the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
Aug 16, 2010
Bill Gates, the owner of Microsoft, and Warren Buffet, the financier at the head of Berkshire Hathaway, a giant diversified holding company, launched an appeal to the 400 richest Americans called the Giving Pledge. Gates himself is the second richest man in the world, holding 53 billion dollars, and Buffet, with 47 billion, is the third richest. Gates and Buffet asked their fellow billionaires to sign a promise giving at least half their personal fortune to the charity of their choice, to be paid out either now or when they die.
Billionaires like Michael Bloomberg, the mayor of New York; Ted Turner, the former owner of CNN; Baron Hilton of the hotel chain of that name; the financier George Soros, who is a super-big speculator; and George Lucas, who directed Star Wars, have signed on.
Generous? Hardly!
The wealth of these people didn’t fall from the sky. It came from the growing exploitation of an ever larger portion of humanity, exploitation which robs us of the value of our labor and destroys the very fabric of society.
With one hand these exploiters donate, while with the other they’re busy grasping for still more.