Bill Gates: Ignoring World's Poor 'Would Hurt Our Economic Future'

Bill Gates says the world's developed nations need to ensure that they aid the world's poor. And the best way to do this, according to the billionaire philanthropist? A tax on financial transactions.

In an interview with BBC News, the Microsoft co-founder, said that while the plight of impoverished people in developed nations may seem like it has little to with the economies of rich countries, it affects everyone.

"Not caring about the instability of these countries really would hurt our economic future quite dramatically, whether it's unrest, whether it's disease," Gates told BBC News. "On the other hand, if you bring these people into the world economy then you get this very positive, virtuous cycle."

Gates, who made a presentation highlighting the importance of foreign aid at the G20 conference in Cannes Thursday, has outlined several ways to better integrate the globe's poor into the world economy, the Guardian reports. One of his most popular proposals seems to be the institution of a tax on trades on stocks, bonds and derivatives, also known as the Robin Hood tax.

A similar tax is already in the works in the U.S. On Wednesday, Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Representative Peter DeFazio (D-OR) proposed a bill that would levy a 0.03 percent tax on stock, bond and derivative trades. Likewise, Adbusters, the anti-capitalist group that made the initial call for Occupy Wall Street, has already made its support known for the Robin Hood tax by demanding G20 leaders get behind it at the summit.

Gates, who recently aligned himself with fellow billionaire Warren Buffett in saying that the rich should pay more in taxes than other Americans, still faces significant opposition to the Robin Hood tax in the United States, according to ThinkProgress. The Obama administration remains opposed to the tax, the Wall Street Journal reports. Some argue that such a tax would not only help to decrease the budget deficit, it would have the added benefit of deterring types of trading known to increase market volatility, ThinkProgress notes.

But Gates' main priority is foreign aid, not tax reform. He argues in a video on his website, GatesNotes, that relatively small amounts of aid -- foreign aid constitutes just 1 percent of the U.S. federal budget -- can have huge impacts on poor nations.

Why is Foreign Aid Important? from The Gates Notes on Vimeo.

Comments

[madmanroywa]

04:30 PM on 11/05/2011

HEY bill we need help right here in america, its great to help other countries but not when ours is failing and we are in major need of help, take your money and buffets and help more right here, there has been a few programs to help low income and home less get feed and have places to sleep going out of business because of a short fall i money why dont you help them some are right in seattle. i bet one hundred thousand to each one would help them for years, cmon bill WAKE UP

[Agent672]

10:04 AM on 11/05/2011

i'll tell ya something else that would hurt our economy....billionaires. Especially when 400 of them control more wealth than 150 million Americans.

too bad old billy thought he should have all the money instead of all the people who actually did development at Microsoft.

[waltzster]

09:33 AM on 11/05/2011

Our future is bleak. The growing debt of all developed countries can no longer continue. China will no longer fund our debt. Solution, we will become communist or we will have a world war III. Personally I believe we will become communist. Democracy does not work. We are too greedy. Read 1984 from George Orwell - our future

[Agent672]

10:04 AM on 11/05/2011

just to put the Greek problem in perspective...Gates could cut them a check to solve most of it. And guess what; Gates would still be filthy rich.

[jagrmeister721]

02:45 AM on 11/05/2011

I appreciate that he's donating his money (that he made largely through an anti-competitive monopoly) but does he have to be sanctimonious all the time. We get it: helping the poor has other positive implications.

[dtallwalk]

07:56 PM on 11/04/2011

Bill will not work not now not ever have you not seen what the government has done with
The people's check book
And no you are not taxing me to help people in other lands when we won't help the people
The live here in the US
Help the people in the US first then I may change my mind
Till then shut up

[zyxwvutsrqpo]

10:25 AM on 11/05/2011

I would like to introduce you to some friends of mine: " , . ; : ". You should really get to know them.

[dtallwalk]

09:14 PM on 11/07/2011

So what's in the Kool Aid man Hummm

[TeValereJubeo]

06:41 PM on 11/04/2011

Like i have said, prosperity is an investment in the future for everyone. The wealthy will make more money in the long run investing in the prosperity of their nations than they will accrue in the short term by dismantling the lives and livelyhood of the millions of people they are using for their gains.

[Decorina]

05:07 PM on 11/04/2011

True enough, but I suspect that ignoring the poor right here in THIS country will be an even bigger threat; more immediate, too.

[urownexperience]

05:01 PM on 11/04/2011

Hey Bill, we all get the same 6' of ground in the end. You are nothing in the grand scheme of things. So why not help those less fortunate if you can?

[GeorgeWashingtonForgoten]

07:19 PM on 11/04/2011

Never heard of the "Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation" that's donated billions to education and underprivileged people here in the US?

[landskroon]

02:27 PM on 11/04/2011

So, because of "our" economic future we are willing to pay some attention to the povertyproblem. Well mister wiseguy, a century bago Henry Ford was far ahead in that theory. Increase salaries and pepople start buying. Increase the wealth for the rich and you kill the economy. (because the rich take the money out of the economy)

[fortressfountain]

01:47 PM on 11/04/2011

I think this country is poor and we need handouts from the Gates Foundation.

[re-elect clinton]

12:33 PM on 11/04/2011

Hey Bill, How about you do some large scale manufacturing in the U.S.? Instead of just R&D.

[Solomon Moon]

04:31 PM on 11/04/2011

He doesn't make decisions

[re-elect clinton]

06:25 PM on 11/04/2011

B.S. Don't try to tell me he don't make decisions, when you own that much stock, you make decisions.

[ThinkHappyThoughts]

12:16 PM on 11/04/2011

Hey Bill.....How about we stop sending our resources overseas and focus them stateside for awhile. I mean just until we have some stability, no starving Americans without homes and all.

Thanks,

Not a billionaire

[american-dolt]

10:47 AM on 11/04/2011

... and f' the Middle Class right Bill?

[HopeWFaith]

08:07 AM on 11/04/2011

Much of the Gates support goes to teach people how to create sustainable water resources, educate their villages, immunizations against localized diseases, etc. It is always amazing how quickly people jump to cut foreign aid, even when it is provided carefully to those who need it most. Some of the people are truly helped in long-term, effective ways. So don't judge before you "know" what is really going on.

The Gates are helping a vast segment of the global population, both here and there. What have you done today to help people here or abroad?

[Arianwen Everett]

07:20 AM on 11/04/2011

Foreign aid only goes into the bank accounts of despots. A better solution is to prevent the resources of these nations from being exploited without the wealth being distributed to the people. For every dollar we spend on foreign aid, ten are sent offshore from the sale of these country's resources without any of it going to the people themselves.