class B common stock for the foundation.
(Excerpt) Read more at today.reuters.com ...
Hope they keep better control of all this money than the Ford Foundation did; imagine liberals getting control of spending all this, could be worse than Soros!
I guess the bridge partnership was a bonding experience (I am a bridge player, at one time a quite serious one). I admire both gentlemen greatly.
'$37 billion comprises about 85 percent of Buffett's fortune'
Glad he left himself with pocket change.
Are you kidding? They are liberals! Gates Foundation is a huge supporter of Planned Parenthood as is Buffett.
Keyword search is your friend.
Articles indexed to buffett (in order of time indexed.)
Warren Buffett gives away his fortune ^
Posted by Lunatic Fringe
On News/Activism ^ 06/25/2006 1:12:41 PM MDT · 82 replies · 1,876+ views
money.cnn.com ^
NEW YORK (FORTUNE Magazine) - We were sitting in a Manhattan living room on a spring afternoon, and Warren Buffett had a Cherry Coke in his hand as usual. But this unremarkable scene was about to take a surprising turn. "Brace yourself," Buffett warned with a grin. He then described a momentous change in his thinking. Within months, he said, he would begin to give away his Berkshire Hathaway fortune, then and now worth well over $40 billion.
Dang it.....when I have just $2.37 in my checking account.
Charitable Foundations unfortunately have in many cases become nothing but a way to continue political power free from the IRS. The Lefts super rich capitalist aristocrats who preach socialism at the middle class's expense have been disingenuously using using these "foundations" as part of their political power for quite some time. After all who could criticize such charity...right?
Bump
Bump
Well Billy boy already managed to destroy the Internet with his Windblows OS.
Now perhaps he can finish the job by giving away all the money the millions of IDIOTS payed him for his Windblows crap OS.
Justice!
The ability to create charitable foundations to push political goals is why liberals such as Buffett and Gates say we don't need to change the inheritance (death) taxes.
Middle class American farmers and business owners have their family money gutted by death taxes while the super rich shelter their money in foundations and tax dodges. By the way, these foundations employ kin of the super rich to make sure their kids never have to look for other work.
Middle class?
From what I've read, the 2006 estate tax exemption is $2 million. And estates are not taxed if they pass to a spouse who is an American citizen.
I think maybe you're stretching the definition of "middle class" a bit, particularly in light of the sad state of Americans' savings, where the average middle class American has an alarmingly small amount of assets.
I was quoting the previous poster. Address your comment to him.
Good for him, I hope it does some good. Is there something wrong with him or is he feeling guilty? If I did that I would give alot of the money to our military and their families.
Which poster? I didn't see anyone else make this claim.
An I'm surprised he din't set up a CA foundation to rid us of the awful Prop 13 that he tried to get Arnold to dump the minute Arnold finished hijacking the Recall from CA's grassroots conservatives and real Republicans!!!
These folks never think of dropping some change to reduce the debt, right?
Brother! Have you ever got THAT right!!!
I was quoting RicocheT
Really? I think you only admire their acheivement, much of which was acheived through blind, dumb, luck and the rest by being it the right position at precisely the right moment!!!
Ah! I see it now. Thanks!
Estate taxes apply to ALL assets including businesses and homes......just think.....all those small businesses worth more than 2 million, with employees working for them......Buffet has been known to buy businesses facing Estate Tax Sales (a newspaper or two).....you might want to do a little research. Or are you one of those who thinks anyone with assets over 2 million is RICH?
Gates has his family on his TAX Protected FOUNDATION!
Thanks for posting. I kept seeing something about this story off and on today - but had the sound off on the TV and I thought Buffett had died.
So, Warren, where's mine?
Boy, you really don't like the estate tax.
Basically, only the top one or two percent of the population will pay the estate tax as it stands now. That's not middleclass by any stretch of the imagination...
Gates has his family on his TAX Protected FOUNDATION!
I doubt in the scheme of things they get paid much given his fortune.
Boy....you really don't like people keeping their hard earned money.....after paying income taxes, sales taxes, social security, medicare, property taxes, etc......and YOU must REALLY NOT understand economics and freedom.
No...I don't like the Estate Tax....and I'm working to get our STATE Estate Tax repealed this year.....so I know what I'm talking about. Estate taxes hit the small business guy, not the SUPER RICH....but, hey, go live in your little la la, the rich should pay land all YOU want.....matter of fact, why don't you just send in all your extra funds when you die?
You really don't get it do you.....lalalalalalalalalala....
I just looked up the figure. The estate tax hits .5 of the estates settled this year. That figure is expected to drop to .3 by 2009.
Needless to say, I don't see it as impacting a great many people. I certainly don't see it as impacting the typical small business guy.
That's an amazing gesture.
Well done, Warren.
You rich son of a gun...I only have -2.37.
You're blind.
Well that makes me feel better!...../sarc
blessings on ya.
>>where the average middle class American has an alarmingly small amount of assets.
Then they aren't middle class.
The question is not whether the rich or middle class pay, but whether the state has the moral authority to sieze these assets.
Don't kid yourself. this is going to be a bonanza for the left.
That was my first impression. However, recalling what Gate's foundation has already blown many millions on, as well as the current press releases and news stories about this latest development, it would appear that most of these billions are going to be flushed down the myriad third-world hellholes across the Earth, primarily in Africa.
That being the case, we can expect all of this money to essentially cease to exist, with the only real effect being the warm-and-fuzzy feelings it will generate among the "socially conscience" as it vaporizes overseas.
"The question is not whether the rich or middle class pay, but whether the state has the moral authority to sieze these assets."
Very true. I don't buy into the notion that the estate tax does much to harm many middle class americans. But that shouldn't matter. An unfair tax is an unfair tax no matter who it effects.
He should write a $37,000,000,000.00 check out to the US Treasury. Government spends money more efficiently than any privately run foundation or charity.
Too funny. Windows Operating Systems are what led to the explosion in Internet usage.
No truer words,
"...billions are going to be flushed down the myriad third-world hellholes across the Earth, primarily in Africa."
Some African tin pot dictators will end up with some nice Swiss bank accounts from Gates/Buffet white guilt. Meanwhile, many many Africans and other 3rd world peoples will continue to die from AIDS and other nasty diseases.
I wonder how much of the $37 billion will go 'towards' AIDS for Africa. Prepare to pad your pockets once again, African dictators!
"Warren Buffett has been assimilated"
Uh, the liberals are already in charge of this fund...
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