Time does Gates
Featuring a rather godlike portrait, Time magazine allows Bill Gates free reign as he preaches to the world about Fixing Capitalism. Of course his article is focused on “making technological innovation work for the poor”, something that he claims corporations (presumably such as Microsoft) have a duty to perform. That such corporations also have other natural obligations such as maximizing share holder returns and reducing tax burdens is curiously left out of any real discussion by Mr Bill. And just in case you felt that Bill’s message was wide of the mark, his chief apologist also chimes in for a quick little one page essay.
He also makes the dubious claim that the world is getting better. Sure we have miracle drugs that cure this and that, we have wonderful information technology that brings the world’s knowledge to a desktop near you and we have unprecedented international travel that is both fast and relatively cheap. We also have arctic ice disappearing before our eyes and a sizeable proportion of the third world living below the poverty line. Add a few decades of industrial pollution and environmental exploitation to some of the guesswork currently doing the rounds of climate doomsayers and all of our cushy western successes could be reduced to historical relics. Billy’s claim about a better world is certainly conditional on which rose tints you have on your glasses.
All the more interesting is the hypocrisy of ex-chairman Gates championing something to help the world’s poor when his company is engaged in never ending pursuit of monopolising the world’s IT software industry. Free and open source software is in Gate’s world view something evil beyond description because its existence threatens completely to undermine his financial empire. However it isn’t the purpose of FOSS to destroy Microsoft, ultimately FOSS is about empowering the end user of software technology. It gives people the tools to control their own software destiny without having to pay a technology tax in the form of some proprietary operating system. That is why it is adopted by governments in some parts of the world (like South America) who understand that allowing Microsoft to take over is in effect, surrendering a part of their sovereignty.
Of course Bill isn’t going to start advocating free software, nor is he ever likely to have to survive on a dollar a day. His is a PR exercise. Making capitalism look good so it can continue to plunder whatever treasure are currently beyond its reach. All that is required by countries looking for more business investments (by people such a Microsoft???) is to “guarantee property rights, cut red tape and so on” He goes on to say that such “changes come slowly, in the meantime, we can’t wait.” It seems the role of government in developing countries is simply to create laws that let markets flourish and that economic growth will provide for everyone.
The capitalist system is fundamentally addicted to growth and growth is easiest in new markets. The message that Gates brings is dressed up in compassionate woolen clothes but the wolves’ sharp teeth are still salivating. Changing the system is the only answer.
Refs
1.Microsoft tax minimisation in Ireland
2.Michael Kinsley
3.Arctic Ice
4.Microsoft Tax