Chief Justice says: "Greed Works Most of the Time"
-
I fully agree that Greed works most of the time especially in singapore.
I see that the rich here are very happy with life here. -
tonight at 8pm, greed will be justified over national television and over the next few days even more greed will be applauded by the print media....
-
Greed works, look at our ministers.Originally posted by countdracula:tonight at 8pm, greed will be justified over national television and over the next few days even more greed will be applauded by the print media....
-
CJ sure knows how to tok cork wor....
As if paying lawyers well will help keep greed/corruption away! 
-
Tonight we shall all witness and understand why these greedy and exploitative people will be born into poverty and sickness in their next lives.........
-
Greed doesn't work for me...
I'm more towards Career and Life Satisfaction....
All the money in this world, cannot prolong you when time comes for one to die...
So, I've uprooted and starting anew elsewhere for a fuller and more meaningful ending... even if I die with little left in my banks...
... I still managed to change my living environment, lived the life I wanted, and leave without worrying where all my money will go to when I am gone... -
Some idiots try to justify that greed is prevalent all over the world, I think he speaks only for himself. Greed and material wealth is for those who are still stuck at Maslow's lowest hierarchy of needs, they are so disillusioned by the lowest level of needs that they fail to move to the higher level. Famous people like Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, just two of the richest in the world have seen through the lowest of Maslow's hierarchy, therefore they engage in other pursuits such as philanthropy.Originally posted by HyperFocal:Greed doesn't work for me...
I'm more towards Career and Life Satisfaction....
All the money in this world, cannot prolong you when time comes for one to die...
So, I've uprooted and starting anew elsewhere for a fuller and more meaningful ending... even if I die with little left in my banks...
... I still managed to change my living environment, lived the life I wanted, and leave without worrying where all my money will go to when I am gone...
Join the army or police? I guess not everybody likes uniformed services. And I suppose that the idiot equates everyone in here to be Minister calibre. Ministers and MPs should have the highest moral principles in order to lead, not every tom dick and harry have principles like that. It's stupid when you equate the whole population of Singapore to Minister and MP calibre.
As usual, trying to justify greed with other non-related. I wonder if those footballers like David Beckham or any of those F1 drivers write their own paychecks.
Sighs. Sad that Singapore has such idiots, it's really going to go down the drain.
Guess which level are all our ministers at???
Our ministers are at the same level defined as, eating, sleeping, sex and crapping. -
I guess he could get away by saying something like:"humans are naturally lazy."
-
It is sad that someone who claim to know so much is getting everything wrong again and again.Originally posted by maurizio13:Some idiots try to justify that greed is prevalent all over the world, I think he speaks only for himself. Greed and material wealth is for those who are still stuck at Maslow's lowest hierarchy of needs, they are so disillusioned by the lowest level of needs that they fail to move to the higher level. Famous people like Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, just two of the richest in the world have seen through the lowest of Maslow's hierarchy, therefore they engage in other pursuits such as philanthropy.
Join the army or police? I guess not everybody likes uniformed services.
As usual, trying to justify greed with other non-related. I wonder if those footballers like David Beckham or any of those F1 drivers write their own paychecks.
Sighs. Sad that Singapore has such idiots, it's really going to go down the drain.
1) Marslow principle are talking about NEEDs not Greeds
2) Greed comes in many forms, it can be power, knowledge, wealth, sex, food.
3) If Bill Gates and Warren Buffet are not driven by greed do you think they will be who they are today?
4) If BG and WB are not driven by greed, then maybe M13 can explain why Microsoft and Berkshire Hathaway are always talking about new aquisition and profit growth for their shareholder?
Instead of accusing me of being an idiot, I think the idiot himself should tell us why he is an accountant and not production workers or rubbish collector. -
1) Maslow talks about needs of the individual, most ordinary folks start off at the lowest, once they have achieved that, they moved on to the next level. Our ministers are all stuck at the physiological level, eating, sleeping, sex and crapping.Originally posted by Gazelle:It is sad that someone who claim to know so much is getting everything wrong again and again.
1) Marslow principle are talking about NEEDs not Greeds
2) Greed comes in many forms, it can be powerful, knowledge, wealth, sex, food.
3) If Bill Gates and Warren Buffet are not driven by greed do you think they will be who they are today?
4) If BG and WB are not driven by greed, then maybe M13 can explain why Microsoft and Berkshire Hathaway are always talking about new aquisition and profit growth for their shareholder?
Instead of accusing me of being an idiot, I think the idiot himself should tell us why he is an accountant and not production workers or rubbish collector.
2) Yah, greed comes in many form, but the form manifested by our Ministers is GREED for MONEY.
3) A desire to excel is different from greed. Suggest you read up the definition of greed.
Greed:
1. excessive desire to acquire or possess more (especially more material wealth) than one needs or deserves
2. reprehensible acquisitiveness; insatiable desire for wealth (personified as one of the deadly sins)
4) They need to grow the company and increase shareholder returns, after which they distribute their earnings to help the less privilege of society. What have our Ministers with their $1 - $4 million dollar salaries done to help the less privilege of Singapore? I have the utmost respect for people like Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, but none for our ministers.
5) You always like to pose this question to forumers, "What have you done to help the poor?", let me ask you in return. What have you or the Ministers done to help the poor???
Bill Gates: billionaire philanthropist
By Jon Cronin
BBC News Online business reporter
The decision by the foundation run by Microsoft magnate Bill Gates to give $750m (£400m) to a worldwide infant vaccination programme has been welcomed by immunisation campaigners.
The donation is just the latest in a line of offerings from Mr Gates, one of the world's richest men.
Over the past decade Mr Gates has made a name as one of the world's top philanthropists, with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation pledging $7bn to good causes.
Back in July 2004, Microsoft decided to return $75bn (£40.5bn) in cash to the software giant's shareholders.
Mr Gates, Microsoft's billionaire co-founder and the company's biggest shareholder, said he intended to give his estimated $3bn share of the payout to his charitable foundation.
Set up in 2000 by Mr Gates and his wife Melinda from the merger of two family charitable trusts, the foundation has a $27bn endowment and is dedicated to promoting greater equality in global health and learning.
'Unconscionable disparity'
Together with the British-based Wellcome Trust, which holds assets worth around £9bn, the foundation leads the world in charitable giving.
Run by Mr Gates' father, William H Gates Sr, the foundation lists one of its primary goals as "reducing the 'unconscionable disparity' that exists between the way that we live and the way that the people of the developing world live".
Since his involvement with the foundation, Mr Gates has become something of a "walking encyclopaedia of medical knowledge", according to Warren E Buffett, the chief executive of financial services firm Berkshire Hathaway.
"I have heard him speak many times on this subject and each time I have been amazed by the breadth of his knowledge," Mr Buffett told Time magazine.
Mr Gates' wife also keeps a close eye on the effectiveness of the foundation's activities, Mr Buffett said.
"Melinda, for her part, travels the world so that she can understand what a cheque from Seattle is actually accomplishing 10,000 miles away."
In terms of assets, the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation dwarfs that of other well-known names in US philanthropy, such as the Rockefeller Foundation or the Ford Foundation.
Long term vision
In language that would not seem out of place in a modern company business plan, the Gates' foundation has pledged to "aggressively pursue a comprehensive approach" in the fight against Aids. "We must marshal the will and resources necessary to develop and distribute an Aids vaccine," Mr Gates has said.
The foundation is also keen to counter criticism that it focuses too much on the trouble facing other countries, and not enough on those in need in its own backyard.
Almost half of the foundation's resources are directed towards domestic US issues, according to Mr Gates.
The foundation's single biggest grant - of $1bn - was awarded to the United Negro College Fund, America's largest minority higher education assistance organisation.
The foundation also promotes access to technology in public libraries and funds groups helping to improve the lives of people in the foundation's own corner of the US, the Pacific Northwest.
Mr Gates has said his long term vision is to improve the lives of millions of people across the globe.
It is no small order, but Microsoft's co-founder is one of the few people in the world whose money may actually be able to match his words.
Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/3913581.stm -
Warren Buffett gives away his fortuneFORTUNE EXCLUSIVE:
The world's second richest man - who's now worth $44 billion - tells editor-at-large Carol Loomis he will start giving away 85% of his wealth in July - most of it to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
By Carol J. Loomis, FORTUNE editor-at-large
June 25, 2006: 1:42 PM EDT
NEW YORK (FORTUNE Magazine) - We were sitting in a Manhattan living room on a spring afternoon, and Warren Buffett had a Cherry Coke in his hand as usual. But this unremarkable scene was about to take a surprising turn.
"Brace yourself," Buffett warned with a grin. He then described a momentous change in his thinking. Within months, he said, he would begin to give away his Berkshire Hathaway fortune, then and now worth well over $40 billion.
This news was indeed stunning. Buffett, 75, has for decades said his wealth would go to philanthropy but has just as steadily indicated the handoff would be made at his death. Now he was revising the timetable.
"I know what I want to do," he said, "and it makes sense to get going." On that spring day his plan was uncertain in some of its details; today it is essentially complete. And it is typical Buffett: rational, original, breaking the mold of how extremely rich people donate money.
Buffett has pledged to gradually give 85% of his Berkshire stock to five foundations. A dominant five-sixths of the shares will go to the world's largest philanthropic organization, the $30 billion Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, whose principals are close friends of Buffett's (a connection that began in 1991, when a mutual friend introduced Buffett and Bill Gates).
The Gateses credit Buffett, says Bill, with having "inspired" their thinking about giving money back to society. Their foundation's activities, internationally famous, are focused on world health -- fighting such diseases as malaria, HIV/AIDS, and tuberculosis -- and on improving U.S. libraries and high schools.
Up to now, the two Gateses have been the only trustees of their foundation. But as his plan gets underway, Buffett will be joining them. Bill Gates says he and his wife are "thrilled" by that and by knowing that Buffett's money will allow the foundation to "both deepen and accelerate" its work. "The generosity and trust Warren has shown," Gates adds, "is incredible." Beginning in July and continuing every year, Buffett will give a set, annually declining number of Berkshire B shares - starting with 602,500 in 2006 and then decreasing by 5% per year - to the five foundations. The gifts to the Gates foundation will be made either by Buffett or through his estate as long as at least one of the pair -- Bill, now 50, or Melinda, 41 -- is active in it.
Berkshire's price on the date of each gift will determine its dollar value. Were B shares, for example, to be $3,071 in July - that was their close on June 23 - Buffett's 2006 gift to the foundation, 500,000 shares, would be worth about $1.5 billion. With so much new money to handle, the foundation will be given two years to resize its operations. But it will then be required by the terms of Buffett's gift to annually spend the dollar amount of his contributions as well as those it is already making from its existing assets. At the moment, $1.5 billion would roughly double the foundation's yearly benefactions. But the $1.5 billion has little relevance to the value of Buffett's future gifts, since their amount will depend on the price of Berkshire's stock when they are made. If the stock rises yearly, on average, by even a modest amount - say, 6% - the gain will more than offset the annual 5% decline in the number of shares given. Under those circumstances, the value of Buffett's contributions will rise.
Buffett himself thinks that will happen. Or to state that proposition more directly: He believes the price of Berkshire, and with it the dollar size of the contributions, will trend upward - perhaps over time increasing substantially. The other foundation gifts that Buffett is making will also occur annually and start in July. At Berkshire's current price, the combined 2006 total of these gifts will be $315 million. The contributions will go to foundations headed by Buffett's three children, Susan, Howard, and Peter, and to the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation.
This last foundation was for 40 years known simply as the Buffett Foundation and was recently renamed in honor of Buffett's late wife, Susie, who died in 2004, at 72, after a stroke. Her will bestows about $2.5 billion on the foundation, to which her husband's gifts will be added. The foundation has mainly focused on reproductive health, family planning, and pro-choice causes, and on preventing the spread of nuclear weapons. Counting the gifts to all five foundations, Buffett will gradually but sharply reduce his holdings of Berkshire (Charts) stock. He now owns close to 31% of the company-worth nearly $44 billion in late June - and that proportion will ultimately be cut to around 5%. Sticking to his long-term intentions, Buffett says the residual 5%, worth about $6.8 billion today, will in time go for philanthropy also, perhaps in his lifetime and, if not, at his death.
Because the value of Buffett's gifts are tied to a future, unknowable price of Berkshire, there is no way to put a total dollar value on them. But the number of shares earmarked to be given have a huge value today: $37 billion.
That alone would be the largest philanthropic gift in history. And if Buffett is right in thinking that Berkshire's price will trend upward, the eventual amount given could far exceed that figure.
So that's the plan. What follows is a conversation in which Buffett explains how he moved away from his original thinking and decided to begin giving now. The questioner is yours truly, FORTUNE editor-at-large Carol Loomis. I am a longtime friend of Buffett's, a Berkshire Hathaway shareholder, and a director of the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation. -
Please stop trying to argue you way out of the situation, Needs and Greed are totally different thing and Marslow principle of NEEDS doesnt talk about greed and wantsOriginally posted by maurizio13:1) Maslow talks about needs of the individual, most ordinary folks start off at the lowest, once they have achieved that, they moved on to the next level. Our ministers are all stuck at the physiological level, eating, sleeping, sex and crapping.
2) Yah, greed comes in many form, but the form manifested by our Ministers is GREED for MONEY.
3) A desire to excel is different from greed.
4) They need to grow the company and increase shareholder returns, after which they distribute their earnings to help the less privilege of society. What have our Ministers with their $1 - $4 million dollar salaries done to help the less privilege of Singapore? I have the utmost respect for people like Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, but none for our ministers.
Studies all over the world has proven that salary is the biggest motivator and pull factor for big corporation to attract the best talents, not the Marslow principle crap that you are trying to tell us.
To compare young lawyer to people like Bill Gates and Warren buffets who has already made their billions, is just like telling us that young and vintage wine taste and worth the same. -
I think you seriously need English tuition.Originally posted by Gazelle:Please stop trying to argue you way out of the situation, Needs and Greed are totally different thing and Marslow principle of NEEDS doesnt talk about greed and wants
Studies all over the world has proven that salary is the biggest motivator and full factor for big corporation to attract the best talents, not the Marslow principle crap that you are trying to tell us.
To compare young lawyer to people like Bill Gates and Warren buffets who has already made their billions, is just like telling us that young and vintage wine taste and worth the same.
Greed:
noun
1. excessive desire to acquire or possess more (especially more material wealth) than one needs or deserves
2. reprehensible acquisitiveness; insatiable desire for wealth (personified as one of the deadly sins)
If you are employing tom dick and harry for menial corporate task I suppose it's alright, but if you are running a government you need people with better morals, NOT GREEDY people to run public offices.
You know what's the difference between Bill Gates & Warren Buffett when compared to our Ministers? Bill Gates and Warren Buffett have made their billions, they are returning the billions to help improve society (globally). Our Ministers have also made their millions but they are still clutching on to their money tightly, while demanding for more. As if there is a forex bank in hell where you can exchange to hell notes. -
Originally posted by maurizio13:
1) You have highlighted greed is MORE THAN ONE NEEDS, so why are you still using marslow principle to talk about needs? Is this because that is only theory you know?
I think you seriously need English tuition.
Greed:
noun
1. excessive desire to acquire or possess more (especially more material wealth) than one [b]needs or deserves
2. reprehensible acquisitiveness; insatiable desire for wealth (personified as one of the deadly sins)
If you are employing tom dick and harry for menial corporate task I suppose it's alright, but if you are running a government you need people with better morals, NOT GREEDY people to run public offices.
You know what's the difference between Bill Gates & Warren Buffett when compared to our Ministers? Bill Gates and Warren Buffett have made their billions, they are returning the billions to help improve society (globally). Our Ministers have also made their millions but they are still clutching on to their money tightly, while demanding for more. As if there is a forex bank in hell where you can exchange to hell notes.
[/b]
2) The same question I have posted to before, supposed if you graduated from some the ivy league university and there are 2 job offers on hand.
a) To serve in the army and let the government groom you into a minister
b) To work of one the world top consulting firm
Which job would you choose and why not the other?
3) Do you know what is the difference between a billionaire and a millionaire?
4) Do you have facts to proof that our ministers doesnt donate their money? -
and you have proof that they do donate?Originally posted by Gazelle:1) You have highlighted greed is MORE THAN ONE NEEDS, so why are you still using marslow principle to talk about needs? Is this because that is only theory you know?
2) The same question I have posted to before, supposed if you graduated from some the ivy league university and there are 2 job offers on hand.
a) To serve in the army and let the government groom you into a minister
b) To work of one the world top consulting firm
Which job would you choose and why not the other?
3) Do you know what is the difference between a billionaire and a millionaire?
4) Do you have facts to proof that our ministers doesnt donate their money?
greed is negative.....history has proven many times that greed is the pre-cursor to the collapse of a society.
1000 million is a billion...so what's your point? do you mean unless you are a billionaire, you need not be charitable?
you are deluding yourself if you think every minister out there is highly sought after but top consulting firms.... -
Now, we know why LKY choose to join politic instead of being lawyer.
-
1) Didnt PM Lee annouce that he will donate his pay rise to Charity?Originally posted by countdracula:and you have proof that they do donate?
greed is negative.....history has proven many times that greed is the pre-cursor to the collapse of a society.
1000 million is a billion...so what's your point? do you mean unless you are a billionaire, you need not be charitable?
you are deluding yourself if you think every minister out there is highly sought after but top consulting firms....
2) Our life are mostly driven by greed. no? Were you happy with your last bonus?
3) Yes, it is 1000 millions and both BG and WB are worth around S$76,000 millions each. Suppose PM Lee is paid S$3m a year, it will take him 25,333 years to be as wealthy as BG or WB.
4) To be a ministers is is not just about drawing million dollar salary, it is about the sacrifice you and your family need to make to be one. If you are not willing to be a civil servant, what make you think they others will? -
why only after 33% increase in salary?Originally posted by Gazelle:1) Didnt PM Lee annouce that he will donate his pay rise to Charity?
2) Our life are mostly driven by greed. no? Were you happy with your last bonus?
3) Yes, it is 1000 millions and both BG and WB are worth around S$76,000 millions each. Suppose PM Lee is paid S$3m a year, it will take him 25,333 years to be as wealthy as BG or WB.
4) To be a ministers is is not just about drawing million dollar salary, it is about the sacrifice you and your family need to make to be one. If you are not willing to be a civil servant, what make you think they others will? -
1) We already have enough discussion on Minister salary, I dont see a need to talk about it any further.Originally posted by Lin Yu:why only after 33% increase in salary?
2) What makes you think that ministers only contribute to charity after pay increase? -
the want for improvement is very different from greed...greed is a negative attribute of human nature, it is a monster that is insatiable and disregards consequence.....Originally posted by Gazelle:1) Didnt PM Lee annouce that he will donate his pay rise to Charity?
2) Our life are mostly driven by greed. no? Were you happy with your last bonus?
3) Yes, it is 1000 millions and both BG and WB are worth around S$76,000 millions each. Suppose PM Lee is paid S$3m a year, it will take him 25,333 years to be as wealthy as BG or WB.
4) To be a ministers is is not just about drawing million dollar salary, it is about the sacrifice you and your family need to make to be one. If you are not willing to be a civil servant, what make you think they others will?
if being a millionaire is not rich, then you are sad...$3 million a year is what 99% of the population does not earn.... -
It is not about being a millionaires is not rich, it is about comparing our PAP ministers to what the richest man in the planet does.Originally posted by countdracula:the want for improvement is very different from greed...greed is a negative attribute of human nature, it is a monster that is insatiable and disregards consequence.....
if being a millionaire is not rich, then you are sad...$3 million a year is what 99% of the population does not earn....
If you are trying to preach buddhism, yes Greed is a monster, however in life majority of singaporeans are 1 way or another driven by greed to make more money, to buy bigger house, drive a powerful car, have a big wedding, honeymoon, and to acheive them faster. -
Greed is one of the Seven deadly sins.
-
and thats not the only one the world is living with.Originally posted by sunnytv:Greed is one of the Seven deadly sins. -
But greed is enough to make one become corrupt and become devil .
-
what the CJ is trying to say is that $ will draw talent. You should try to dispute that instead of trying to be too philosophical about the word Greed. There are many type of greed, some are good some are bad, it really depends on the situations.Originally posted by sunnytv:But greed is enough to make one become corrupt and become devil .