On the Ground with Nicholas D. Kristof - A Conversation with Bill Gates

[lorrieringel]

very interesting post. Keep it up!

[TheDaily365]

We Amerians looks like helping and great but deeply sale the arms then killing

[caliboysialer]

Stop taxing the rich you idiots this man has done more than the government,,, help the rich to help the needs stop sticking a rod up their assholes..... morons in the government really need to tax less people and less things so our economy can make a real rebound... stupid fucking bureaucrats.

[davfritz]

I'm going to add to my last comment, that if he were to become president, (who am I to say this....after all I'm not American- but heck, what America does effects us all)

he would be the greatest president in American history, exceeding Lincoln.

[davfritz]

I've got to take a plunge here and say that in my humble opinion, Gates would make a GREAT president.

[mefruh]

Deus na sua infinita sabedoria instituiu a "CRIAÇÃO" A LEI DE CAÇA E PREDADOR. Para que os rebanhos fosse contido do crescimento desordenado. Não podemos imaginar que o actual contingente de 7.000.000.000 de humanos sejas aceitável. Se a humanidade encontrou meios de libertar-se do jugo da lei natural imposta a toda a criação, indistintamente. Ela não pode julgar no direito de PROCRIAR, PROCRIAR, PROCRIAR, sem a finalidade de coexistência a sua natural carência para O SEU REAL PROPÓSITO NA TERRA

[MultiSmartass1]

Gates has nothing better to do so why not pretend to be an advocate for the poor?

We can't even take care of the homeless and poor in this country. we don't care about them.

How about beginning to deal with people who need resources here in this country before pretending to give a crap about people in other countries?

[twobkind]

for all the people who go after Gates and Microsoft, I bet not one of them can compare in his charitable efforts.

to answer Kristoff's question about why now in these hard economic times should we should we step up to the plate for other people a long way away: no matter how bad things are for us, someone else has it worse.

That said, anyone notice at 1:33 or so how the same oral vaccine is given to three kids in a row? cross-contamination / hygiene anyone?

[MultiSmartass1]

Billionaires like Gates don't just give money away for no reason.

His foundations benefit from his supposed do-goodism.

There is no free lunch.

[gastoniaguide]

I'm not rich and I'm going to Africa for a month to do my part with my disability funds!

[mikeandlaurie1979]

His foundation is real. His efforts to help the poor and sick is real. How can anybody discount what he's suggesting?... he is simply saying; if you're rich and, or if you have resources to contribute, the result is dynamic while improving humanity. How can anybody dispute his cause?

[rivbike]

No, hold on there a moment. Bill Gates is successful. And he (via the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation) are the biggest donors in the world to the most worthy charities. Bill Gates has inspired Warren Buffet to donate. And now Sergie Brin (sp?) of Google is coming on board.

You may have your disagreements with his company, whatever, but he has certainly done, and continues to do lots of good with his money. Nobody donates more than the BMGF.

[irvinf12]

god bill when will it end just say it you dint invent the pc steve balmer did steve balmer invented the pc

[0403995489]

Bill Gates donates and contibutes relentlessly to make the problems we face lesser of a problem. This was a great portrayal of just some of the things which are involved.

[milfballs]

I like the part at the end when Bill (unsure) said I didn't know that!

[NTenshow]

Haters are never happy.

[corythehoward]

you realise he donates millions a year and he has for years right?

[flightsimace]

fuck bill gates if hes so worried about people who need money not getting any money bc everyones hurting why doenst he donate ALL of his money...RICH FUCKER!

[MixesAndStuff]

he donates so much money dude

[sparke1999]

he worked hard for his money ya Jealous fucker!!

[NTenshow]

@flightsimace

Why dont you donate ALL your house & stuff?

cumbag.

[maxamojaxamo]

well your making money so why not you donate it, fucking hypocrite

[HolyBomb]

he already donates..

[wikikikikiwill]

look up the billions he donates before you talk, dumb fuck.

[maxamojaxamo]

um replying to the wrong person fail? lol

[khtervola]

IN all kinds of feedback systems it makes sense to treat things according to what they are. This explains the value of holistic objectivity, market economies and justice. Likewise it explains why are honesty and carrying responsibility about all the consequences of one's actions needed: a correct picture of things and guidability.

Add the wish to keep workers healthy and you get (via the thus added human values) what is thought as universal moral! Is there difference between greed and moral?!

[kdawg860]

bill gates needs to address some very important misconceptions and arguments against foreign aid. i recommend watching john stossel's myth on foreign aid, available on youtube. foreign aid goes directly to corrupt govts and makes them more powerful while making the common people less free. this is why after so many decades of foreign aid africa has become poorer, whereas countries that didnt receive foreign aid such as s.korea, became wealthier.

[condellwatch]

The US military has propped up that country for decades, get real.

[kdawg860]

sure. it "propped up" s.korea by simply guarding its border against the north. it didn't give billions in foreign aid to the country's govt like the u.s. is doing to african govts.

[condellwatch]

Just billions in military aid.

[hitchwatch]

"whereas countries that didnt receive foreign aid such as s.korea, became wealthier."

You are out of your fucking mind given that the US has spent many billions defending the place for around 55 years.

[kdawg860]

chill dude. i meant foreign aid as in the kind africa receives, not military aid.

[hitchwatch]

Six of one, half a dozen of the other. I sure wish that Japan would pick up our defense bill.

[kdawg860]

watch a short video on what aid to africa has done. search for "stossel foreign aid". let me know what you think.

[hitchwatch]

John Stossel can suck my ass.

[kdawg860]

if you can't have a decent intellectual conversation without insults, please keep your comments to yourself.

[hitchwatch]

Fuck you, cunt, I'll say whatever I like.

Stossel's "America" erroneously claimed that Hong Kong is the only country in the world that runs a government budget surplus. FAIR pointed out 11 industrialized countries, including the U.S., that ran budget surpluses last year. (1999)

[kdawg860]

fine. keep up the childish insults if you want. i appreciate comments with substance. i'd like to stick to discussing foreign aid. that is what the video is about. if you refuse to watch the stossel video then watch nambisa moyo. or any of the arguments against foreign aid. youre not afraid of hearing them are you?

[hitchwatch]

I'm quite familiar with the right-wing propaganda you are presenting, thank you very much.

[kdawg860]

and yet you are unable to respond to the arguments. i'm a democrat, not a right-winger. i deplore the poverty that exists in africa, as well as my home in los angeles. i'm a public school teacher in a disadvantaged community. i'm no right winger. this "propaganda" exposes the cause of poverty in africa, foreign aid. if you can't address these arguments you are being closed-minded.

[hitchwatch]

You can proclaim what a liberal as much as you like, but I'm not under any obligation to engage you in the manner that you desire. Your name-dropping a couple of right-wingers which doesn't particularly impress me. The fact that most of the continent of Africa was invaded by European powers might have a little more to do with the situation than whatever pittance of foreign aid gets sent over there. In any event, I don't need any lectures from underachievers who get paid by the government.

[hitchwatch]

Here you go, namedropper.

Critics argue that the book doesn't create any scientifically proven causal link between aid and Africa's problems and ignores the many studies showing development aid working. In response to criticism

[hitchwatch]

Michael Gerson, op-ed columnist for The Washington Post, states, "Seldom have so many sound economic arguments been employed to justify such disastrously wrongheaded conclusions," and argues that Moyo fails to recognize the more targeted aid begun in the 1990s to address precisely the issues she raises and attacks Moyo's knowledge of the numbers she uses.[25]

[hitchwatch]

Columbia University professor and economist Jeffrey Sachs has said more foreign aid is needed to improve conditions for Africa.[26] The advocacy organization ONE (co-founded by Bono) disagrees with some of Moyo's policy recommendations. On 27 March 2009, ONE launched a campaign against her book, claiming that Dead Aid was "reckless" and that it called to "cut-off all aid".[27]

[hitchwatch]

Stossel was criticized for a segment on his October 11, 1999, show during which he argued that AIDS research has received too much funding, "25 times more than on Parkinson's, which kills more people." FAIR responded that, "In fact, AIDS killed more than 16,000 people in the United States in 1999," whereas Parkinson's averaged "a death toll in the United States of less than 4,000 per year."[27]

[hitchwatch]

But instead of offering ideas to improve aid Moyo takes the opposite approach, asserting that aid is altogether bad for Africa and should be gradually replaced with foreign investment. Moyo's solutions may on the surface seem reasonable, but her argument is simplistic, and even dangerous.

[hitchwatch]

Beyond Moyo's repetitive and lifeless prose lay a stunning number of undocumented and inaccurate assertions. She repeatedly claims that $1 trillion has been spent on African development aid, but cites no source for the figure. She claims that two-thirds of U.S. AIDS assistance to Africa goes to abstinence education, although the actual number is 7 percent.

[hitchwatch]

She refers to a World Bank study showing that 85 percent of aid flows "were used for purposes other than that for which they were initially intended," but provides no citation. And to support her argument that foreign aid increases the risk of conflict she uses a single dubious example -- Somalia -- from a source that she references but doesn't cite.

[hitchwatch]

Indeed, Moyo often draws a direct line between aid and economic growth -- or lack thereof -- as if no other factor plays a role in African development. The notion that Bostwana's experience with foreign aid could be repeated today, as she argues, in places like Nigeria, Sudan or Rwanda is fanciful.

[hitchwatch]

in Moyo's formulation there is only one type of aid -- money, usually bilateral in origin -- and it's bad. Moyo argues that African countries -- not the West -- should be tackling the AIDS crisis, but ignores the fact that her best example of a successful African economy (Botswana) was unable to do just that.

[dunngar]

bill gates is trying to do the right thing, i'd take it easy on how much you criticize him.. lots of commenters in here probably wouldn't be willing to help people around the world if they were in his position..

[charleshoskinson]

I second that dunngar. People are so prone to just point fingers, when they are unwilling to personally help the world. Gates will save millions of lives with his efforts, but for some, this doesn't matter, he is just some liar demagogue.

[hitchwatch]

Some of the businesses who spent millions of dollars on overpriced word processing software just so people could open Word documents originating from outside their organizations would like that money now, I bet.

[jwd0808]

Most businesses get volume discounts on said software, and I'm sure they used it for more than simply opening Word documents - that is just ridiculous...

[NoahCr]

It's alot more than opening word documents.

What are you raging on about anyway?

I think it's a good thing he is doing this.

It's easy for someone to disagree with something like this, when they have no direct link to it, but when the people starving and dieing are your children or family, it's alot different.

[biezley]

While of course there is going to be be some skepticism toward anyone who is rich or powerful doing a noble thing, you do have to take into account one thing. They ARE doing it. If it takes guilt or a PR boost to get them to donate, so be it.

Plus, it does say something that he's transferred his focus to his organization. I used to have a great distaste for him, but I've grown to respect him. He's done much more with his money than most of the rest of the upper class.

[immafloridaboy]

wow you know, for bill gates, the richest man alive, who could right now be showering (literally) in a pool of $100 bills, to go in places like those and realize that there are other people in the world that cant even afford the proper necessities to keep their children normally functioning. i hope god truly blesses him ( im atheist and i say that )

[hitchwatch]

Nice to see two totally disgusting people get together. Bill Gates is a pathological liar who actually claimed to have invented software on ABC.

[slyckdaddy4u]

I am so smart

and its becuz online

I click and do my computer work

and notice

how smarter I

am than most people

[bouncysmile]

wish other billionaires wud follow suit and do wot bill gates is doing helping people with their own money instead of hoarding money for themselves.

bill gates is cool that is why i wont use apple mac. microsoft rule

[hitchwatch]

It's PR. John D. Rockefeller did exactly the same thing.

[charleshoskinson]

Because all rich people are just evil greedy men right? You fucking liberals never will admit a rich man is a good man. Gates will have a vaccine for Malaria created within the next 10 years. This alone will save a million people a year.

But I guess he is still an evil man

[hitchwatch]

Bill Gates is human garbage.  I don't care how much of his money he gives away.

[charleshoskinson]

So why is he human garbage? Because he was successful at business? Are you using a PC to write your youtube message? Even if you're using a mac, then you're still using something Bill Gates helped build.

But that all doesn't matter. I guess in your world every rich man is just an evil person. It doesn't matter if they save millions of lives. Change the world for the better. Just has to be evil for being successful. Go back to china you communist.

[hitchwatch]

Bill Gates is human garbage because he's a pathological liar and has repeatedly indulged in unethical business practices.

[charleshoskinson]

What you call unethical business practices, I call running a successful business. What you call pathological liar, I call slander. I'll play the slander game hitchwatch. Your opinion doesn't count because you rape kittens and then set them on fire. I don't need evidence just like you don't need evidence for your statements about gates. Have fun you sick freak.

[hitchwatch]

"What you call unethical business practices, I call running a successful business."

Tell it to John D. Rockefeller.

"What you call pathological liar, I call slander."

Bill Gates did not invent software, no matter what he says on national television.

[charleshoskinson]

Bill gates standardized the platform that the bulk of software is written on. If there was 50 standards the industry would have had difficulty going mainstream. And Rockefeller was a ruthless capitalist who helped build America. You once again prove you hate all rich successful people because they lived the american dream of running a business and living well. Go to Cuba comrade.

[hitchwatch]

People still write software for hundreds of platforms, assclown.  And Rockefeller was an unethical businessman.

"Standard Oil was convicted in Federal Court of monopolistic practices and broken up in 1911."

[hitchwatch]

Originally serialized in 19 parts in McClure's magazine, the book was a seminal example of muckraking, and inspired many other journalists to write about trusts, large businesses that (in the absence of strong antitrust law in the 19th century) attempted to gain monopolies in various industries.

The History of the Standard Oil Company was credited with hastening the breakup of Standard Oil, which came about in 1911.

[charleshoskinson]

Read "Titan" from Ron Cherno. The sources you have about Rockefeller are incredible biased. yes the government broke up standard oil during the trust busting age, but frankly everything Rockefeller did wasn't illegal when he first started. He was simply being a ruthless businessman. Who btw, is responsible for the American oil industry as a whole.

[hitchwatch]

I don't take reading tips from people who tell me to go back to Cuba.

[hitchwatch]

And I think that Henry Ford was responsible for creating a bit of the demand for petroleum.

[charleshoskinson]

Ford was an ethanol man and Rockefeller then financed the Prohibition movement to ensure oil won out. Rockefeller also created the federal reserve system with J.P Morgan.

[hitchwatch]

Fuck off, crackpot.

[hitchwatch]

"The sources you have about Rockefeller are incredible biased."

Yeah, I'd much rather rely on a puff piece written a century after the fact than on something written at the time all this was going on. You are a shill for monopolists.

[charleshoskinson]

I'm sure Ida Tarbell's attacks on Rockefeller have nothing to do with the fact that her dad was driven out of business by Standard Oil. Yeah no bias there... And if you call Ron Chernow a puff piece author, then I suppose you have no respect for the Pulitzer prize or Harvard University. Chernow is one of the most cited and respected authors in the United States. As for being a crackpot, Bill Ford-then ceo of ford in 2006- ran commercials talking about how his granddad wanted ford's on ethanol.

[hitchwatch]

Internet mind-reader of the dead. And hasn't Thomas Friedman won 3 Pulitzers? Not to mention that Karl Marx is one of the most cited authors!

[charleshoskinson]

You're a hopeless excuse for an intellectual if I've ever seen one. Anything or anyone who stands in the way of your viewpoint must be destroyed. Ron Chernow contradicts you view of Rockefeller- guess the pulitzer prize is bad. Bill Gates is going to save a million lives every year, still a pathologically lying windbag. Tell me hitchwatch what the hell have you done that's so great you can spit on the men who have forged history? Go back to your dark hole and leave the titans of humanity alone.

[hitchwatch]

"Anything or anyone who stands in the way of your viewpoint must be destroyed"

Go back to Afghanistan.

[NoahCr]

I don't think he said he invented software.

[AlgerianPhoenix]

He claim to build to have the 1st company  based on Software entirely.

[gastoniaguide]

This is not the issue here...the bottom line is he and others are Making A Change in the world...

--Do Something Good!

[hitchwatch]

David Brinkley asked him if he invented software and he simply said "Yes."

[jwd0808]

You are of course entitled to your warped opinion. If by giving his money away he was able to save just one human life, he would be one well loved piece of human garbage. Luckily, your insignificance makes your negative statements meaningless.

[hitchwatch]

Are you still yammering on like a moonstruck twerp?

[helloitskevinagain]

bill gates! good man!

[geeseteeth]

please pour some money into finding a cure for tinnitus! over 50 million americans suffer from this tragic condition.

[GooGooGooGaaGaaGaa]

Wow bill gates lol hardly any views

[SouthGate01]

not billions but thousands

[michael8725]

i didn't know Bill Gates was that good of a person.

[BenStilller]

what a great interview!!!