Comments by "wvu05" (@wvu05) on "Andrew Cuomo Asks Bill Gates To Ruin Education For Everyone" video.

@whyamimrpink78 Bill Gates didn't "earn" the vast majority of his money. He's worth twice as much now as he was whe he "retired to give his money away."
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@sherlyn.a At the time, he was going to "give it all away." And his investment has not beaten the S&P 500, so having a much higher wealth to start with has nothing to do with being a "smart investor." He clearly didn't give away $50B over the last 15 years, so he didn't do what he said he was going to do.
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@sherlyn.a Even if you assume that he would have given away all but $1B (since his ego surely wouldn't let him go to millionaire status), he would still have more than enough to spend in a lifetime.
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@sherlyn.a And the money he's paid in taxes is less than 10% of what he's got, so that's hardly a lot. And if he dies with that massive fortune intact, he can pass it on to his wife and kids tax free. Because the rich engineered the tax code so that they get tons of loopholes and then they sucker people like you by calling it a "death tax."
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@sherlyn.a My dear God! What is with the people who cannot tell the difference between "lose" and "loose"? The former is the opposite of win, and the latter is the opposite of tight. Oh, poor Jeff Bezos lost half of his money because he got divorced. Cry me a river. No one forced him to cheat on his wife. And, no one is going to make a million dollars and spend 80% in cash to buy a house. And Gates wouldn't have to give up shares to the government. He could, but he wouldn't have to. Let's just say that the strictest wealth tax proposal went through, the one that Bernie proposed. He is married, so he would pay 1% on assets over $32MM, 2% on assets over $50MM, 3% over $250MM, 4% over $500MM, 5% over $1B, 6% over $2.5B, 7% over $5B, and 8% over $10B. Since marginal rates only apply to the level above the bracket, this means $180,000 for the first bracket, $4MM for the 2% bracket, $7.5MM for the 3% bracket, $20MM for the 4% bracket, $75MM for the 5% bracket, $150MM for the 6% bracket, $350MM for the 7% bracket, and (assuming a total fortune of $100B even to make the math round for demonstration purposes), $7.2B for the top bracket, for a total tax of a little bit over $7.8B. Here's a secret: this tax wouldn't even get to the average for stock market growth since 1929, so he would still get to keep his obscene fortune that was gained through underpaying workers, stealing ideas from competitors, and using basic government research to get started, not to mention government infrastructure to move his products, a military that insures that we won't be invaded, and a relatively steady economy so that he could build. Anyone who claims to be self-made is someone who thinks he/she is floating through the air without seeing the building he/she is standing on.
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@sherlyn.a "Microsoft didn't grow because they stole money from people" Well, maybe they didn't "steal money from people," but Bill Gates stole the idea of Windows from Steve Jobs, so that doesn't exactly work for your billionaire hagiography. Bill Gates also benefited from the work of the Defense Department and many computer programmers. He also participated in illegal predatory activities to get his wealth so high that it got the Justice Department to bring antitrust charges, and they were convicted in 1999. The only reason they didn't get broken up is because there was a big fight over what the punishment would look like that dragged out until the Bush Administration decided not to pursue the issue any further. If Microsoft is a natural monopoly and a utility, then let us treat it as such. Regulate the way it can operate, and the prices it can set.
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