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Geek Culture / Bill Gates no longer world's richest

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Jeku
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Posted: 4th Jul 2007 20:31
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/322239_richest04.html?source=mypi

Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim has just passed him, after Gates held the title for 13 years. That being said, the article points out that Gates has given over $30 billion of his money into the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation charity.

I told my friend this at work, and he said it makes him more depressed. People are competing for being the richest in the world, and we're here fixing bugs and wondering when we can go home. Hehehe.

Agent Dink
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Posted: 4th Jul 2007 20:41
Well, congrats to him, I hope he shares some of the money It's simply ridiculous to even think people are hoarding such money. I'd stop at like... 10 million dollars, give my company away to a relative or friend and just be done with anything other than relaxing the rest of my life. LOL.

[center]

Suicidal Sledder
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Posted: 4th Jul 2007 20:47
Did you know that the amount of money that Americans spend in one year on ice cream is roughly equivalent to the amount of money required to give every single person in the world clean running water?

Just a fact I wish more billionaires knew...

Zotoaster
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Posted: 4th Jul 2007 20:47
Wow, this is gonna take some getting used to eh?

bond1
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Posted: 4th Jul 2007 20:49 Edited at: 4th Jul 2007 21:26
Yeah one thing about Gates is he's not a Scrooge...

I've always admired Bill Gates, kind of a hero to me. Even with his classically geeky appearance, dorky haircut and glasses I've always thought that he was ultra cool. Most people want to be like a famous athlete/hollywood actor/rock star, but I really admire his intelligence, business sense, and philanthropy. He makes geeky cool.

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Zotoaster
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Posted: 4th Jul 2007 20:59
If you've ever watched Pirates of Silicon Valley he's the coolest person there. I wonder if he was always like that, lol.

Jeku
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Posted: 4th Jul 2007 20:59
^^^ Agreed.

I've read his books, and his biographies. He is someone I'd like to meet before I die.

Arkheii
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Posted: 4th Jul 2007 21:50
Kinda sad that some boring telco guy passed him. Gates even has a movie after him.

Quote: "People are competing for being the richest in the world, and we're here fixing bugs and wondering when we can go home."


These rich people aren't exactly coding in their offices.

Code Dragon
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Posted: 4th Jul 2007 22:22 Edited at: 4th Jul 2007 22:22
Why doesn't Gates want to be the world's richest person?

What I find funny is that people become very envious of these billionaries, when we're the ones willingly giving them the money. Too many people think wealth is zero-sum, if someone makes a billion dollars I'd be happy for them because it means they're helping the world's economy, it's not like the rich people are keeping money from us.

You never really know a person until you look at their google autocomplete entries.
bond1
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Posted: 4th Jul 2007 22:50 Edited at: 4th Jul 2007 22:51
Oh I agree completely. I think everyone has a right to try and make as much money as they can. And I think those that have are entitled to every penny they've earned.

Now that I'm getting older I've also learned that money really doesn't buy happiness, and it's not just a cliche. Don't get me wrong, having money is nice, but doing what you love is much more fulfilling. And if you can actually make money doing what you love, than life is bliss.



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GatorHex
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Posted: 4th Jul 2007 23:13
he makes about $500,000 in interest every month so he's not gona be poor any time soon.

You can't take it with you when you die so you might as well spend it making people happy! I would

A camel can pass through the eye of a needle easier than a rich man can enter the kingdom of heaven an all that, maybe he got religeous

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Jeku
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Posted: 5th Jul 2007 01:27 Edited at: 5th Jul 2007 01:28
He would make waaaaaaaaaay more than half a mill each month in interest. Think about it. If you work it out at 4% a year (which is a very conservative estimate), he would rake in almost $170 million in interest in just the first month. And that's if he's worth $50 billion, which is less than his actual net worth.

GatorHex
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Posted: 5th Jul 2007 01:31 Edited at: 5th Jul 2007 01:38
LOL missed a zero somewhere, did my math wrong.

1 000 000 000 (American Billion) not 1 000 000 000 000 (English Billion)

Assuming he has 60 bil left (after putting 30 bill of his 90 bil into his charity bank) @ a good 6% rate he'd make 300Mil a month. So his charity work is just small change realy

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fallen one
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Posted: 5th Jul 2007 01:42 Edited at: 5th Jul 2007 01:45
He never was the richest man in the world, the real rich people you will not even hear their names mentioned in the media, some software company doesn't make more money than international bankers, or people that control the drugs market.
Never mind amenities companies, supplying oil for cars, gas and electric and water for homes and business makes more money than some copies of Office or an OS and a few consoles.

Hell even the BBC in the UK makes a 1500 billion sterling a year, thats around 3000 billion USD, thats a billion as one thousand million.
You own a TV in the UK, they say by law you have to pay the BBC 150 pounds if you watch BBC1 and 2 or not, so thats 300 usd for every person with a TV set, say 1 in 6 people with a TV, 60 billion people, so 10 billion TV licenses at say 150 pounds, I think that comes to 4 billion GBP per day.

Amenity companies will make even more than that. Drugs even more again, they will never be legal with all the money to be made from them. Hell England even went to war with China so they could keep flooding them with drugs.

These richest people lists are a joke on the general public, you are being lied to.
Steve J
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Posted: 5th Jul 2007 01:55
Of Course, the Bankers control the world! We are all being lied to by them and by the jewish run media going to destroy our morales! Teh military police state is coming!!!!!!!!

NOOOOOEESSS!



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Zombie 20
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Posted: 5th Jul 2007 02:38
I think this all absurd, you give me my hobbithole and i'll be just dandy with whomever wants to be richest. The winner can come and have tea and cakes with me.

Zombie(TheCheeseGrater)

Jeku
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Posted: 5th Jul 2007 08:24
@fallen one - rofl. You are naming companies. The BBC is not a single individual. Obviously Forbes decides wealth based on legal means. And yes, the oil tycoons are on the list as well. Take off your tin-foil hat

andrey d
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Posted: 5th Jul 2007 09:07
Lol it's true, about a dozen individuals control 95 +\- 3% of the worlds money. Their named wouldn't be mentioned anywhere.
Dazzag
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Posted: 5th Jul 2007 09:39
Quote: "1 000 000 000 (American Billion) not 1 000 000 000 000 (English Billion)"
Not anymore, and not in quite a while. The "English Billion" hasn't been used in the UK for years and we definitely weren't taught it as kids (I'm 34 BTW). For us it would be like saying olde instead of old. Otherwise people like Richard Branson (English Billionaire) would be the richest people in the world and leave Gates far behind. Apparently a lot of non-english speaking countries still use the old method.

Funny how some things do change around though. I mean Americans use Fahrenheit and everyone my age or younger uses Celsius. To us anyone using Fahrenheit is well old (my parents and grandparents etc).

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Wiggett
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Posted: 5th Jul 2007 11:10
Quote: "I'd stop at like... 10 million dollars"


10 million!? bah! you can't get more than 3 ferraris with 10 million, (slightly exhagerrating) but really 10 mil can go pretty quickly, buying a chateu mansion somewhere in europe can cost more than 10mil.

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Dazzag
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Posted: 5th Jul 2007 11:28
Which Ferraris were you looking at?

But yeah, anyone who says things like "who needs more than X million" obviously has no imagination. I mean like how much a private jet costs for God's sake, let alone your own decent sized private island? And if a great house can cost you $10m then imagine how much you would need to own one in each great location?

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Code Dragon
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Posted: 5th Jul 2007 15:05 Edited at: 5th Jul 2007 15:06
Yeah, no one needs more than $0 technically, the human race has survived for tens of thousands of years without money. But I'm sure no one wants to go back to being cavemen and spend their time wandering around the woods hunting all day for food and searching for shelther.

You never really know a person until you look at their google autocomplete entries.
Wiggett
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Posted: 5th Jul 2007 15:22
actually i'd really love to live in a post apocalyptic world, from what i've been told it's full of giant ants, witty one liners and cool 50's advertising.

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Suicidal Sledder
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Posted: 5th Jul 2007 19:12
@wiggett Um.... Go read Revelations, I'm pretty sure thats not how it describes it :-P


I heard that Gates makes 2,000 a minute in interest. I dont know how that compares to your other figures cuz im too lazy to do that math


Either way I think there a LOT more places he could be putting his money than his own charity. just my opinion...

heartbone
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Posted: 5th Jul 2007 19:23
fallen one
Quote: "He never was the richest man in the world, the real rich people you will not even hear their names mentioned in the media, some software company doesn't make more money than international bankers, or people that control the drugs market.
Never mind amenities companies, supplying oil for cars, gas and electric and water for homes and business makes more money than some copies of Office or an OS and a few consoles."


Absolutely correct.
Many in the Rothschild family are far wealthier than Gates.
Obviously "Old Money" does not count in the richest man contest.

I'm unique, just like everybody else.
Matt Rock
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Posted: 5th Jul 2007 20:20
They just had an article in Information Week about Bill Gates: The Titan and the Tyrant. It was two articles in one: one talked about his rise as a titan, the other as a tyrant (go figure). At the end of the day, it would be extremely easy for someone to argue that either Bill Gates is one of the most evil people in corporate America, or alternatively that he's one of the greatest people of our modern era.

And yes, I already know I'm going to "get it" for using "evil" and "corporate america" in the same sentence .

Quote: "You own a TV in the UK, they say by law you have to pay the BBC 150 pounds if you watch BBC1 and 2 or not"

You can't possibly be serious about that?!

Jeku
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Posted: 5th Jul 2007 23:00
Quote: "Many in the Rothschild family are far wealthier than Gates.
Obviously "Old Money" does not count in the richest man contest."


Briefly looked up the Rothschild family, and find nowhere it says wealth of the individuals. As far as I can see their business is worth about $160 billion.

And yes, "Old Money" counts. As you can see, Queen Elizabeth is on the list for world's wealthiest women.

Aaron Miller
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Posted: 6th Jul 2007 00:24
Quote: "But I'm sure no one wants to go back to being cavemen and spend their time wandering around the woods hunting all day for food and searching for shelther."

I do! <Blame the discovery channel>


Cheers,

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Satchmo
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Posted: 6th Jul 2007 01:37
Do you know what one of my biggest fantasies is, to be stuck on a tropical island with only a few friends, and try to survive, it would be so awesome, I would make a colt from bananas and pebbles.

I like my sig.
fallen one
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Posted: 6th Jul 2007 02:40 Edited at: 6th Jul 2007 02:42
Well if we are talking money I see it as this, every country has a national debt, the money the government takes from you pays this, look at your counties national debt, you will find quite a fair sized figure, for the UK ours is at least a third of GDP, and that's a low figure, in other counties it is much more, for America's national debt we are talking trillions of dollars, now who do you think is collecting on that debt, an international banker that's who, it ain't going to the tooth fairy, so basically a tax payer is a workforce in a corporation called (insert country name) that is indebted to a banker.

United States public debt
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_public_debt

Its interesting wiki calls it public debt and not national debt, so that's you the general public, you owe money, 4.9 trillion for US citizens, in 2005 the public debt was 64.7% of GDP, so get your ass working then, Mr international banker owns you so you better get that money to him, don't worry the government will act as a collection agency, ignore this and you will find yourself in jail, oh yea, Bill Gates is the richest man in the world, of course he is.
Jeku
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Posted: 6th Jul 2007 04:03
Quote: "Bill Gates is the richest man in the world, of course he is."


If you've been paying attention we said he was knocked down to 2nd place.

fallen one
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Posted: 6th Jul 2007 05:34 Edited at: 6th Jul 2007 05:39
It was a general expression, first second all the same and he isn't either.
And that personal charity is a tax write off, a lot of the rich in the states set up their own trusts, the US treats its rich pretty well in tax terms, lots of nice breaks, though if your that rich its better to move to tax havens, though claiming off shore residence or going one step further and relinquishing citizenship I hear can have problems in the States.
ionstream
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Posted: 6th Jul 2007 05:47
Hey fallen....


I DISAGREE!

That's not as bad as you think you said.
Jeku
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Posted: 6th Jul 2007 05:55 Edited at: 6th Jul 2007 05:56
Charities are tax write offs for everyone, regardless of whether they're wealthy But I guess anything Bill Gates does that is seen as a positive will be twisted into a negative by somebody.

Matt Rock
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Posted: 6th Jul 2007 06:26
It only gets twisted because he himself has done so many rotten things to others. The karma scale seems to tip away from his favor most of the time, because he's had a long career of destroying anyone and anything that gets in his path. I don't personally agree with that, I think if Bill Gates is doing good, then awesome, he certainly has quite a bit to make up for. But I don't think the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation makes up for 30 years of treachery and crapping all over everyone he meets.

fallen one
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Posted: 6th Jul 2007 06:31
We have had a scam in the UK with the rich setting up charities and then saying the charity owes them money, so one may set up a charity, say it owes you like so many million for what you put in or did, then when the public adds to the charity the person takes out what they said is owed to them, we have had quite a few high level scams like that with the well to do.
Dave J
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Posted: 6th Jul 2007 06:45 Edited at: 6th Jul 2007 06:46
Quote: "But I don't think the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation makes up for 30 years of treachery and crapping all over everyone he meets."


Wow, incredibly broad generalisations and exaggerations taken to the extreme.


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Three Score
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Posted: 6th Jul 2007 07:38
not to steal/ruin topic, but "A camel can pass through the eye of a needle easier than a rich man can enter the kingdom of heaven an all that, maybe he got religeous" really, it doesn't mean you can't have money, it just means you can't have the strong need to hang on to it

also, the eye of a needle, use to be the entrance to some cities, where the camel had to be stripped of everything in order to fit through it(but it was possible)

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Jeku
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Posted: 6th Jul 2007 08:01
Quote: "But I don't think the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation makes up for 30 years of treachery and crapping all over everyone he meets.
"


Think before you speak. Their foundation is the largest charitable foundation in the world. For every 4 polio vaccinations given in third world countries, they are footing the bill for 1 of them. I think the charity's help toward starving children more than makes up for a few millionaires in America having strong competition.

El Goorf
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Posted: 6th Jul 2007 14:20
bill gates lost the title a few yrs ago when the owner of Ikea became richer than him.

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the_winch
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Posted: 6th Jul 2007 15:51 Edited at: 6th Jul 2007 15:52
Quote: "Its interesting wiki calls it public debt and not national debt, so that's you the general public, you owe money, 4.9 trillion for US citizens, in 2005 the public debt was 64.7% of GDP, so get your ass working then, Mr international banker owns you so you better get that money to him, don't worry the government will act as a collection agency, ignore this and you will find yourself in jail, oh yea, Bill Gates is the richest man in the world, of course he is."


Anybody can buy a government bond and have their money be part of the national dept. If you have a pension or money in a bank then possibly some of your money is already in there. See Fractional-reserve banking.

What do you think happens to Bill Gates money? The same thing that happens to everyone else's money, a proportion of it gets invested.
You are counting this money separately then saying it's controlled by a tiny hidden group. In actual fact it is Bill Gates plus millions and millions of other peoples money.

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fallen one
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Posted: 6th Jul 2007 16:26
Gates Charity-

I can think of an old Roman expresion.

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Jeku
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Posted: 6th Jul 2007 18:52
Quote: "bill gates lost the title a few yrs ago when the owner of Ikea became richer than him."


Not true

Matt Rock
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Posted: 6th Jul 2007 19:30
Quote: "Think before you speak. Their foundation is the largest charitable foundation in the world. For every 4 polio vaccinations given in third world countries, they are footing the bill for 1 of them. I think the charity's help toward starving children more than makes up for a few millionaires in America having strong competition."

Competition?!? Hardly the issue! And it's not always millionaires he's disintegrating, either. As I said before, it would be very easy to argue that Gates is good or evil, but my point was that I'm not going to simply forget all of the bad things he's done to people in the past (including customers!) because he's buying medicine for third-world countries. How does that old-world saying go? Cut off a man's hand and give him a goat? Something like that . You guys *obviously* haven't watched enough Bond movies to know that Bill Gates is an evil villain plotting to build a laser on the moon. Either he's going to boil the oceans or melt the ice caps... not sure which. But I'm on to you Gates. I'm on to you .

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