Show me one company that hasn’t wasted 99% of its money after being around for more than two years. Most of the employees are young and spend their time virtue signaling. Eventually, they leave and talk about how disillusioned they are, realizing all the money was just vaporized. It’s all run by Boomers and Gen Xers, and it feels like a laundering scheme.
I also worked for a big pharma that's been around since the end of the Civil War.
Hey, there is much more to technology than what is now considered "tech" which I agree is generally either a money pit, or producing useless addictive products. Most of it deserves an early grave. Some of it deserves to survive, but gets acquired and killed by our altruistic ;-) monopolies.
Non-profits don't profit the entity, it profits the employees and that's 100% what they are designed to do. the employees are the charity recipients.
You are not completely wrong of course, but an NGO like you describe is able to survive in a capitalist environment. Without it, it would not succeed. It succeeds at this _while_ sharing and redistributing resources. Not in a perfect, or even the most effective way, but one that allows the employee to find a balance between a job and volunteering. And one that is a net benefit to society (given the cause is beneficial etc), compare to for-profit companies that exclusively benefit shareholders
"I gave all my Apple wealth away because wealth and power are not what I live for. I have a lot of fun and happiness. I funded a lot of important museums and arts groups in San Jose, the city of my birth, and they named a street after me for being good. I now speak publicly and have risen to the top. I have no idea how much I have but after speaking for 20 years it might be $10M plus a couple of homes. I never look for any type of tax dodge. I earn money from my labor and pay something like 55% combined tax on it. I am the happiest person ever. Life to me was never about accomplishment, but about Happiness, which is Smiles minus Frowns. I developed these philosophies when I was 18-20 years old and I never sold out."
That being said, what he is literally saying there is he made all his money young then coasted. I actually doubt that is what he did since he seems like one of those people who doesn't sit still, but the quote doesn't paint him in a great light. In simple terms, if good people don't take responsibility for deploying capital effectively, only bad people will make important decisions. There is no pride to be had in handing over large amount of money to a system that is, ultimately, controlled by the likes of Biden and Trump while upholding a teenage naivete that was buffered through life by vast wealth. Bill Gates sold out - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_%26_Melinda_Gates_Foundat....
He comes off as an active person who enjoys what he does too much to consider his work labor.
This is a quote from Woz who I think, clearly, has chosen a different path than Mr. Gates, whatever you think of him.
I know for a fact that Woz benefits San Jose because he was the key donor for the Children's Discovery Museum. I gave a tiny bit myself to get a "brick" when I worked at IBM because that museum in Los Angeles had inspired me as a child (and IBM matched my donation 100%). You needed a map to find my brick but Steve's was the entire back wall of the entrance.
alexcos•5mo ago