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> While many wealthy philanthropists enlist an army of publicists to trumpet their donations, Feeney went to great lengths to keep his gifts secret. Crazy resp

> While many wealthy philanthropists enlist an army of publicists to trumpet their donations, Feeney went to great lengths to keep his gifts secret. Crazy respect for this. Many times billionaire charitable foundations are just tax preferred ways of building your image or amassing influence. Bill Gates has done a lot of good, but his charitable work also served to redeem his image from that of the ruthless businessman crushing competitors that he had in the 1990’s. In addition, it has also given him a lot of soft power. I bet there are dozens of heads of state, especially in Africa and Asia, that he could personally get on the phone within 30 minutes if he really wanted to.

jjeaff 6y ago
Sure, but what benefit does that power get him except to accomplish the goals of his philanthropy? He doesn't appear to be trying to amass more wealth. He needs to amass connections and power if he wants to accomplish his philanthropic goals. As for fixing his image, sure, maybe that was part of it. But I doubt it. He could have just made a few really big donations and then went off to himself to enjoy his wealth.
- nitrogen 6y ago
  He is strongly opposed to end-to-end encryption, for one example.
  - jjeaff 6y ago
    I can't find any evidence to support that except some crackpot websites and forums taking a few things he has said out of context.
MisterBastahrd 6y ago
One of my arguments against the accumulation of vast wealth is that Bill Gates can get an in-person visit with my local representative faster than I, a constituent, can get a return phone call. I think we need 5x the number of representatives at the House level. Separate their duties, strip power from some of them, and keep them in district most of the year so they can actually be held accountable. Would also help to further democratize the House.
- RcouF1uZ4gsC 6y ago
  > I think we need 5x the number of representatives at the House level. Separate their duties, strip power from some of them, and keep them in district most of the year so they can actually be held accountable. That is a a great idea. One idea along those lines, is maybe make the House entirely online with the representatives being in the district 100% of the time. It would do a couple of things. It would make lobbying harder since instead of getting a bunch of people together in Washington at a fancy dinner, the lobbyists would have to travel and meet 1:1. In addition, it might decrease partisan ship by decreasing the power of the party whips. When people are all in a single location, tremendous social pressure can be brought to bear to convince a representative to vote along the party lines, even if it would be going against the wishes of their constituents. With the representatives dispersed and remote, the social pressure would be diminished, and maybe representatives would vote more in line with their constituents’ wishes.
  - MisterBastahrd 6y ago
    That mostly works, but intelligence committees, etc. need to be in secure locations to view documents.
skinnymuch 6y ago
Then why are establishment politicians not out for the little guy like Pelosi speaking at the final Zoom the article is talking about?

jjeaff 6y ago

Sure, but what benefit does that power get him except to accomplish the goals of his philanthropy? He doesn't appear to be trying to amass more wealth. He needs to amass connections and power if he wants to accomplish his philanthropic goals. As for fixing his image, sure, maybe that was part of it. But I doubt it. He could have just made a few really big donations and then went off to himself to enjoy his wealth.

nitrogen 6y ago
He is strongly opposed to end-to-end encryption, for one example.
- jjeaff 6y ago
  I can't find any evidence to support that except some crackpot websites and forums taking a few things he has said out of context.

MisterBastahrd 6y ago

One of my arguments against the accumulation of vast wealth is that Bill Gates can get an in-person visit with my local representative faster than I, a constituent, can get a return phone call. I think we need 5x the number of representatives at the House level. Separate their duties, strip power from some of them, and keep them in district most of the year so they can actually be held accountable. Would also help to further democratize the House.

RcouF1uZ4gsC 6y ago
> I think we need 5x the number of representatives at the House level. Separate their duties, strip power from some of them, and keep them in district most of the year so they can actually be held accountable. That is a a great idea. One idea along those lines, is maybe make the House entirely online with the representatives being in the district 100% of the time. It would do a couple of things. It would make lobbying harder since instead of getting a bunch of people together in Washington at a fancy dinner, the lobbyists would have to travel and meet 1:1. In addition, it might decrease partisan ship by decreasing the power of the party whips. When people are all in a single location, tremendous social pressure can be brought to bear to convince a representative to vote along the party lines, even if it would be going against the wishes of their constituents. With the representatives dispersed and remote, the social pressure would be diminished, and maybe representatives would vote more in line with their constituents’ wishes.
- MisterBastahrd 6y ago
  That mostly works, but intelligence committees, etc. need to be in secure locations to view documents.

skinnymuch 6y ago

Then why are establishment politicians not out for the little guy like Pelosi speaking at the final Zoom the article is talking about?