November 28, 2010, on ABC's This Week, Christiane Amanpour interviewed Ted Turner, Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett about the Giving Pledge and the importance of innovation in America. Mr. Turner talked about the impact of the UN Foundation and mentioned the recent mHealth Summit when asked about the promise of new innovations.
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TRANSCRIPT:
BILLIONAIRE TURNED PHILANTHROPIST TED TURNER AGREES AND HE'S PLEDGED THE MAJORITY OF HIS MONEY TO THE UN FOUNDATION TO HELP ERADICATE POVERTY and DISEASE AND TO THE NUCLEAR THREAT INITIATIVE ELIMINATE NUCLEAR WEAPONS.
AMANPOUR: when you gave the money to the United Nations you said, I want to put all you rich people on notice. I'm coming after you to give more money.
TURNER: Well I said that and just by saying that, it caused a lot of people, I'm sure, to think about it.
AMANPOUR: did you know Bill Gates and Warren Buffett before that?
TURNER: I did. I didn't know them real well but I knew them knew them
AMANPOUR: What did you want them to do and others like them?
TURNER: Well, to consider giving now. They were already considering giving. Everybody who's rich has considered -- considers it. It's just a question of whether they do it or not because it's so much easier not to do it. But Bill and -- Bill Gates and Warren with this Giving Pledge, they're out there really taking a
leadership position and I'm proud to know them and be partner with them because we do -- the U.N. Foundation and the Nuclear Threat Initiative does a number of joint projects with both of them.
I did not know for sure when I started that it was going to work, that the U.N. Foundation was going to be able to help the U.N. or the Nuclear Threat Initiative was going to be able to help the U.S. government. There were a lot of things that weren't getting done that are getting done now, done more quickly and it really has worked out. And not only are -- is our foundation helping, but now you have lots of corporations that are helping the United Nations and you have lots of NGOs that are helping.
We can eliminate poverty. I'm on the committee now -- the U.N. committee to eliminate poverty. Well, in the next five years, it's a big job but we're going to work on it. We're going to try. I mean, it's going to be --
AMANPOUR: It's exhausting saving the world.
TURNER: Saving the world is a hard job.
AMANPOUR: What would you say to people who don't have so much money, should they be doing that too?
TURNER: Or don't have any money. One thing they can do is pick up trash. That's what I do. We're in New York now and yesterday I walked around the block and I picked up trash and put it in the garbage --
AMANPOUR: I don't believe you.
TURNER: I swear to God. Absolutely. I pick up trash in Atlanta.
AMANPOUR: Why?
TURNER: Because I want to set a good example. President Kagame of Rwanda has passed a rule that on the third Saturday of each month, the entire country has to go out from 8 - 11 and pick up trash, including him, and the cabinet of Rwanda. They all go out and pick up trash and Rwanda is just as clean a country as Switzerland is.
AMANPOUR: How does one innovate again in the United States?
TURNER: Well, there's a lot of innovating being done right now. I just came up this week from a conference on mobile health and what's being done with cell phones in the developing world to transport medical information to people and to gather it. It's just absolutely amazing the things that are being invented. Now, they're not all being invented by Americans, but some of them are. America never had a monopoly on brain power. We had -- we've been very successful but on top of that, as time goes on and you get more and more successful, that leads to some complacency and you have to go -- that's why you have cycles. The stock market goes down some days and goes up some days.
AND THERE IS NO SIGN YET THAT THESE PHILANTHROPISTS ARE SLOWING DOWN....OR RESTING ON ITS LAURELS.
AMANPOUR: You were a man of great ambition, great hunger --
TURNER: I still am.
AMANPOUR: Is the hunger still there?
TURNER: Yes. But now I'm hungry for success for the human race and America and all my friends all over the world.
AMANPOUR: How do you want history to see you?
TURNER: I don't know. I'd like to -- hopefully it'll see me honestly. I believe in honesty so I don't -- and all I'm doing is good so or trying to do good. Even the people that don't agree about getting rid of nuclear weapons think it's a good idea to try.
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Ted Turner on MSNBC's Morning Joeby unfoundation1,206 views
The UN is just a front for billionaires like him and the ruling elite to try and control the world and destroy the population.
mediashills 1 month ago
MMMM HE`S SOOOO SEXY!!!!!!!
fromlline 1 month ago
Bill Gates, Oprah, Ted Turner and George Soros are part of the Good Club wanting to cap world’s population at 8.5 Billion.
John Holdren is Obama's appointed Science Czar. Like all Czars, they were not approved by the Senate, which is unconstitutional. He advocated in his book "Ecoscience", sterilization of the human population by adding a sterilization drug to the food and water supply and the government taking babies away from single mom's. GOOGLE “zombietime john holdren” and click on link.
Gracelandification 1 year ago
Haha family guy....
alexancia5279 1 year ago