Thanx for the correction but we both know the exact percentages are irrelevant.

My criticisms are aimed more at Humans in general than bill gates , I couldn't say i'd give away 90% of my wealth if I had as much as he did because i've never been in that situation.  I'd hope however that if I had the power to change hundreds of millions of lives and still live comfortably i'd take advantage of that power.

Bill Gates gives to charity , that's great that can't be faulted but it's not all that amazing ... by saying that i'm not faulting him . He clicks a button and transfers large amounts to a charity's bank account , then returns to his luxury . He has done good deeds no doubt but all those speaking of him in messianic ways are clearly fooling themselves.

There are those who give larger portions of their wealth to charity , those who sacrifice what little they have so that those who have nothing might have something  , those who dedicate their lives to the welfare of others ; those are the type of people we need to be commending and putting in the news and praising for all the good things they do.

http://www.gatesfoundation.org/Pages/home.aspx

He does more than click a button and transfer large amounts of money, you're obviously biased against him seen as you're coming up with crap without doing any research.

There is no legal obligation for any of us to give to charity. Contrary to what you may think, there is also no moral obligation for either of us to contribute to charity. It's all relative after all. If I was as rich as Bill Gates I wouldn't give a penny to charity unless it had a direct financial benefit for me, and even in that case I would only support wildlife charities as that is something I'm invested in. Casting a stone on a rich person for not helping you out is pointless, everyone should create their own wealth and if they cannot it is none of the wealthy mans business.

It's of course a question of ambition, but personally I wouldn't not be able to live "comfortably" on 1 or even 5 million dollars, at least not at a level which I am striving for. Others may be perfectly content with that, but casting the assumption that everyone has the same lifestyle goals is flawed. If you want to donate to charities, then do it yourself, Bill Gates or anyone else for that matter has no obligation to do so if they do not please.

I'm biased against bill gates ? ... lol if you say so.

I made an assumption and it's probably not far from wrong , the most significant part of his charitable contributions are financial and that brings me back to my orignial argument.

I still think that some arab oil billionaires are even richer than Bill Gates but nobody clearly knows how much they have money.

you know, arguments you present are exactly what the term "sophomoric" applies to perfectly.  seeing one side of thing and ignoring another side.  if you actually realize that, and still choose to do so, then you are indeed biased.

Well at the begining of your post your comparing apple to oranges , a good character vs a good act . People with good characters do good acts by virtue of being good wheras anyone can do a good act . If you're praising Gates for being a good person then your fooling yourself , you don't know anything about him . if your praising Bill Gates for his good act then good for you but that doesn't make him a good person.

What both of the people in your examples are doing could be considered "sacrifice" but we also have to consider the context in which the word is being applied . One is dedicating their time and essentialy a bit of their life to welfare of others , the other is dedicating some of their disposable wealth to help of others . Clearly the level of sacrifice isn't the same.

And we can't put all our emphasis on the effect of the act , of course it's better that more people are helped than less .But who would you respect  more ? the rich man giving thousands to the poor or the poor man giving pennies to the poor , yes the rich man has had a more substantial effect but at no personal cost to himself , the poor man risks starvation and even death because of the sacrifice he made , who should we commend more ?

I admire bill gates entrepreneural achievments , I'd love to follow in his foots steps one day. Like I said before I'm not faulting him so stop playing the "hater" card.

Well you bet is a very risky one as we vary as individuals  , I hope to help people wherever I get the opportunity and if I got the $1m I could only hope that i'd help people , whether I will is unknown because it hasn't happened.

I once saw this show where some oil tycoon in one of those countrys had a mansion with 1047 bedrooms ..... insane! and yeah I agree they probably have more money than sense and I doubt chairty sees a penny of it.

And so he regains his title. Good fight.

If your implying that he amassed all his current wealth for the sole purpose of giving some of it to charity then fair enough , but I doubt that was his intention.

If your referring to his business acumen then I would he agree .He put in alot of work to be the financial super power he is today he's also a very talented man and he is entitled to every single penny he has. But that's not really relevant to what we were discussing.