Warren Buffett

Opinion/Analysis
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Gates Foundation’s rose-colored world view not supported by evidence

The annual public letter from Bill and Melinda Gates has become a much-celebrated event in the global development calendar. But the self-described ‘impatient optimists’ paint a picture that is so selective in its use of facts that it amounts to little more than propaganda for a failing industry, and indeed a failing ideology. The 2017 letter is especially striking for just how out-of-sync it feels with the current zeitgeist.

Basics
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Bill and Melinda Gates celebrate humanitarian investments in letter to Warren Buffett

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s annual letter is out, crafted as a thank-you note to fellow billionaire and foundation donor Warren Buffett about the benefit and promise of foreign aid. No big surprises in the 2017 Gates Foundation always optimistic annual letter, repeating many of the gains made in global health through expansion of child vaccinations, reductions in child and maternal mortality and the continuing global trend seeing much less of the more extreme forms of poverty. What’s not said in the letter, or is only referred to somewhat obliquely, is perhaps of more significance.

Basics
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Extreme inequality: Only 8 men hold same wealth as half the world

Shocking new data reveals an “obscene” level of global wealth inequality, far worse than previously thought: Only eight men hold as much wealth as the poorest half of humanity – more than 3.6 billion people. The finding is among other equally jarring numbers in Oxfam’s latest report, released today as political and business leaders gather for the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, this week.

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