Your talking about redistributing wealth Kaiser. I haven't really thought about this since my finance and economics days. I'm sure there is someone who was an economics major on here. Let me sort of think about it and see if I can offer anythign worthwhile. This is real wishwashy but....
Ok. Most of Gate's wealth comes from his ownership of Microsoft stock. So let's further break that down. He and a lot of others own shares of that stock. These stock certificates are issued by Microsoft onto the Nasdaq at a certain price that an investor wants to pay based on what they think about the company. The better they feel about the company, the more they are willing to pay or purchase off of someone else in the secondary market. Ok. Microsoft gets to record on their books the amount the stock is worth. They can then borrow against these shares or issue more shares back out in the market if they need to(not sure if they've issued everything or not?). Of course, they also make a profit off of items they sell and for their services. What I'm sort of getting at here, is that his wealth, for the most part, is tied up in something that others(through their trading) have inflated over time. Its not so much tied up in fixed assets, though he does have a few sweet ass houses, but most of its tied up in stock that the market has set a price on. His wealth could be cut in half tomorrow if everyone flipped out and dumped their shares(ie. tech bubble). Now let's say tomorrow he wants to sell all of his stock and all of his assets and give it to 53000 people. Well, first you have to get over the hurdle that investors will not pay him the current market value of the stock. He will flood the market with his stock which will work the price of microsoft down. But if he were able to, and the broker somehow got all the cash together to put it in his account, we'd end up with all the buyers who are without 53 billion dollars in cash. They have exchanged it for paper. If he gives this 53000 poor people the cash, then they may go out and buy houses, cars, groceries, appliances, fancy boats, build cool tennis courts in their backyards, bowling lanes in their basements, and maybe even pay for some cool hookers. hahaha. Anyway, this will further help the economy b/c they are spending money. Now some of it may be going to the Chinese, and so that is something else to think about Domestic vs. foreign spending for goods.
The cash just gets redistributed and shifted around. The trouble is that 53000 people is still a small amount.
Buffet is much the same way. His wealth is all tied up in his stock of his company.
The ideal thing to do is invest all of his $53 billion in businesses that help society. Sort of like Paul Newman did. That's what I'd do anyway. ha.
Very interesting topic, but probably should take place over at discussworldissues.com. Sorry Big A.
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