Then he could do whatever he wants with his software and not be bothered by the government! I don’t understand it.
A girl
Then he could do whatever he wants with his software and not be bothered by the government! I don’t understand it.
A girl
Do you know how long it would take him to pack all his stuff? His house is huge!
He could build a new one!
A girl
The problem is that he can’t afford quite as big a country this week as he could have last week. According to this week’s Newsweek (“Microsoft’s Crapshoot”, pages 42-46) he personally lost $12 billion last week - “enough to buy an aircraft carrier and match the gross national product of Bolivia”.
I’m thinking of taking up a collection
Actually, it would make no difference. Now, if Bill was to move Microsoft to say… Burkina Faso (tiny poor African nation) then Microsoft would be outside the reach of the U.S. in many respects. But it’s not Mr. Gate’s decision since Microsoft isn’t owned by Bill but rather by tons and tons of stockholders (though I’m sure Bill owns a large share of the stock). Even if Bill owns 51% of Microsoft (which he very well might - I don’t know) and so can by default win any “move Microsoft to Burkina Faso” vote, it still wouldn’t solve his problems. If the U.S. decided that Microsoft was a monopoly, then he would still be forbidden to deal directly in the U.S. market (much like the diamond-dealing DeBeers is forbidden to and has to deal with the U.S. market through Ayers). Besides which, Microsoft would be subject to all sorts of taxes and tariffs and trade laws they currently don’t have to deal with plus if the government of Burkina Faso was to annoy the U.S. enough that the U.S. declared trade sanctions to be placed against Burkina Faso (I really should have picked an easier country), Microsoft would be screwed.
In short, if moving Microsoft was going to save Bill & Co. any trouble, he would have done so long ago.
P.S. Hey look! My 1000th post.
“I guess one person can make a difference, although most of the time they probably shouldn’t.”
He doesn’t need to buy a new country… just the politicians of this country… He’s already started so don’t worry, he’ll be OK
When buying and selling are controlled by legislation, the first thing to be bought and sold are legislators.
(I forget who said it)
We tend to forget that Bill couldn’t cash out to any significant extent without crashing the cost of his own stock. He could never actually get the money he’s supposedly worth.
The real reason why Bill couldn’t personally buy his own country is because countries per se aren’t for sale. No, really. During the time of Henri IV of France (I think), France ran up a huge amount of debt to the Dutch. But it was decided that that didn’t mean that the Dutch could take over France. Citizens have a “natural title” to their country’s land, so even if Bill Gates’ personal fortune exceeded the value of all the land in Bolivia, for example, and even if he were to purchase all of the land in Bolivia, he wouldn’t “own Bolivia”, really. Of course, he’d be a major political force, realistically speaking… which is why we get to the stupid reason: the Bolivian government probably does not want to sell all the land in the country.
Bill Gates fortune is almost entirely based on owning 20%(or so) of Microsoft. He wouldn’t be the first rich guy to try and start a new country…but if he did it he’d be the first to succeed.
“Clatu, Verrata…nector?..neck-tie?”
I can’t believe no one has brought this up yet, but Cecil has already covered the whole starting-your-own-country thing.
www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_300.html
“My mind reels with sarcastic replies!” - Snoopy
Yeah I know, I read it and bought the book, “How to Start Your Own Country” And there were no examples of a rich guy doing it right.
“Clatu, Verrata…nector?..neck-tie?”
I think I would go about it differently. I would buy most of the land in a small country, say Togo for ease of spelling. Then raise an army, seal the borders and declare independence while forming treaties with and bribing the officials of the old country. Keep residence in the US and still manufacture there. Seal banking, conceal funds and live happily ever after.
Of course, what wealthy person would want to give up the benefits of living in the US, even in exchange for being El Jefe Supremo. Better to hide a lot of money, avoid taxes and retire to a private island.
Unless you wanted to be able to order executions, keep a harem and the like. But I don’t think Bill’s wife would go for that.
Microsoft is worth approx $550B. Any attempt by Mr Gates to sell his stock would plunge the value of the other $300B that stock holders own & they would probably come after him with a boozoka.
Also, bear in mind, if the US government has a grudge against Microsoft, then they can refuse to allow him to import his software, or slap a huge tarriff on him. Granted the US isn’t his only market, but is is the biggest.
Chaim Mattis Keller
ckeller@kozmo.com
“Sherlock Holmes once said that once you have eliminated the
impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be
the answer. I, however, do not like to eliminate the impossible.
The impossible often has a kind of integrity to it that the merely improbable lacks.”
– Douglas Adams’s Dirk Gently, Holistic Detective
Hey, someone else bought that book!
Was it just me, or were you just a little frightened by the author’s cavalier attutude towards weapons of mass destruction?
For those who’ve never read the book, this guy actually recommends that seperatists try to build nukes and/or biological weapons to use as leverage in negotiations :o
That said, the case studies of ameteur new country ventures were really interesting. But if you try to use the book’s “How To” section, plan your funeral beforehand.
Synonym: the word you use in place of a word you can’t spell.
You’re all missing the true reason. Everyone hears that Bill Gates is worth like $70 billion (or however much it is… whatever the number, it’s big). But that’s not entirely true. Bill’s probably only got a few hundred million dollars in liquid capital… that is, money that he can already use. The rest of his money is in stock and land and investments and such.
What’s the difference? You can’t go down to the store and purchase a loaf of bread with a share of stock. Same goes for countries (even if there was a spare country available). So when you hear that Bill Gates is the richest SOB on the planet, you can chuckle to yourself when you realize that he can’t do jack with any of it.
-SPOOFE
Another possible roadblock: Programmers and others who work for MS like the weather, etc. in Redmond. I would think a farily small proportion of them would be willing to relocate to Burkina Faso with Bill.
A committee is a lifeform with six or more legs and no brain.
Diceman,
I wasn’t entirely sure he was being serious. Anyone who thinks they can create weapons of mass distruction from household chemicals deserves to be taken to the cleaners (HAR HAR!)
In fact I’m not sure he’s done enough research, because I’ve discovered a few more cases of legitmate countires and yet they don’t follow the typical Hippie commune persona.
“Clatu, Verrata…nector?..neck-tie?”