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> treat your children well The point the author was making was that Bill Gates' parents were extremely wealthy and also very influential, which gave Gates a un

by nmrm2 11y ago

> treat your children well The point the author was making was that Bill Gates' parents were extremely wealthy and also very influential, which gave Gates a uniquely preparatory childhood, the means to make pretty much whatever risks he wanted, and easy access to capital (and the people behind it). Not everyone has that kind of influence and money to pass down to their children.

adventured 11y ago
I see it repeated frequently that Bill's parents were very or extremely wealthy. Where's the proof of that? His father was a prominent lawyer by the mid 1970s, yes. They were an upper class family, that is well known. As far as I'm aware, having read a lot about Bill Gates over the years, there isn't much evidence to stipulate just how wealthy they were. If his father earned a higher level lawyer salary in the 1960s, it does not necessarily mean great wealth had been accumulated. I'd argue it would be extremely unlikely at that point in time, as his father would have been merely 40 years old in 1965 when Gates was 10. Try accumulating "extreme" amounts of wealth in just a few years as a lawyer, it's nearly impossible. By the time Gates was 25, he was already richer than both of his parents combined.
- nmrm2 11y ago
  Sure, fine, they were "only" upper class. I'm not really sure what the appropriate response here is when Gates went to the best private schools. Anyways, influence is as important as wealth: Mary Maxwell was a board member of First Interstate Bank and Pacific Northwest Bell. She was also on the national board of United Way, along with John Opel, the chief executive officer of IBM who approved the inclusion of MS/DOS with the original IBM PC.
- gexla 11y ago
  If they could afford 3 meals a day without ever having to skip a meal because of lack of money, then they were richer than most people on the planet. If they were middle-upper class in the U.S. - that's not extremely wealthy by U.S. standards but it's quite filthy most anywhere else. That's winning the birth lotto.
  - WalterBright 11y ago
    There are millions of Americans like that, but only one Bill Gates. You can't just assign his success to his parents.

by nmrm2 11y ago

adventured 11y ago

I see it repeated frequently that Bill's parents were very or extremely wealthy. Where's the proof of that? His father was a prominent lawyer by the mid 1970s, yes. They were an upper class family, that is well known. As far as I'm aware, having read a lot about Bill Gates over the years, there isn't much evidence to stipulate just how wealthy they were. If his father earned a higher level lawyer salary in the 1960s, it does not necessarily mean great wealth had been accumulated. I'd argue it would be extremely unlikely at that point in time, as his father would have been merely 40 years old in 1965 when Gates was 10. Try accumulating "extreme" amounts of wealth in just a few years as a lawyer, it's nearly impossible. By the time Gates was 25, he was already richer than both of his parents combined.

nmrm2 11y ago
Sure, fine, they were "only" upper class. I'm not really sure what the appropriate response here is when Gates went to the best private schools. Anyways, influence is as important as wealth: Mary Maxwell was a board member of First Interstate Bank and Pacific Northwest Bell. She was also on the national board of United Way, along with John Opel, the chief executive officer of IBM who approved the inclusion of MS/DOS with the original IBM PC.
gexla 11y ago
If they could afford 3 meals a day without ever having to skip a meal because of lack of money, then they were richer than most people on the planet. If they were middle-upper class in the U.S. - that's not extremely wealthy by U.S. standards but it's quite filthy most anywhere else. That's winning the birth lotto.
- WalterBright 11y ago
  There are millions of Americans like that, but only one Bill Gates. You can't just assign his success to his parents.