Study: Billionaires That Donated to Gates-Buffet Giving Pledge Now Richer Than Ever

As the assets of the billionaire class in the US swell to $3.5 trillion amid the pandemic, a new study of philanthropic giving reveals that many of America’s wealthiest are using charitable donations to stay rich and get richer.

Raul Diego
By Raul Diego
Billionaires Feature photo

A study released by the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) through its Program on Inequality and the Common Good, titled "Gilded Giving 2020: How Wealth Inequality Distorts Philanthropy and Imperils Democracy" examines the reality behind the ostensible charitableness of the billionaire donor class and the disturbing trend of charitable

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Jeff Bezos Donates Three Minutes’ Income to Help Australia Fight Wildfires

The donation would be equivalent to someone who earned $500 per week announcing on social media that they had just donated five cents to help tackle the blazes.

Alan Macleod
By Alan Macleod
Jeff Bezos Feature photo

Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon and the newly crowned richest person in the world, announced Sunday on his Instagram page that his company was donating one million Australian Dollars (around 690,000 U.S. Dollars) to help the country deal with the continent-wide fires ravaging the nation. “Our hearts go out to all Australians as they cope with

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The Faux Generosity of the Super-Wealthy: Why Bill Gates is a Menace to Society

If Gates represents a net negative force in world politics, why does he receive such good press? For starters, he makes sizeable donations to a host of mainstream corporate media outlets.

Alan Macleod
By Alan Macleod
Bill Gates Feature photo

Last month Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates surpassed Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos to once again become the world’s richest individual, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Buoyed by an enormous 48 percent increase in Microsoft’s share price this year, Gates has retaken the title he last held in 2017. That outcome is partially owed to the

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Breakthrough Energy Ventures: Our Malevolent Benefactors and Their Master Plan for Humanity

The men who pull all the media, political and business levers in much of the world now want to pretend to save us from ourselves by backing GMOs and other questionable technologies.

Phil Butler
By Phil Butler
Bill Gates | Davos

A Business Insider story by author Aria Bendix caught my eye this morning by framing Bill Gates and his compatriot billionaires as “planet saving” heroes. According to the story, the same men who have made trillions off super-capitalism, and created a cabal that controls many governments, they’re now investing in six agricultural startups through

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Liberal Philanthropy is Dooming the Planet to Climate Disaster

The abject failure of liberal philanthropy to address climate change points to the urgency of a broad-based people’s strategy for climate education and action.

Nafeez Ahmed
By Nafeez Ahmed
Global Warming Artwork

The strategy document, published by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation in January, represents the third renewal of the Climate Works initiative originally founded in 2008. The initiative was executed through the Climate Works Foundation in coordination with other big philanthropic foundations, the Packard and McKnight Foundations. The

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Tired of US “Aid” (Exploitation), Africa and Global South Look to China

How much can Raytheon, Mastercard, Nokia, Monsanto and the like be trusted to invest in long-term outcomes in the global South? When you see the actors behind U.S. ‘aid and development’ in Africa, is it any wonder that African leaders would look for any other partner to work with?

James Carey
By James Carey
Chinese women stand in front of a billboard which promotes the China-Africa summit meeting, outside a hotel in Beijing. (AP/Greg Baker)

BEIJING -- There has been a growing focus on the economic development underway in Africa. There is a reason behind this seemingly new interest of Western powers in events happening in Africa, and the reason is simple: China is a new power dominating business on the continent and has clearly caught the West's attention. China now has partner

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