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On Sept. 16, 1999 Bill Gates, Mr. Microsoft himself, told a stunned nation that he is
excluding white children from $1 billion in scholarship funds. But
Gates has "misrepresented the truth". Gates is really only donating
25% to 35% of that amount. See financial calculations, below. |
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Nonetheless, it is a shameful thing, even a racist thing, when one of the world's
wealthiest men feels a need to intentionally discriminate against disadvantaged white
children.
Ward Connerly, the soft-spoken figurehead of several state initiatives ending racial
quotas and preferences, said: "We are delighted Mr. Gates is using some of his
fortune to help minority students. The last time we checked, though, the fortune
amassed by the success of Microsoft was from people of all racial backgrounds - minorities
and nonminorities alike."
Connerly continued: "By
requiring scholarship recipients to fit a narrow racial profile, the Gates Foundation
would discriminate against nonminorities. Why tell an underprivileged white youth
that he or she need not apply for one of these scholarships?"
Gates said that the $1 billion racially-discriminatory scholarships (or the more accurate
$350 million) will be administered by a racial triumvirate comprised of the United Negro
College Fund, the Hispanic Scholarship Fund, and the American Indian College fund.
Notably absent from Gates' list of scholarship administrators were organizations dedicated
to the benefit of disadvantaged white students (European Americans) and Asian students.
Predictably, the head of the United Negro College Fund, William H. Gray III, virtually
chortled with joy when he said that Gates' beneficence will double or triple the number of
black, Hispanic and American Indian Ph.D.'s in science, engineering and other fields over
the next decade. (Like his benefactor, UNCF's Gray seemed to deliberately omit white
and Asian students from his predictions of academic success.)
Bill Gates' message to students thus appears to be two-fold: "(1) Only persons
of certain races are deserving of my gift. There are no disadvantaged white kids out
there. (2) Race is the most important criterion for determining charity."
Gates tried to put his self-serving spin on the story when he said: "Not too
many people in their 40s who are still engaged in a very demanding job give away a
substantial portion of their wealth." Unless, of course, they happen to be a
filthy rich, anti-competitive monopolist who cut a deal with Clinton's pro-quota
Department of Justice: "Let Microsoft (Bill Gates) dominate the software
market, and Microsoft will take care of your (Bill Clinton's) pet racial quota programs.
It is no accident that Gates' race-based gift comes on the eve of closing arguments in the
huge anti-trust trial the Clinton Justice Department has waged against Microsoft.
Closing arguments were to be presented on Tuesday, Sept. 21, and U.S. District Judge
Thomas Penfield Jackson may issue a final ruling in the case by the end of 1999.
Microsoft's Financial Interests: The U.S. Dept. of Justice, joined by 19 states,
charged Microsoft with using strongarm tactics on its competition in order to retain
Microsoft's monopoly stranglehold on the operating systems for personal computers (via the
ubiquitous Windows operating software). The Justice Department also charges
Microsoft with using various anti-competitive practices to dominate the Internet browser
software market, and that Microsoft has illegally restrained trade in this regard.
Recently, during the week of Oct. 11, 1999, Microsoft has retaliated by mounting a major, very
well-funded lobbying effort to cut $9 million from Justice's Anti-Trust Division. As
they say, its good to be king, or at least Bill Gates. (See link below: Microsoft Urges Funding Slash for Anti-Trust Division)
So, on the one hand we have the Clinton Justice Department beating on poor, beleagured
Microsoft for alleged anti-competitive trade practices. Yay for free enterprise!
On the other hand, we have the Clinton Justice Department busily extorting racial and
gender hiring and contracting quotas out of companies like, well, Microsoft. Boo for
racial quotas!
In that context, $1 billion (actually $350 million) from Bill Gates to Clinton's favorite
charity -- racial and gender quotas -- might seem like an under the table deal, or even
extortion. But in Bill Clinton's Justice Department it is called "alternative
dispute resolution".
One might suppose that it is likely that in the former case -- anti-competitive trade
practices -- Gates and Microsoft will get nothing more than a slap on the wrist, because
in the latter case Gates has, after all, donated to the Bill Clinton Rainbow Giveaway
Program (racial and gender quotas). It has happened numerous times before; many
Fortune 500 companies have bought off Clinton's Justice Department in this manner.
Nonetheless, in today's pro-minority, anti-white political climate it is great public
relations for both Clinton and Gates, and very bad news for color-blind justice as well as
for a free and competitive business environment.
Other major corporations have similarly appeased the Clinton pro-quota Justice Department
by strongly supporting racial and gender quotas and preferences. Consider the case
of Texaco, Inc.
In late 1996 and early 1997 Texaco paid a whopping $176 million to aggrieved minority
employees. Even though it was a civil suit which did not directly involve EEOC or
the Justice Department, Texaco's clear motivation was to avoid years of expensive
litigation against a hostile federal government (EEOC and Justice) abetted by racial
special interests such as the noisy, racially biased coalitions represented by Al Sharpton
and Jesse Jackson.
Texaco paid the $176 million even though no court ever ruled that the firm was guilty of
racial discrimination.
Additionally, Texaco also paid at least that much again to minority vendors, bond
underwriters, and contractors (specifically excluding whites and white-owned businesses),
as well as dumping millions more into "minority feel-good causes and
charities".
As an added political bonus to Clinton's EEOC and Justice Department, Texaco worked very
hard in late 1996 to derail the Houston, Texas initiative to end quotas and preferences in
that city.
Thus Texaco acceded to the Clinton EEOC and Justice Department "alternative dispute
resolution", just like Bill Gates and Microsoft appear to be doing.
Keep in mind that neither the EEOC nor the Justice Department actually joined the civil
suit against Texaco -- these federal quota-enforcement agencies had only to imply a threat
to join the suit and they implied they were quite willing to impose additional
"remedies" upon Texaco if Texaco did not openly embrace the racial and gender
quotas which the Clinton cabinet holds so dear. Texaco, Inc. got the message loud
and clear.
Of course, Texaco's mere 1/4 to 1/2 billion dollar atonement is not quite in the same
league with Bill Gates' $1 billion! But wait! Texaco actually paid more
than Bill and Melinda Gates. How is that so?
In reality, Bill and Melinda Gates are only giving 25% to 35% of the stated amount of $1
billion. Any first year student in Finance and Accounting can demonstrate
this.
Financial
Calculations: The Gates
Foundation is NOT paying $1 billion in 1999 dollars for minority scholarships.
Rather, the Gates Foundation is paying $50 million per year for 20 years. That is a
very different animal.
Using standard Present Value calculations (Finance and Accounting 101), and assuming that
the rate of inflation for the next 20 years to be 8% (or assuming the opportunity cost of
investment is 8%, as the finance wonks say), the Present Value, in 1999 dollars, of Gates'
20 years of $50 million-per-year donations from Gates is about a half billion dollars --
without taking into account the tax benefits Gates enjoys for such 'charitable'
contributions. (Check with your Finance 101 teacher.)
On top of that, one must take into account the whopping tax deductions Gates gets for
these 'charitable' contributions. After tax benefits, the actual dollar cost to
Gates of this gift is probably only about 70% of that 1/2 billion dollars, or a mere $350
million or so in 1999 dollars.
Gee, that's only 35% of the amount Bill Gates has publicized. More spin control, eh,
Bill? (Return
to top of story.)
But make no mistake. A commitment of $350 million in 1999 dollars is not
small potatoes. But it is still too bad these funds are being dedicated to racial
discrimination against disadvantaged white kids.
More Political Payoffs to Clinton (and
Back Scratching of Gates):
Also don't forget that Microsoft played a very significant role in
attempting to defeat Washington State's Initiative 200 which has outlawed the use of
racial and gender quotas in that state. Microsoft was not only a significant
financial contributor to fighting against color-blind justice in Washington State, but
Bill Gates' thousands of employees in that state were also quite active in getting out the
vote against I-200. Thankfully, Gates and his minions failed to defeat Washington's
anti-quota ballot initiative.
Even More Spin: Oh, yes, Mr. Bill Gates made a faint attempt to
distance Microsoft from his racially-discriminatory, anti-white largesse: Bill
Gates named the "charitable foundation" after himself and his young wife,
Melinda, calling it the "Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation". Sounds almost
humanitarian, doesn't it?
It is also very significant that Mr. Monopoly Dollars Gates has chosen three very hostile,
anti-white, anti-Asian minority organizations to administer his $1 billion (or $350
million) scholarship fund. Gates exercised great deliberation in choosing the United
Negro College Fund, the Hispanic Scholarship Fund, and the American Indian College
Fund. We would guess that means that anyone from any other ancestral background is
not deserving of Mr. Gates' educational assistance.
Gates' Gift Violates Civil Rights Law: Since Bill Gates's 'charitable gift' is race-based,
a very cogent argument can be made that he and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation are
in violation of applicable civil rights laws, and that the Gates Foundation's tax-exempt
charter should be revoked.
Washington Times columnist Bruce Fein proposes that "... No perception or
assertion of discrimination against racial minorities in college admissions (which
violates federal civil rights laws) was mentioned. In other words, the race-based $1
billion scholarship program is not a remedial measure to overcome the handicap of past or
current racial discrimination."
[Columnist Fein proceeds to compare the Gates 'gift' to the landmark 1981 case of Bob
Jones University. In that case, the IRS revoked Bob Jones Universitys tax
exemption because of its racially discriminatory ban on student interracial
marriage. According to Fein's analysis, the IRS ruled, in part that "a
[private] school not having a racially nondiscriminatory policy as to students is not
charitable within ... sections 170 and 501(c)(3)."
Further, in the Bob Jones case, the IRS (quoting Feins article directly):
"defined nondiscrimination as treating students and applicants of any
race equally in all respects, including scholarship awards. The Supreme Court upheld
the revocation and public policy reasoning of the IRS in Bob Jones
University vs. United States (1983), declaring that There can be no doubt
that racial discrimination in education violates deeply and widely accepted views of
elementary justice."
Fein continues in his analysis: "The Clinton administration should be asked
whether the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will be denied tax exempt status based on
the Bob Jones precedent. The financial stakes seem arresting because of [Microsoft's
enormous $17 billion in assets]. The Millennium Scholarships seem also at war with a
federal civil rights law, section 1981 of Title 42, which prohibits private racial
discrimination in the making or enforcement of contracts. Scholarship winners are
apparently required to show high academic collegiate performance in exchange for the
financial assistance, a form of contract where both sides give consideration for the
agreeement. White students who satisfy the scholarship standards but for skin color would
seem entitled to damages under section 1981."
Fein continues: "[The Gates scholarship] ... defiles one of our most cherished
social aspirations -- equal treatment irrespective of race that should never be
compromised but for an urgent and overwhelming cause. Justice Clarence Thomas underscored
in a concurrence in Adarand that whatever the intent of the giver, racial
paternalism and its unintended consequences can be as poisonous and pernicious as any
other form of discrimination."
Fein concludes "In sum, fairness, morality, and the law alike all militate in favor
of opening the Millennium Scholarships to white disadvantaged students on
the same terms available to racial minorities. The clutching deprivations of youth know no
skin color." (See also Washington Times 09/21/99, page A18 - no link
available.)
Gates Supports Immigrant Labor Over
U.S. Labor: In evaluating
Bill Gates' and Microsoft's humanitarian intentions, it is important to note that
Microsoft is a major advocate of importing "skilled foreign labor under temporary
work visas" (known as H1B or H2A in the U.S. Congress) for the explicit purpose of
hiring cheaper foreign workers in place of U.S. workers.
Bill Gates, along with most of Silicon Valley, would like Congress (and the U.S. citizens)
to believe that the U.S. has an urgent shortage of skilled software engineers which need
can only be met by importing non-U.S. workers.
Gates and his allies in Silicon Valley refuse to shoulder the responsibility (and cost) of
training U.S. workers to meet this need. Interestingly, and most
significantly, these "temporary foreign workers" are universally defined as
"minorities" (non-white, or non-European American). Many of these imported
"temporary" workers subsequently apply for citizenship to the U.S. Most of
them, upon achieving citizenship, unquestioningly and almost universally support racial
and ethnic quotas and preferences and oppose race-blind justice in this country.
Thus, it appears that Mr. Bill Gates supports a new "color-based" caste or class
system in the U.S. -- as long as that system results in profits for Mr. Bill Gates and
Microsoft and as long as that caste system excludes whites or European Americans.
THAT is where Mr. Bill Gates is really coming from.
End Bill Gates Thumbs Nose at White, Asian
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