|
|
|
||||||
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Letters From North America |
||||||||
|
As an interested observer of human behavior, I am amazed at the things that seem to set folks off from time to time. Currently the object of much discussion in the media of the country is Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft. Now, the letters and columns that I have been reading all seem to express a more |
||||||||
 |
||||||||
|
For questions or comments, please contact me at pperry@austin.rr.com Designed and Hosted by The Home Page Factory |
||||||||
than normal interest in Mr. Gate’s money. The similar thread that can be found in these articles seems to be…”What will he do with it all?” and the ever popular…”Does he need this much money?” Well, we all are probably aware that Mr. Gates has a personal fortune of over 90 billion dollars. My attitude is…”Good for him….” He earned it, it’s his, why is it anyone’s business how much he has or what he does with it? The latest article that I saw did a series of calculations on how long it would take to spend what he has got. Something like 200 or so years at the rate of a million dollars a day. Who cares? It’s his. He earned it. Leave him alone. I was in Washington a month or so ago. Went to the restaurant at the hotel, and ending up eating dinner at the bar. I got into a chat with the guy sitting next to me, who seemed like a nice enough fellow, until he started on, yep, you guessed it…Bill Gates. His theory was, that no one, absolutely no one should ever have this kind of money. We should all be limited to how much we could amass as a personal fortune and the rest of the money would go to someplace. He was not certain where that some place should be. He was angry that Gates had made this much money in such a short period of time. As if there was a rule somewhere that said that Bill had to be 75 before he became successful. You know I’m kind of tired of all of these types of discussions. We should be treating Bill Gates as a national hero and a treasure, not as a pariah. Excuse me, but I thought that this nation was founded upon the concept that we were all free to try and make our fortunes in whatever manner we could. In this latest article, the author made it sound like old Bill just had the money stuck somewhere and it wasn’t doing anyone any good anywhere. Well, how about the number of people that work for him? Somehow, I can’t see Bill stuffing this much money into a mattress or a bunch of mattresses in his house. I don’t see him putting it into a swimming pool like Scrooge McDuck and spending hours diving into his new fortune. No, I’ll bet he has a sizeable group of folks working for him to place that money where it will do the most good. Now, suppose he puts 100 million into some bank somewhere. What happens? Well, the bank now has a large part of those funds available to lend to other people in the community. More funds mean more business and more business means more jobs. So, has Bill helped out? You bet. Suppose Bill buys stock in some company, does his purchasing power have the ability to make the cost of the stock rise? Indeed it does. Does Bill’s money (his investment) make the company stronger? It does indeed. Maybe old Bill just wants to be conservative and buys US Government treasury bills. I suppose someone would argue that this wouldn’t be good for the economy or the government. Please explain it to me, I don’t see how. Some critics tell that Bill has only given away 800 million dollars. Well, that’s 800 million more than I’ve given and probably more than you have as well. Did Bill help? Again the answer is yes. Who knows what he does with his money? Who knows what he’ll eventually do with his money? Pure and simple, I can’t see how it can be any of our business. More power to him. Of course, he can’t spend all of this fortune in his lifetime. I can’t imagine that ever even being discussed in his household. “Now honey, speed up a little, you only spent nearly half a million yesterday, we have to be considerate , you know.” No, I would imagine that someone with this kind of wealth would end up using it for a greater cause. What that cause is, is the personal business of Mr. Bill Gates. I suspect those who would throw stones at Mr. Gates because of his wealth and fortune would like to be left alone if they were in his place. I notice that the naysayers never offer their explanation of what they would if they were to change places with Bill. I suspect, truth to tell, that they would be shouting from the rooftops….”It’s my business, leave me alone.” Which is what we should be doing when it comes to our interest in his money.