I've always been a supporter of Gates and how he changed America and the world with his vision. Indeed, I opposed the U.S. government's anti-monopoly campaign against Microsoft to the point of publishing "Leave Microsoft Alone" in the June 8, 1998 issue of The Industry Standard. (See my Digital McLuhan: A Guide to the Information Millennium, pp. 88-91, if you have difficulty locating that article.) My view, which hasn't changed, is that the very nature of the Internet, in which anyone can become a star, a millionaire, make an important contribution to the growth of knowledge, means that no corporation, however powerful, can really dominate it. Gates through Windows and the Internet gave everyone the best means of competing with him. Even if he had had a monopoly on the medium (which he did not), that medium made it utterly impossible for anyone to monopolize thoughts and ideas.Zakaria's talk with Gates today is the longest and best I have ever seen Gates interviewed.
Among the points Gates covered:
.The US is not in such bad shape in our current credit meltdown and bailout crisis. We are still and will very likely continue to be leaders in information technology innovation - and in the higher education that makes that possible. (Gates is famously a Harvard dropout, but that doesn't stop him from seeing the value of education where needed.)
.Gates does not believe in leaving huge sums of money to his descendants - in fact, where philanthropy doesn't work, he's in favor of greatly increasing inheritance taxes. (I'm in favor of no taxes to anyone making less than a million dollars a year, but increased taxes for everyone making more - see I'm A Progressive Libertarian.)
.Gates was delighted to discover from his worldwide charitable work that when child mortality is reduced, the population does not increase. This is because parents in poor countries are likely to have fewer children when they know their kids will survive.
.Gates welcomes the competition of Google and Apple, and any one else who can come along with new ideas and alternatives to our current world of new media (which I call new new media). He talked about smart walls and cellphones you could use to make digital copies of receipts.
All in all, a fine 30-minute interview on Fareed Zakaria, GPS (Global Public Square). I've seen Tony Blair, Henry Kissinger, Condoleezza Rice, Barack Obama, and now Bill Gates on the show since it debuted in June. It's become one of my favorite interview shows, and I'd say Zakaria is becoming the Charlie Rose and the Mark Molaro of cable.
4 comments:
Paul,
I describe myself as "pragmatically libertarian". I have strong libertarian ideals, but I am not a utopianist. I believe in working within the realm of the possible, and not letting the perfect be the enemy of the good.
I am a big fan of Bill Gates. Please see a somewhat recent article on my blog:
Bravo to Bill Gates
I, however, strongly disagree with your position on the Microsoft monopoly litigation. Microsoft systematically abused their monopoly position in operating systems to destroy any software developer that attempted to create any applications that tried to compete with other software in Microsoft's catalog. Either by denying access to the API such that new OS upgrades would 'break' their competitors' applications, or as a last resort, by bundling the software with the OS.
The amount of technological innovation that was stifled as a result of Microsoft's business practices will never be known. The agility by which Microsoft skillfully perverted the legal system to its advantage was begrudgingly awe inspiring. While the tech sector moves at the speed of innovation, the wheels of justice grind slowly. Microsoft learned that by dragging out litigation, they could effectively crush any competitor through illegal practices before any litigation played out to its conclusion, and therefore chalked the resulting penalties up to the cost of doing business. However admirable for their sheer Machiavellian ruthlessness, it's a shame they were not content to compete merely on the merits of the quality of their products. But I digress.
For however much I disagree with you on Microsoft's business practices, I can only admire Gates' darwinian skill at thriving in any circumstance. He simply saw the opportunities and the flaws in the system and played everything to his advantage. I'd love to see Gates take an interest in politics. I could never see him run for office, but I think he could be immensely valuable in a cabinet level appointed position.
For that matter, I think Fareed Zakaria would make an excellent Secretary of State. I don't know if you noticed in your Facebook feed, my shameless promotion of his book, The Post American World. I did not catch his interview with Mr. Gates. I'll have to keep an eye out on YouTube.
As for your prior post on your being a "progressive libertarian", I would prefer a two tier income tax for $100K+ and $1M+. I believe those who wish to eliminate income tax have not fully considered the impact this would have on tax deductible charitable giving. Charitable giving allows individuals to give directly to causes they deem worthy of their labor, bypassing the bureaucracy of government administrative costs. I feel this is an incentive we shouldn't wish to remove. I believe the elimination of income tax would create a kaleidoscope of unintended consequences. Especially those who espouse a national sales tax. What incentives is that really creating? If people chose to earn their money where income tax is lowest, and spend it where sale tax is lowest, might this create an incentive for transferring wealth abroad? But that is a whole other conversation.
Thanks again for bringing the Gates interview to my attention.
cheers,
Chris
Thanks for the comment, Chris - Fareed's interview is now embedded in my blog post above, courtesy of CNN...
On the anti-monopoly suit: Even if I agreed with you that Microsoft was stifling innovation, I would still not have wanted the government to step in as referee. To use a homespun analogy: it's like bringing in a snake (the government) to control a rat. The snake poses far more danger, in the long run, to our economy (and our freedom). One of the things missing from our Bill of Rights is the protection of business from excessive governmental regulation (which is how I would categorize an anti-monopoly suit).
And we also disagree about the impact on society of any tax for incomes under $1 million. Capitalism works better when more people have more money in their pockets - including, I would argue, charity.
Good to have your comment here, in any case.
PS - I just added a proper book cover with Amazon link for Zakari's book at the bottom of my blog post.
Paul: thanks for alerting me to Fareed's new gig. i read his Newsweek column regularly and enjoyed his appearances on George Stephanopoulos' Sunday show. I find his world view refreshing.
/jimy_max
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