TI've read a couple articles with an economic tilt today. The first was about gift cards. Apparently 19% of all giftcards in America go unused. That amounts to a large loss to consumers, and a lot of free money for corporations. I can't imagine why people don't use the things. I think it's better than cash. Cash leaves you the option to be responsible and save it. On the other hand, you can only get yourself something with a gift card. The second was about this online swap-meet message group called freecycle. The slant of the article was to point out how giving our stuff away provides us with a pleasure similar to getting new stuff.
Finally, and this is the meaty one, I read about the investment practices of The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the charity that is worth more than the the GNP of 70% of the nations in this world. The harm that the foundation allows to go on from companies that they hold a major share in outweighs the good that the charitable end of the foundation makes happen. Everyone in the world needs to know about this, and hold foundations more accountable.
To be fair to the foundation. This story was made possible by the fact that the foundation is transparent in their finances. Which is something in their favor and a departure from the general secretiveness of Microsoft, the foundation's sugar daddy.
Posted by matt at January 7, 2007 2:05 PM | TrackBack