A multi-billionaire I never heard of lives in Austin, and it's not Michael Dell... (West: foreclosure, credit card)

[Paulmmm]

Originally Posted by Nor Cal Wahine

You have got to be kidding me. You seriously have no idea what you are talking about.

Michael Dell's view from the top (http://www.statesman.com/business/content/business/stories/archive/0502dell.html - broken link)

From The Austin Statesman:

In recent years, he has plowed more than $1 billion worth of stock into the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, which now is one of the country's largest private charities. Dell began giving substantial sums of money more than a decade ago. One of the first instances involved a long wished-for campus for Austin's growing Jewish community. It was just talk until 1992 or 1993, when the group learned about a 40-acre site on Hart Lane in Northwest Austin. "It was a very, very valuable piece of property," said attorney Michael Deitch, who chaired the committee that oversaw construction of the Dell Jewish Community Campus. "So we asked the Dells, 'Would you help us out?' And they bought the land and donated it." The land was worth more than $3 million. The Dells structured the gift, as they do most contributions, as a matching program. "That sparked several million in other contributions," Deitch said. "They made sure that the community is just as big a stakeholder as they are." It became a model for Dell's giving. "I'm a pretty results-oriented guy," he said. "If I'm going to give away some money, I want something good to happen rather than just people feeling good for a while. I want something really good to happen." Last year, Dell family foundation gave away about $20 million. It's part of a conscious effort to give money away before they die. "A bunch of guys sitting around trying to decide what we want to have done with our money after we're dead, that's not a very good idea," Dell said. "Maybe they would have wanted this. No, maybe they would have wanted that. Maybe we want this. No, no, no. Forget all that. We're going to do this while we're still here and get it right." But Dell doesn't micromanage his donations, Deitch said. And despite multimillion-dollar donations to the Jewish community campus, the Austin Children's Museum and the Long Center for the Performing Arts, as well as children's health insurance and education programs, the Dells keep a surprisingly low public profile.

I haven't even mentioned the additional money he has given to the Dell Children's Hospital over the years - 25 million dollars, to be exact.

Please ... read more and post less, ITC. You are losing credibility with each additional post you make.

Thanks for posting this, NCW. I knew that Dell was very charitable, but I didn't realize just how impressive his giving has been.

I really appreciate it when people post actual facts on here, instead of those who post deliberately misleading statements that they pretend to be facts, which are solely intended to put Austin and its people in as bad a light as possible at every opportunity. Thanks again for setting the record straight.

[ATX Wahine]

I know a lot of people think of Dell as nothing more than a greedy man at the helm of an evil empire, but this man has made his money in the classic American fashion. If you find fault in how he's earned his money, you can't possibly like the American Dream. His charitable contributions look even better in light of the absolute truth that he doesn't owe anyone a darn thing. It's his money. He earned it.

It's no surprise to me that my post was never responded to by the OP. Facts seem to silence these threads faster than anything else.

[capcat]

Originally Posted by Nor Cal Wahine

I know a lot of people think of Dell as nothing more than a greedy man at the helm of an evil empire, but this man has made his money in the classic American fashion. If you find fault in how he's earned his money, you can't possibly like the American Dream. His charitable contributions look even better in light of the absolute truth that he doesn't owe anyone a darn thing. It's his money. He earned it.

Well said, and true. Tried to rep this post, but apparently it's too soon for another.

[Jennibc]

I don't buy the 80 20 thing at all. The one thing that I really like about Austin is that there seems to be a thriving middle class. There are lots of mega apartment complexes, and we lived in one when we moved here back in 99 despite having a combined income of 90K. I wouldn't call that just hanging on.

[mimimomx3]

Originally Posted by Nor Cal Wahine

I know a lot of people think of Dell as nothing more than a greedy man at the helm of an evil empire, but this man has made his money in the classic American fashion. If you find fault in how he's earned his money, you can't possibly like the American Dream. His charitable contributions look even better in light of the absolute truth that he doesn't owe anyone a darn thing. It's his money. He earned it.

It's no surprise to me that my post was never responded to by the OP. Facts seem to silence these threads faster than anything else.

I don't begrudge him any money he's made in his business ventures. I do think Dell has gotten some pretty amazing tax subsidies that as a taxpayer, I would not find beneficial, but you be the judge: Good Jobs First: Corporate Subsidy Watch, Case Studies, Companies (http://www.goodjobsfirst.org/corporate_subsidy/dell.cfm - broken link)

[oldtoiletsmkgdflrpots]

My response to the OP: I do not care.

[Paulmmm]

Originally Posted by Nor Cal Wahine

I know a lot of people think of Dell as nothing more than a greedy man at the helm of an evil empire, but this man has made his money in the classic American fashion. If you find fault in how he's earned his money, you can't possibly like the American Dream. His charitable contributions look even better in light of the absolute truth that he doesn't owe anyone a darn thing. It's his money. He earned it.

It's no surprise to me that my post was never responded to by the OP. Facts seem to silence these threads faster than anything else.

Agreed!

[hoffdano]

Originally Posted by inthecut

I stand corrected per Mike Dell....he just ranked #13 with $14.5 Bill, but he would have to have 40 billion, ala W Buffet, #2, to have 10 times Dejoria...was late last night when I posted it, and nodding off...BTW, 4 billion sure isn't anything to sneeze at, and Dejoria gives far more % of his money to Charity than Dell. Dell hasn't endowed a single cultural institution in Austin, and Dell Diamond was just a naming rights thing.

Not sure I'm so far off per the 80% hanging in there...check out our other thread per making $8.72 an hour in Austin/living wage info.....there are a motherload of mega-apartment complexes all over the area, and I saw foreclosed folks with families struggling all over the Quarry Oaks mega on Mcneil I lived in, in 2007......

And people made far more in blue-collar jobs in Vegas than here, so if anything it would be worse here per the retail and service jobs common here...in Vegas, you could make 40-50K parking cars, and easily the same in any casino, amongst many others....tips made a huge difference....

It was considered a blue collar mecca in the day, which wasn't long ago, say pre 2004 or so before housing shot up to the Stratosphere(not the actual structure itself, LOL!).....

I think the pay inequity in Austin is it's little secret........and I have never ever seen so many panhandlers in any city, from freeway exits to major intersections, as I have in Austin......even in the DT area, I get hit up all the time for change.....

Again, we are closer to Vegas' situation than you might think....

I clearly made an error when I said MD was worth 10X Dejoria. I mixed 2009 and 2008 rankings.

As for philanthropy - I suspect Dell is just getting started. He is just 44 years old - compared to DeJoria at 65. Dell is still running his company and working to remake Dell as it loses ground to HP.

Many criticized Gates not many years ago for not giving enough of his wealth away. Gates said then he was focused on running Microsoft and the time would come when he would focus instead on giving his money away. And look at what happened when his focus changed.

If you want to criticize a billionaire for stinginess - pick on Larry Ellison instead.

[inthecut]

Originally Posted by hoffdano

I clearly made an error when I said MD was worth 10X Dejoria. I mixed 2009 and 2008 rankings.

As for philanthropy - I suspect Dell is just getting started. He is just 44 years old - compared to DeJoria at 65. Dell is still running his company and working to remake Dell as it loses ground to HP.

Many criticized Gates not many years ago for not giving enough of his wealth away. Gates said then he was focused on running Microsoft and the time would come when he would focus instead on giving his money away. And look at what happened when his focus changed.

If you want to criticize a billionaire for stinginess - pick on Larry Ellison instead.

I stand corrected per Dell's charity giving.....however, most of that is a tax-write off, which means the gov't gets that much less in Taxes as they would otherwise. This way, Dell gets good/free PR, and perhaps can manipulate legislative and trade agendas behinds the scenes via foundations and such.

The problem is when one person in a Corporation retains the vast majority of its' profits, to the extent that he is the #13 richest person in the USA, AND mandates contract hiring of a large minority of its workers, AND paying extremely low wages......Not as egregious as the Wal-Mart kin(worth 80 billion collectively) vis a vis the poverty-level average wage of Wal-mart, and the coolie labor from the large share of their goods made in China, but close to being as egregious....

And Dell has a large % of contract employess, othewise known as "permatemps"...temps allow one to avoid dealing with many worker rights issues, and can be fired at will, without reason........When you see someone at the top of a company, founder or not, making billions, you can rest assured either their workers are being sqeezed out of paychecks, or much work is being done out/offshore, where much work can be had for 1$ an hour....

[Jennibc]

Originally Posted by inthecut

I stand corrected per Dell's charity giving.....however, most of that is a tax-write off, which means the gov't gets that much less in Taxes as they would otherwise. This way, Dell gets good/free PR, and perhaps can manipulate legislative and trade agendas behinds the scenes via foundations and such.

So now you're criticizing his giving to charity? Why aren't you ascribing the same nefarious motives to the other billionaire in this thread?