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Germany's super-rich urged to follow US billionaires' lead

Published: 6 Aug 10 08:44 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.de/money/20100806-28985.html

Following the pledge by 40 American billionaires to give away at least half their wealth to humanitarian causes, centre-left politicians suggested Friday that Germany’s super-rich might consider doing the same.

Politicians from the centre-left Social Democrats and environmentalist Greens have pointed to the announcement spearheaded by Microsoft founder Bill Gates and investor Warren Buffett as an example Germany's financial elite could follow.

Green chairwoman Claudia Roth described the gesture as setting a “good example.”

“Those who can afford it, should do it,” she told the Passauer Neue Presse.

SPD deputy parliamentary leader Joachim Poß described the US announcement as a “good idea.”

“One can follow that approach further here,” he told the paper.

Carsten Schneider, budget spokesman for the SPD’s parliamentary group, said the US announcement was “a very commendable demonstration that the rich are not exempt from social responsibility” – adding that such a trend was not to be observed in Germany.

But charitable donations were a good way “to give something back to the community,” he said, though donations could “not replace sensible taxation on wealth.”

(news@thelocal.de)

What do you think? Leave your comment below.


Your comments about this article:

09:27 August 6, 2010 by Prufrock2010
Philanthropy is laudable. Paying one's fair share of taxes is necessary. Those who choose to give portions of their fortunes away to designated beneficiaries are able to avoid taxes while at the same time fostering a personal social or political agenda that excludes society at large. Paying reasonable taxes based on income and wealth benefits the commonweal. The notion that 21st century societies must resort to 17th century patronage to survive is somehow hard to reconcile.
10:32 August 6, 2010 by OMFG
Hey Kanadian - what made you get this generalized impression about Germans? Any examples?
12:04 August 6, 2010 by hkypuck
**Donations could ¦quot;not replace sensible taxation on wealth.¦quot;**

What a shock to hear THAT coming from someone working in the

public sector, huh? What could be the possible gain from taxation for them.

"Here, you (citizen) don't know where to put your money.

Give it to us (the gov't) and we'll see that it gets to the people that need it most." (i.e. laundered to the politicians).
12:25 August 6, 2010 by freechoice
charity comes from the heart, if you want to do it, nobody can persuade you to say no, likewise, if you are not gonna do it, why should anybody speak up about it?
12:30 August 6, 2010 by Bushdiver
Load of crap if you ask me. Why don't some of the rich and worthless politicians donate some of their money.
18:23 August 6, 2010 by criticalthinker
Don't let the American super rich fool you you Germans. If the super rich give their money away to the poor all the poor will do is spend the money and have nothing after it is all spent. We in the U.S. tried that when the idiot Lyndon Johnson was president. Please google "The Great Society" and you will see what giving money to the poor does to them. It destroys them. The super rich need to creat JOBS for the poor people so that they can make their own way in life.
18:31 August 6, 2010 by Prufrock2010
What have the super rich in America done to create jobs lately? And where did you get your degree in economics?
18:46 August 6, 2010 by recherche
I am not sure that wealth is managed appropriately in European societies. But I do have serious reservations about giving money away. They may have more money than they rightfully should have, but giving it to the complacent, vocal and lazy is not necessarily a good thing. The trouble with socialism is just that: some give but there's no quid pro quo.
18:47 August 6, 2010 by snorge
@Prufrock2010

You know that American movie you saw at the theater lately, all those people who made it go jobs from those American Super Rich guys who financed it....
19:12 August 6, 2010 by Prufrock2010
Movies are primarily financed by investment bankers with other people's money.
08:30 August 7, 2010 by JohnnesKönig
Are they really being generous? Or are the trying to beat the change in tax laws coming in 2011? And of course Bill Gates is making his donation to his favorite charity, the Gates foundation...
14:07 August 7, 2010 by Prufrock2010
I'm not a big fan of Bill Gates or Microsnot, but I must admit that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation does a great deal of good humanitarian work around the world. As for Warren Buffett (isn't he the richest man in America now?), he himself acknowledged that his secretary paid more in personal income tax in 2008 than he did. Yes, I'm sure their large charitable contributions have a tax planning element to them. These men are much too savvy to be be guided by pure altruism.
16:06 August 7, 2010 by TBurris
Maybe Bill Gates should keep his money and fix Windows.
20:05 August 8, 2010 by dbert4
If they really want to help, maybe they should bring back the jobs that they sent overseas. Since they're now now rich enough to give money away, I guess they don't need to screw thier country anymore by off-shoring.
05:05 August 9, 2010 by parografik
No one is talking about handing out checks to Cadillac welfare moms. What if they were able to find cures for cancers, global warming,, asbestos poisoning, royalty, and whatever it is that causes Glen Beck to well up so frequently? There's a million causes we could all agree are not issues we find our politicians or capitalism dealing with in an effective manner. Would you rather they not pony up 500 billion toward things like that? Just think of the all of the tissues filling our landfills loaded with the sanctimonious snot of misleading pundits .
13:24 August 9, 2010 by bugger
I am really surprised that people are so naive, riches give money to their own profitable charity, it means they turn that money and make profit. The only visible thing here is: they gather billions in one organization, it means they want to become stronger than others. Therefore other riches think they must unite themselves or American riches will be the strongest in international market. It is the same as politics (USA, EU, United South America or Africa), just this is about economy.
15:19 August 9, 2010 by Prufrock2010
That's why this article appears in the Business and Money section.
22:00 August 13, 2010 by wxman
It's not the job of entrepenteurs to create "jobs". Their focus is on creating self wealth. A side benefit of their desire to better their position is the hiring of workers to meet demand for their product. The individual businessman shoulders all the risk - - long hours and all their $$ invested in a risky economic endeavor. The purpose of staring business is the acquiring of capital and a better life by risking everything; it is NOT to create jobs. Sheeesh!
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