Politlcal Thuggery - Gates Foundation

There is a very disturbing trend in this country, a trend where people replace the concept of exchanging money for goods and services with the concept of having a right to something because you "need it." ObamaCare was a big step in that direction, but there are other troubling signs of the times. To really understand this issue, and why it leads to a society which fails rather than succeeds - read Atlas Shrugged. Really. It is more pertinent today than at any time in the last 30 years.

While reading an article on the Gates Foundation--the largest charity organization in the world--I came across a disturbing line of argument. Surprisingly, this is from the WSJ:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704358904575478312162167440.html?mod=WSJ_hp_mostpop_read

'Stacy Palmer credits Raikes, with his years at Microsoft Corp., for knowing the importance of customer relations. But she thinks the foundation has a ways to go.

The Gates Foundation also has been criticized for having a small board of directors—the co-chairs and Mr. Buffett—running such a large charitable organization, Ms. Palmer said.

Pablo Eisenberg of Georgetown University's Center for Public & Nonprofit Leadership said the foundation has a moral obligation to share its decision-making process more broadly as it distributes what is partly taxpayer dollars they saved on taxes by giving the money away.

"There's no substitute for other points of view and perspectives around the table when a so-called board is about to make a decision on priorities and programs affecting $3 billion a year or more," Mr. Eisenberg said.

The foundation does have several advisory boards and other consultants, but Mr. Eisenberg considers them a poor substitute for a governing board that includes strong outside voices.

He wonders if a larger board would have chosen to spend so much money on vaccines or would have pushed the foundation to move in other directions, both globally and in the U.S.

"The question we might ask is why Gates has not put a huge amount of money into our own dysfunctional health system," Mr. Eisenberg said. "They could have led the way and led public opinion."'

WTF ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?

The article seems to be claiming that because some of the money for the Gates foundations counts against US income tax, that US taxpayers should be the ones who have a say in where the money goes, and more than that, the money should be used to help people in the US, who already have the best care in the world, get slightly better healthcare than you know, little issues like eliminating polio.

Disgusting. Absolutely and completely disgusting. This country has gotten so far off track it doesn't even know how screwed it is going to be in the 21st century. Welcome to the latest failed superpower - with this kind of obnoxious, dangerous, and bratty thinking the US is unlikely to make it much further as a world leader.