Wise words from an astute man. Donations only compund poverty by supressing intellectual growth and stealing anothers initiative and by perpetuating sloth and laziness. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070412/ap_on_bi_ge/mexico_second_richest_man Slim, who owns Mexico's dominant phone company and has holdings throughout Latin America, said his vision of a businessman's role in the world is at odds with that of Buffett, who announced last year he would donate $1.5 billion every year to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. "It's very interesting, because he leaves those who are running his affairs the responsibility of being very profitable," Slim said of Buffett. "If they're inefficient or don't get real-term returns, they're not going to be running anything." "Our concept is more to accomplish and solve things, rather than giving â that is, not going around like Santa Claus," Slim said. "Poverty isn't solved with donations."
There is no wisdom in that statement. Giving is what causes receiving. Contrast the good ol US of A, where giving charitably is large, to Mexico, where the balance weighs in towards the socialist solution of taking money from people and redistributing it, and you can easily see which system generates prosperity. Of course one has to make clear that taxes are not donations, even if george stephanopolis falsely claims they are.
The idea that a mexican is in a position to lecture anyone on how to solve the problem of poverty is quite preposterous given sky-high poverty rate in Mexico. Their solution to poverty is illegal emmigration to this country anyway. Besides it's a straw man, no one has ever claimed that donations is a solution to poverty. The purpose of donations is to prevent the poor from starving to death, donations were never intended to solve the problem of poverty in the first place. Poverty is indeed not solved with donations but Poverty isn't solved with the absence of donations either.
a good read on this subject is "The White Man's Burden" by William Easterly. "..The White Man's Burden is about what Easterly calls the twin tragedies of global poverty. The first is that so many are seemingy fated to live horribly stunted, miserable lives and die such early deaths. The second is that after 50 years and $ 2.3 TRILLION in aid from the West addressing the first tragedy, there is so shockingly little to show for it. We will never solve the first tragedy , Easterly argues, unless we figure out the second. "
Mexicans pay the highest phone rates in the world cause Mr. Astute Man runs a monopoly that shuts out competition. With the sale of Telmex in the early 90's its been alleged that he has receieved political favors in his dealings.
Yes, I don't think this makes since. Giving donations may motivate or inspire someone to start doing better for themselves. What I want to know is why aren't these rich people in america giving more to the poor areas like building beneficial facilities such as libraries, money for schools, and promote better living? We should be donating to our poorer areas in the United States for the sake of goodness and for the sake of making our country much stronger.