From: Noah Horton (nhorton@ectropic.org)
Date: Fri Nov 15 2002 - 09:06:11 MST
I believe that Bill Gates efforts are worth the $50B or so by definition.
Value and worth are traditionally calculated based upon what people are
willing to pay in a free market, and therefore that must be the value
since virtually all of his money has come through the free market system.
The only legal ways of gathering funds worth more than the free market
worth is through mechanisms like legal settlement / restitutions and
government subsidation / transfers.
-Noah Horton
On Fri, 15 Nov 2002, Dickey, Michael F wrote:
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Alexander Sheppard [mailto:alexandersheppard@hotmail.com]
> " Do you think the fruits of Bill Gates labor is really all that $50
> billion?"
>
> Do you think that the fruits of his labor are not? If not, how much do you
> think they are worth? And how to you justify how much you think they are
> worth? Is it just an arbitrary whim? If it is, why is it more valid than
> the arbitrary whim of the millions who use the fruits of his labor for their
> own productive gain? If 1 million people all think his product is worth 10
> dollars to them, then he now would have 10 million dollars. What if 10
> million people all think it is worth $100 dollars to them? Who are you to
> argue with them? They chose of their own free will to value his product at
> $10, or $100. Would you point a gun at their head and force them to
> de-value it?
>
> The only options here is a centralized group determining how much his
> products are worth, at the end of a gun no less, or each individual deciding
> of his own free will how much it is worth to them (by buying or not buying
> his product)
>
> Michael
>
>
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