It's official, he is no longer the World's richest man!

He is only currently worth $58 Billion while the new richest man in the World, a mexican Telecom boss is worth $59 Billion.

Shame innit!!

I think I might come in a little bit further down the list!! [Like near the bottom!].

It's probably because of his philanthropy. He gives away huge sums of money. I wish he would give some my way. Maybe if i wrote to him?  LOL

I hear he's leaving his CEO position at Microsoft to do philanthropy instead.

I know that he's given considerable sums to our local Universities.

Acadia i was going to post the same. He is very charitable.

Yeah me too as I don't like much defending the insanely rich Bill and Melinda Gates do a lot of good work and do much through their foundation like seeing that inner city kids get PC and lessons on how to use them.  So I give them that kudo!

If those wonderfully  generous Gates wanted to be of real service to humanity, they'd buy me some new underwear so my wife would quit making fun of the stuff I'm currently wearing. Whenever I ask her to pick some up for me, she just laughs and tells me to do it myself. The poor, ignorant woman just doesn't understand that no true man worth his salt ever buys underwear, or anything you can't immediately eat unless it has an electro- mechanical device of some kind stuck on it.
It ain't natural.

Quote - It's official, he is no longer the World's richest man!

He is only currently worth $58 Billion while the new richest man in the World, a mexican Telecom boss is worth $59 Billion.

Shame innit!!

I think I might come in a little bit further down the list!! [Like near the bottom!].

fixer, I think any person involved in 3D who visits this maketplace as well as others, and uses their credit card repeatedly will always be near the bottom. It's not so bad down here actually. Now off to see whats new in the Maretplace so I can stay near the bottom too!

**grichter: ** LOL, yes I'll come and join you!!

I heard an interview or two with Bill Gates where he sounded like he felt guilty over having made so much money.  He announced his plan to dedicate the rest of his life to giving his fortune away.  So I suppose that's what he's now doing.  He also indicated that he while his kids weren't going to be left in the poorhouse -- they weren't exactly going to be left among the world's top 100 richest people, either.  I'm not sure what the Gate's kid's attitudes about those circumstances are.  They might not be too happy with their dad........but I don't know.

I recall back when Sam Walton (the founder of Wal Mart) was the world's richest man.  Towards the end of his life, the wheelchair-bound Mr. Walton broke his vast empire up into five pieces -- he kept one fifth for himself, and then he portioned the other four pieces out equally to his kids.  IIRC, he made some sort of statement at the time about "not wanting to lose his family".  It seems that the Walton kids had already begun to fight among themselves over who was going to get what upon their father's impending demise.  I am given to understand that after the nice old man actually did pass away -- his children then proceeded to fight bitterly over their father's remaining 1/5th.

It's never enough.  No matter how much most people have: it's never enough.  Getting more only seems to make people want more still..........and as you get older, it gradually begins to dawn on you just how short this life is.  And how little time you are going to have to enjoy the things that you've got.

Many rich people lead very unhappy personal lives.  But not all do.  Some of them are even.....noble.  I'm not so sure that Bill Gates fits into the 'noble' category -- but I'm sure that he's got a very long line of people standing at his door with their hands out.  Everybody is the friend of the man who gives gifts.  Santa Gates.

The greed of the "little people" is no more admirable than the greed of the fat cats.  The only difference is that one's got it -- and he isn't happy: while the other one wants it, and he isn't happy, either.  Humans are like that.

Quote - The greed of the "little people" is no more admirable than the greed of the fat cats.

Well spake!!!

LOL @ Mogwa, i here what your saying and i whole heartedly agree...

Very well said **XENOPHONZ
**I'm reminded of Aaron Spelling and the  $100,000 he left to each of his kids, while his wife retained the bulk of his many millions.  Apparently it was an old will, and his wife (their Mother) is so greedy that she doesn't want to risk being "broke" and not living in the style she's accustomed to by giving her kids any more of the money than was stipulated that they get.

I sometimes wish I would win a lottery and be debt free and never have to worry about money again, but then on the other hand like you said, if you have what some deem "excess", you will suddenly find yourself surrounded by "friends" who are really only there to benefit from what you are able to give them.**
**

I wonder if Gates and Ted Turner and Buffett et al ask themselves if their money given to causes and charities actually in fact increases the condition of the world overall, as opposed to keeping it intact and invested in production, in corporations where it's mission is to produce more wealth constantly.

Not to mention the "enabling" aspects of giving money away. I'm not saying money given blindly to charities does not have a chance to do good, but the chance that some of it will enable behaviors that instead ought to be greeted with "tough love" is a certainty.

And I doubt Gates slipped in the standings due to giving money away. He's slipping because his stock holdings in Microsoft are not rising in value as fast as other sectors.

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But he is spending money on education. Won't that enable the beneficiaries to change behaviours, maybe even better than tough love.

Depends. I am not a fan of state mandated and state compelled and state tax revenue-based education. If he is giving money to an alternative private system of scholarship and learning, it could be good. Maybe Gates could simply "buy out" public education.

but wouldn't state education improve if it was better funded?

Gates was still the richest as recently as just the past Spring.  But Carlos Slim's net worth surged since then, with the help of a 26 percent growth rate in his company, America Movil.  This could all change by this time next year, and Gates could be back on top again.  Although it's well known he doesn't want to be known as the world's richest man anyway.

As a side-note, Gates has put over $30 billion into the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, reducing his personal net worth.  He'd still be the world richest by a HUGE margine (no one would even come close) if he didn't contribute that sum of money to the foundation.

It's a Windows Vista effect.

“Millionaires who laugh are rare. My experience is that wealth is apt to take the smiles away.” - Andrew Carnegie

This is an lesson that many lottery winners learn through bitter experience.  After the initial rush of finding oneself rich literally overnight -- they quickly discover some of the worst aspects of human nature -- both in themselves and in others.  One of the normal immediate results is that they instantly lose all of their old friends: accompanied by much acrimony & envy.  They also receive demands for a 'fair share' of the loot from various family members -- including cousin's cousin's cousins -- who they never knew that they were related to.

You ought to check out the personal stories of various lottery winners -- and what the instant wealth did to them & their families.  Like Jack Whittaker........there are many other examples of the same phenomenon.

http://www.lotterypost.com/news/148710.htm

One of the best ways to totally & completely destroy a man is to give him everything that he's ever dreamed of having.  But......some people have to experience something before they'll believe it.  And by then, of course: it's often too late to repair the results.

but wouldn't state education improve if it was better funded?<<

In my opinion, no. State mandated education already spends between $6000-$10,000 per pupil in the USA. They are staffed by state-educated teachers indoctrinated into "Whole Language" and "Fuzzy New-New Math" and school as socialization rather than cognitive development. Frankly, I think they produce illiterates and ill-formed citizens. Pouring more money into that system is folly, IMO.

I sent my son to a private school, not an 'elite' one, but a good one, with old-school philosophy of reading and math, cost = $6000 per year.

It is very common to believe that education is poor because it is under-funded. This is not true, in my opinion. 

In my experience, public schools only become "good" when there is intense parental and cluster-passion involved. In other words, when the community puts human capital into the public school as if it were a private one, or co-op one. These excellent public schools do NOT get more taxpayer funding than the run-of-the-mill middling public school, yet the results are far better.

So, Gates simply "dumping money" into public education in my opinion is enabling. Now, I do not actually know the facts of the type of education he is funding. If he is somehow insisting on "money will flow if the school commits to excellence", or is providing voucher money for parents to make a choice, that would be interesting.

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Public schools in the US spend HUGE amounts of money on a per student basis.  For example, according to NCES rankings, D.C. Public Schools spent $13,330 per student in 2005.  And yet the condition of the schools is absolutely abysmal.  Money for education isn't the problem, folks.

http://en.civilg8.ru/2520.php

I could get into the real reasons........but doing so would lead to a political debate.  So I'll leave off.

I'll just provide a nudge by reminding people of who's been running the public schools for the last several decades.  And no -- it hasn't been GWB.  I think that it's been someone whose initials are NEA and AFT.

He had to do some good, some time.

Quote - He had to do some good, some time.

Being a Mac user....If Bill really wanted to do some good, he would come to RMP and pay for the all items in everybodies wishlists...Now that my friends is what I call a good deed! :biggrin:

I though the IKEA dude recently became the world's richest man...like last year sometime.

Bill's Charity:
Does that come with a huge tax write-off attached?

I wonder if he's ever given any money to Xerox...

Any Godfather spend a lot of money in charity and church.
(opera music playing in the background)