Tim Schwab: Bill Gates has become a de facto public health advocate. People are looking for authority; Bill Gates seems happy to play that role, even though he's not a doctor. It's the type of role billionaires play in policy debates.
@TimothyWSchwab @thenation
Tim Schwab: Bill Gates is still young & has a lot of life to live; he may decide to get into politics.
@TimothyWSchwab @thenation
Tim Schwab: Journalists are great at shouting about a $10 million donation but they're less adept at looking back over previous years to see what good has come of it.
@TimothyWSchwab @thenation
Tim Schwab: $250 million went to news media outlets from the Gates Foundation, incl. top tier news media. We need to include these news media biases.
@TimothyWSchwab @thenation
Tim Schwab: It's easy for a lot of us to vilify the Koch Bros. b/c the way they use philanthropy seems so egregious while the Gates Foundation seems more apolitical. I worry people naively see the Gates Foun. as apolitical, w/ no agenda.
@TimothyWSchwab @thenation
Tim Schwab: In fact, the Gates Foundation does have an agenda, it does try to bend the world to its whims.
@TimothyWSchwab @thenation
Tim Schwab: Something like $0.40 or $0.50 of every dollar Bill Gates gives away is actually your money or mine because otherwise he'd have to pay taxes on it. Why isn't there more control over how that money is spent if it's otherwise taxpayer money?
@TimothyWSchwab @thenation
Rick: I believe that if you want to give money away, do it, but we as taxpayers shouldn't have to subsidize it.
Tim Schwab: There are advocacy groups springing up to protect philanthropy.
Rick: You have to wonder where these groups pop up from and who funds them.
Tim: From Koch Bros & Bill Gates.
@TimothyWSchwab @thenation
You can follow @RickSmithShow.
Tip: mention @twtextapp on a Twitter thread with the keyword “unroll” to get a link to it.

Latest Threads Unrolled: