# Carlos Slim, world's richest man disagrees with Gates & Buffett on charitable giving. Who is right? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [March 11, 2010, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carlos-slim-worlds-richest-man-disagrees-with-gates-buffett-on-charitable-giving-who-is-right/532134 "2010-03-11T18:22:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2010, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carlos-slim-worlds-richest-man-disagrees-with-gates-buffett-on-charitable-giving-who-is-right/532134/41 "2010-03-12T00:23:28Z")
I agree with Slim. Africa has been the recipient of trillions of $ in “aid” over the years…most of which has been wasted and dissipated. the problem with africa: corruption and political instability…plus tribalism. Poor countries cannot afford “leaders” who loot treasuries, build estates in Switzerland, and launch pointless wars. ---
**Author:** ![Ruminator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Ruminator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruminator)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2010, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carlos-slim-worlds-richest-man-disagrees-with-gates-buffett-on-charitable-giving-who-is-right/532134/42 "2010-03-12T00:46:38Z")
> [@wmfellows](#): > > Bloody fucking meaningless statement. The Empire relied on proxy rule by **active choice** , as it was cheaper, and given the goals, more effective. > > The Belgians and the French were also “outnumbered” and had direct adminstration. Irrelevant because we were comparing to India. > [@](#): > > Jews in good numbers played very privledged roles and even discrimination pushed them off into roles that ended up being very useful (banking, trade), whereas 16-19th century black african slavery forced people seen as African in manual labour roles. > > There is absolutely not a real and proper honest comparison between the situations, the only possible rational for such an analysis is polite apologia for fundamental racism. Yep, I knew EXACTLY where my comment was headed. I’m well aware of your points and I’m not responding to it. They’ve been dismantled before. This is a debate that goes nowhere and just ends up with BBQ PIT. **Fear Itself** asked WHY some academics would disagree with Jared Diamond as if he truly was unaware of a possible reason. I gave one reason. That is all. Jared Diamond’s opinion about environmental constraints is **not** the final word on Africa’s troubles. > [@](#): > > So, you’re really quite good at sweeping generalisations without any proper real citation, and appeals to vague authority, all in the general direction of African inferiority, with … ostentatious disclaimer of course. On this particular topic of African poverty, I got my information hardcopy books. I did a quick search for online articles to cite but none of them equal the information I have in my books. Sorry, I’m not going to retype pages of information into this thread. Nobody goes to that effort here. If we have a convenient cite, we use it; if we don’t, we don’t. If you look at your own posting history, you are the one that makes repeated sweeping generalizations without cites. Btw, if I thought Africans were inferior, I wouldn’t have bought 20+ books from Thomas Sowell. I think he’s one of the smartest and best thinkers on economics and racial issues. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2010, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carlos-slim-worlds-richest-man-disagrees-with-gates-buffett-on-charitable-giving-who-is-right/532134/43 "2010-03-12T01:03:22Z")
False dichotomy. Long term, he’s right. But in the short term, some charity is often needed. Look at Haiti right now. Long term, they need to get their economy running so people won’t be so poor. But you can’t just import millions of jobs this week when people are starving. There are thousands of mini-Haitis around the world, and they can use both charity for the short term and economic investment for the long term. ---
**Author:** ![Ruminator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Ruminator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruminator)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2010, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carlos-slim-worlds-richest-man-disagrees-with-gates-buffett-on-charitable-giving-who-is-right/532134/44 "2010-03-12T01:16:31Z")
> [@Ruminator](#): > > Btw, if I thought Africans were inferior, I wouldn’t have bought 20+ books from Thomas Sowell. I think he’s one of the smartest and best thinkers on economics and racial issues. Here are 2 of the Thomas Sowell books that talk about Africa’s exploitation (on the tiny chance anybody’s interested): Economic Facts and Fallacies > **[Economic Facts and Fallacies: Sowell, Thomas: 9780465003495: Amazon.com: Books](https://www.amazon.com/Economic-Facts-Fallacies-Thomas-Sowell/dp/0465003494)** > > Economic Facts and Fallacies \[Sowell, Thomas\] on Amazon.com. \*FREE\* shipping on qualifying offers. Economic Facts and Fallacies –\> Chapter 7 page 188 “Third World Facts and Fallacies” Applied Economics: Thinking Beyond Stage One > **[Applied Economics: Thinking Beyond Stage One: Sowell, Thomas: Amazon.com: Books](https://www.amazon.com/Applied-Economics-Thinking-Beyond-Stage/dp/B002FL5HF0)** > > Applied Economics: Thinking Beyond Stage One \[Sowell, Thomas\] on Amazon.com. \*FREE\* shipping on qualifying offers. Applied Economics: Thinking Beyond Stage One –\> Chapter 7 “The Economic Development of Nations” I also have a few other books by other authors on Africa poverty in similar vein to Mr. Sowell. One example from William Easterly: The White Man’s Burden: Why the West’s Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good > **[The White Man's Burden: Why the West's Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much...](https://www.amazon.com/White-Mans-Burden-Efforts-Little/dp/0143038826)** > > The White Man's Burden: Why the West's Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good \[Easterly, William\] on Amazon.com. \*FREE\* shipping on qualifying offers. The White Man's Burden: Why the West's Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done... –\> chapter 8 page 269 “From Colonialism to Postmodern Imperialism” Both William Easterly and Thomas Sowell bibliographies do not cite each other as sources so there’s no incestuous rehashed information. They came to their own conclusions. Now **wmfellows** , if you have a cite, online or a book, that mounts a credible challenge to the diaspora analysis, put it up. If it’s a book, I will buy it. I’m not interested in debating the topic with you directly. However, if you have compelling information by a notable scholar, I will read it. Your citeless rant doesn’t count. ---
**Author:** ![thirdname](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@thirdname](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdname)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2010, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carlos-slim-worlds-richest-man-disagrees-with-gates-buffett-on-charitable-giving-who-is-right/532134/45 "2010-03-12T01:20:40Z")
> [@StusBlues](#): > > Is it just me, or does “Carlos Slim” sound like a pimp name? It sounds like a cigarette brand to me. Enjoy the smooth taste of Carlos Slims. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2010, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carlos-slim-worlds-richest-man-disagrees-with-gates-buffett-on-charitable-giving-who-is-right/532134/46 "2010-03-12T02:01:02Z")
> [@StusBlues](#): > > Is it just me, or does “Carlos Slim” sound like a pimp name? Or a shady gambler. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2010, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carlos-slim-worlds-richest-man-disagrees-with-gates-buffett-on-charitable-giving-who-is-right/532134/47 "2010-03-12T03:50:21Z")
This argument is a straw-man. As someone who actually works in development, I can tell you that outside of crisis response (natural disasters, refugee situations, etc.) almost no modern development organizations use the "just hand people stuff’ strategy. Right now, the buzzword is “sustainable.” This means that most development projects are either business or education oriented. The idea is either to train individuals who can continue to provide important services (and profit for themselves) or to create business opportunities and train people on how to best take advantage of these opportunities. Even health-related charities try to create market incentives. I will be attending graduate school in International Development soon, and more than half the classes I take will basically be economics. So all of this is hardly a new revelation. For example, one organization I worked with was dedicated to treadle pumps. Foot-powered treadle pumps (for irrigation) are cheaper and better for the environment than traditional gas-powered pumps. This organization worked to train local metalworkers in treadle pump construction. Then they trained a team of salespeople to put on treadle pump demonstrations at local markets and the like. It is hard to get people to change their habits and invest in new technology. But the project was somewhat effective and did provide quite a few people with a livelihood. But nothing in development is easy. Even simple projects can have unintended consequences. Furthermore, everyone has their own interests- large foreign aid is as much about assuring access to resources as it is about actually helping anyone. Refugee assistance is essential, but also causes a number of problems that may actually prolong conflicts. Large corporate development can be a mixed bag, depending on how they respect the environment and their local workers. Anyway, there are no easy solutions. > [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Africa on the other hand had little of that, and what little organization it had was smashed rather than co-opted. The only modern governmental methods it had first hand experience with were those of a system designed only for exploitation. This is not entirely true. West Africa’s medieval era was ruled by feudal kingdoms that really were not that different from what you’d find in Europe. They had very organized leaders, unifying religions, international trade, etc. Timbuktu was one of the richest cities in the world and a center of learning. To this day these kingdoms live on- traditional leaders in Northern Cameroon rule according to the political structures of the Hausa/Fulani kingdoms and continue to wield more power than their civic government counterparts. Wikipedia has some great reading on pre-Colonial African kingdoms, and I really recommend everyone checks out this little-understood part of history. And _this_ is why Colonialism’s legacy continues to be misunderstood. We tend to think of pre-Colonial Africa as some random assortment of tribes and can’t figure out why they don’t get along. But really, many parts were more like medieval Europe as far as political development and national identity. So when we started grouping random people together, it’s as if we took chunks of Spain, France, England and Germany and expected everyone to get along. When the Balkans can’t get along we recognize that it is a result of unfortunate political geography. But when Africa has trouble it become “Oh, those tribal black people and their silly ethnic feuds!” ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2010, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carlos-slim-worlds-richest-man-disagrees-with-gates-buffett-on-charitable-giving-who-is-right/532134/48 "2010-03-12T04:20:00Z")
Regarding India- British and French colonial styles differed dramatically. The goal of British colonization was to create new markets for British goods. In order for a market to emerge, you’d need a middle class. Britain worked to create that middle-class. They trained an entire bureaucratic class that was so effective that Indian managers remain powerful around the world. They created educational infrastructure to teach the children of this middle class. They made sure transportation infrastructure was good enough to move goods to their new markets. They kept enough political stability that business could flourish. France had more of a “mining” attitude towards their colonies. They were looking for little more than a source of natural resources. So they did not work to develop markets or create a middle class. They built a minimal infrastructure that was geared only towards moving goods out of the country. They did not invest in education. They worked with local warlords and despots and did not worry about political stability as long as they had access to the resources they wanted. You can really see the difference. Even in Cameroon, among the same ethnic groups, British colonized areas are light years ahead of French colonized areas. All colonization is harmful, but some systems have had more lasting damage than others. > [@md2000](#): > > I’m not an Africa expert, but I have not heard of much ancient tradition of scholarship. Actually, Timbuktu was one of the [great medieval centers of learning](http://www.timbuktufoundation.org/university.html). At one time, it was home to great libraries full of thousands of books. These days, many of those books have fallen into the private hands of Tuareg nomads, who use these ancient manuscripts to record family secrets and then bury them in the desert. There is a large effort to get these books someplace a little more accessible and safe than a hole in the desert. ---
**Author:** ![GreatStuffMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f04885/32.png) [@GreatStuffMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreatStuffMan)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2010, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carlos-slim-worlds-richest-man-disagrees-with-gates-buffett-on-charitable-giving-who-is-right/532134/49 "2010-03-12T13:59:24Z")
I fail to see why you can’t do both. Especially when you’ve got _gazillions_… ---
**Author:** ![tagos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@tagos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tagos)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2010, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carlos-slim-worlds-richest-man-disagrees-with-gates-buffett-on-charitable-giving-who-is-right/532134/50 "2010-03-12T14:08:51Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > And on top of that, India, Japan, and China all had functioning preindustrial civilizations and a shared culture before Western imperialism ran them over. They’d already done the work of more-or-less culturally unifying and learning how to run a large, centrally organized society before then; they could basically pick up where they left off in many ways. It’s the societies that were already organized before colonialism came along that organized themselves best after it collapsed. > > Africa on the other hand had little of that, and what little organization it had was smashed rather than co-opted. The only modern governmental methods it had first hand experience with were those of a system designed only for exploitation. And on top of that dissension was encouraged to keep them weak, and to top it off they were handed a bunch of national borders that had nothing to do with the local cultural ones. Africa was also the battleground for numerous proxy Cold War fighting and assassinations well into the 1980’s. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2010, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carlos-slim-worlds-richest-man-disagrees-with-gates-buffett-on-charitable-giving-who-is-right/532134/51 "2010-03-12T14:16:15Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > I agree with Slim. Africa has been the recipient of trillions of $ in “aid” over the years..most of which has been wasted and dissipated. > the problem with africa: corruption and political instability..plus tribalism. > Poor countries cannot afford “leaders” who loot treasuries, build estates in Switzerland, and launch pointless wars. Yes, it’s terrible when your country’s leaders give the nation’s wealth to themselves and their cronies, funnel money into tax havens and launch pointless wars. Thank God the West is more civilized than that… ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2010, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carlos-slim-worlds-richest-man-disagrees-with-gates-buffett-on-charitable-giving-who-is-right/532134/52 "2010-03-12T21:46:24Z")
> [@astro](#): > > Is he right? Arguably, having build his fortune in Mexico, Carlos Slim has far more experience with the real world context of a less developed economy, and the limitations inherent in that scenario than Gates and Buffet. In the big picture would the Gates and Buffet gazillions be better employed in creating sustainable jobs and wealth in impoverished areas than in direct charity, ie treating the symptoms of poverty vs working on a cure? Mexico has such grinding poverty that poor Mexican _indios_ hire organized crime to smuggle them into the USA; to work in a country that unlike Mexico, lacks a public health care entitlement; sometimes below Yank minimum wage; a few end up in slavery. The class hostility between rich & poor in Mexico is far stronger than in the USA, where both major parties have a mix of rich & poor supporters; an election believed to be stolen by the rich interests party sparked massive protests beyond what \*Bush v. Gore \*did in the USA. And you think a Mexican billionaire, who manages to be the world’s richest man while his poor neighbors toil in dispossession, has a **better** handle on how to approach poverty? What has he done to alleviate it? In case you’re missing it: This is like taking Dives’s advice on how to help Lazarus, before Dives died! ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2010, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carlos-slim-worlds-richest-man-disagrees-with-gates-buffett-on-charitable-giving-who-is-right/532134/53 "2010-03-13T04:58:23Z")
> [@Ruminator](#): > > [Thomas Sowell](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Sowell) would be one. Sowell is an economist and not a historical scholar, and particularly not a scholar of African history. Fellows is in the same position. Beyond that, you have moved the goalposts. (Actually, you are attempting to start a different game on a different field.) Whatever Sowell and Fellows happen to feel about current economics and aid in Africa, your claim was that there was a body of scholarship that claimed that colonialism was not a major cause for current African problems. Neither of your cited sources establish that point. ---
**Author:** ![Ruminator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Ruminator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruminator)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2010, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carlos-slim-worlds-richest-man-disagrees-with-gates-buffett-on-charitable-giving-who-is-right/532134/54 "2010-03-13T12:17:51Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > Sowell is an economist and not a historical scholar, and particularly not a scholar of African history. Yes, an interesting dliemma we have here: how to analyze Africa’s economic history. We have 2 component words “economic” and “history” juxtaposed together. This causes an intractable problem. If we mention economists’ arguments, we can dismiss by saying that they are not “historians.” If we mention historians’ arguments, we can dismiss by saying they are not “economists.” Nevermind that virtually all economists study history and likewise… …all historians write about history _unobjectively_ through editorial lenses of psychology, military strategy, etc, and even… economics. We can dismiss _anyone_ by slice-&-dicing their credentials to irrelevance and to suit our needs, can’t we? I think this type of dismissal is inept (not to mention it’s also a roundabout _ad hominem_) and relies on lazy boxed categories instead of analytical deconstruction of someone’s _actual arguments_. For example, I read [Naomi Klein](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naomi_Klein)’s [book on anti-capitalism](http://www.amazon.com/Shock-Doctrine-Rise-Disaster-Capitalism/dp/0312427999). She has valid points. I’m not going to dismiss her because she’s not an economist nor historian nor ex-government official. We also listen to [Noam Chomsky](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noam_chomsky)’s commentary about leftist politics even though his formal training (PhD) is linguistics. As a moderator who has has seen thousands of messages, I’m not sure why you would rely on this lazy technique. (Next up, how will we ever discuss moral implications of human cloning? Virtually no molecular biologists have a dual PhD in moral philosophy and no philosophy professor has a PhD in molecular biology. We’re all too stupid discuss it. Hmmmm… what do we do?!) > [@](#): > > Beyond that, you have moved the goalposts. **Fear Itself** asked a side question about Jared Diamond’s thesis of geographic determinism and I answered. I won’t discuss that topic further. > [@](#): > > Whatever Sowell and Fellows happen to feel about current economics and aid in Africa, your claim was that there was a body of scholarship that claimed that colonialism was not a major cause for current African problems. Neither of your cited sources establish that point. You didn’t read Sowell’s chapter then. It does establish that point. Also to clarify, I’m well aware that colonialism and de-colonialism contributed to Africa’s current problems. No scholar is denying that, including Sowell. What some folks are saying is that colonialism is not the primary reason why Africa is way behind 1st-world countries. That’s the qualification. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2010, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carlos-slim-worlds-richest-man-disagrees-with-gates-buffett-on-charitable-giving-who-is-right/532134/55 "2010-03-13T14:50:53Z")
> [@Ruminator](#): > > Yes, an interesting dliemma we have here: how to analyze Africa’s economic history. We have 2 component words “economic” and “history” juxtaposed together. This causes an intractable problem. If we mention economists’ arguments, we can dismiss by saying that they are not “historians.” If we mention historians’ arguments, we can dismiss by saying they are not “economists.” > > Nevermind that virtually all economists study history and likewise… > …all historians write about history _unobjectively_ through editorial lenses of psychology, military strategy, etc, and even… economics. > > We can dismiss _anyone_ by slice-&-dicing their credentials to irrelevance and to suit our needs, can’t we? > > I think this type of dismissal is inept (not to mention it’s also a roundabout _ad hominem_) and relies on lazy boxed categories instead of analytical deconstruction of someone’s _actual arguments_. Piffle. There are econmomic historians. Sowell is not among them. Your claim that historians are “unobjective” (with the silly and spurious implication that economists are “objective”), bears no weight. You made a claim that you cannot support. Live with it. Sowell and Fellows may or may not be dead on regarding the failure of current efforts to improve the situation in Africa, but they provide no serious analysis regarding your claim that colonialism did not seriously harm Africa. (For that matter, since the stuff to which you have linked, so far, does not even address colonial period Africa, it may be the case that you are attempting to extrapolate from their views of current events to some historical view that they do not even espouse.) ---
**Author:** ![Ruminator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Ruminator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruminator)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2010, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carlos-slim-worlds-richest-man-disagrees-with-gates-buffett-on-charitable-giving-who-is-right/532134/56 "2010-03-13T15:34:09Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > Your claim that historians are “unobjective” (with the silly and spurious implication that economists are “objective”), bears no weight. I don’t claim that economists are “objective.” I’m pointing out that dismissing someone as a lightweight can be applied to _any trained expert_ using ad hominem boxed categories. > [@](#): > > , but they provide no serious analysis regarding your claim that colonialism did not seriously harm Africa. (For that matter, since the stuff to which you have linked, so far, does not even address colonial period Africa, The chapters both address colonialism and geographic determinism. I can only assume you didn’t read the book(s). ---
**Author:** ![Critical1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Critical1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Critical1)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2010, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carlos-slim-worlds-richest-man-disagrees-with-gates-buffett-on-charitable-giving-who-is-right/532134/57 "2010-03-13T19:29:17Z")
> [@Darkhold](#): > > Because Japan has had a fairly stable government and after WWII was re-built with some of the most modern techniques possible by a somewhat benevolent former enemy that worked to feed and rebuild the shattered nation while Africa was plundered for centuries then discarded into a warring cesspit when the colonial powers withdrew? > > Edit: also Japan did need billions of dollars in aid after WWII. This is for an obviously much smaller nation with a much more homogeneous population/environment. W. Edwards Deming is one giant reason Japan is kicking ass all over the place economically. well the part where the Japanese were willing to listen and give his theories a try. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2010, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carlos-slim-worlds-richest-man-disagrees-with-gates-buffett-on-charitable-giving-who-is-right/532134/58 "2010-03-13T22:57:56Z")
Both charitable giving and investment have their place. Some things, like vaccinations in third-world countries, may be better served by charity, especially if time is of the essence. If your goal is to save infants from crippling disease and death, charitable giving will work better than moving to Africa, building factories and training people to do high-tech work so they can afford to have their kids vaccinated. It’s probably no coincidence that the Gates Foundation spends a lot of money on such medical services. OTOH, the way to pull people out of long-term poverty is through education and jobs, not by permanently feeding them. Also, today’s charity can become tomorrow’s investment: founding a university someplace poor could be seen as an act of charity, but if it eventually becomes illustrious, it will provide a return; i.e., like an investment. Some institutions funded by Andrew Carnegie’s charitable gifts are examples of this. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2010, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carlos-slim-worlds-richest-man-disagrees-with-gates-buffett-on-charitable-giving-who-is-right/532134/59 "2010-03-14T04:27:01Z")
What a bitch, to be the world’s richest man and no one’s heard of you. ---
**Author:** ![blindboyard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blindboyard/32/2833_2.png) [@blindboyard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blindboyard)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2010, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carlos-slim-worlds-richest-man-disagrees-with-gates-buffett-on-charitable-giving-who-is-right/532134/60 "2010-03-15T19:14:17Z")
> [@StusBlues](#): > > Is it just me, or does “Carlos Slim” sound like a pimp name? Never hear the term “narcopederasta”? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carlos-slim-worlds-richest-man-disagrees-with-gates-buffett-on-charitable-giving-who-is-right/532134.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carlos-slim-worlds-richest-man-disagrees-with-gates-buffett-on-charitable-giving-who-is-right/532134.md?page=4)