this post was submitted on 26 Sep 2023
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Work Reform

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[–] killeronthecorner@lemmy.world 45 points 1 year ago (5 children)

Is there a single impressive philanthropic feat that has been achieved by any of these billionaires?

If I had access to hundreds of billions and I wasn't able to solve a single meaningful welfare issue for even a single country in the world in my own lifetime, I would consider that abject failure.

[–] Solemn@lemmy.dbzer0.com 19 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Bill Gates has done significant good fighting disease. Still something that should've been decided by society, not a single person, but credit where credit is due.

Unfortunately anti vaxxers have destroyed a lot of that legacy anyway.

[–] Rozauhtuno@lemmy.blahaj.zone 25 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

Bill Gates has done significant good fighting disease.

No, he got in the way of progress for the sake of his own profit. The scientists that made the covid vaccine wanted it to be open source so any country could make their own, but he forced the company to patent it instead.

He's also been funding anti-scientific propaganda to convince people that his anti-solutions will solve the climate crisis. His foundation also regularly invests in ventures that pollute the Global South.

[–] Solemn@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 1 year ago

He's not perfect, and your examples show why these sorts of decisions on spending and priority shouldn't be in the hands of a single person who isn't even an expert in diseases.

It's still worth acknowledging that he did plenty to help with polio and malaria, even if it could've been done better by another method.

[–] danielquinn@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 year ago

That "antisolitions" read was fascinating! Thanks for sharing.

The real obstacle wasn't patents, it was manufacturing capability. India early on didn't even let US vaccines in when offered them because they insisted they had to go through their own regulatory and testing process first.

[–] Kalkaline@leminal.space 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Mackenzie Scott seems to be making it her mission to no longer be a billionaire by giving money to charity.

[–] AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

Last reports indicate that she can't give it away fast enough, but I'm not sure she's really trying

[–] Franzia@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 1 year ago

Capitalists actually keep the developing world from fully developing. On purpose. And NGO Aid has been proven to stagnage rather than assist countries that are constantly receiving it, such as Haiti. Yeah I would consider that failure, too. But they certainly wouldn't. And perhaps, with that many eyes in you, it might actually be harder to get things done that go against the interests of other rich and powerful people.

[–] SocialMediaRefugee@lemmy.world -1 points 1 year ago

Well there have been some...

Johns Hopkins University, Stanford University, Carnegie Mellon University, Vanderbilt University and Duke University. John D. Rockefeller funded the University of Chicago

Denny Sanford, of Sanford Health, has donated about $1.5 billion to healthcare.