Gates, 53, left Harvard College in the 1970s without earning a degree so that he could work on forming Microsoft, the world’s biggest software maker based in Redmond, Washington. He received an honorary diploma last year.
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Bill Gates Calls Stimulus ‘Essential,’ Urges Growth (Update1)
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By Nadine Elsibai
Dec. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates said today that an economic stimulus package that President-elect Barack Obama and Congress are considering is “essential” to the U.S. economy.
Gates said the first priority for the Obama administration should be a package that will spur the economy and create jobs.
“It’s essential. Spending is the only way to get out of this downturn,” Gates said in a speech at George Washington University in Washington. “With businesses, state governments and consumers pulling back, the federal government must step forward.”
As leader of the world’s biggest private charity, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Gates called on the incoming Obama administration not to “sacrifice long-term investments for short-term growth.” Gates urged funding on education for low- income and minority students in the U.S. as well as economic growth “for the poorest people in the world.”
The U.S. economy entered a recession in December 2007, according to a panel at the National Bureau of Economic Research that dates American business cycles.
Obama wants to enact a recovery plan soon after his inauguration on Jan. 20. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told reporters yesterday that any proposal would have to include at least $400 billion in spending, and he wouldn’t rule out a bigger package. Senators Dick Durbin of Illinois, Obama’s closest Senate ally, and Charles Schumer of New York argue that an infusion of as much as $700 billion is warranted.
Taxing the Wealthy
Gates said he expects “taxes on the rich will increase” as well as deficit-spending to help the cover costs needed to stimulate the economy.
“There’s very little doubt that at some point the taxes on the rich will increase, and I think that’s a very fine thing,” Gates said, responding to questions after his remarks. “Now people can say, ‘You’re so rich, you don’t mind.’ That’s true.”
Growth can come from increasing the 71 percent of students who earn a high school diploma in four years as well as the number who earn receive a college education, he said.
The federal government could use part of the aid money to help state and local governments “avoid the higher education funding cuts and tuition increases that they often have to rely on to balance their budgets in a recession,” Gates said.
Foreign Aid
Americans should support Obama’s pledge during the campaign to double U.S. foreign assistance to $50 billion by 2012 in the midst of this financial crisis because inequity in the world “wastes human potential and undercuts society’s best chance to solve its own problems,” Gates said.
“Whether we’re talking about advances in technology or innovations in education or disease prevention -- long-term strategic interests do not disappear in a downturn,” Gates said. “Developing the talent of our young people, addressing poverty, preventing disease, these are always smart, no matter what the outlook.”
His Seattle-based foundation, with an endowment of $35.1 billion as of Oct. 1, sponsored today’s forum.
Gates, 53, left Harvard College in the 1970s without earning a degree so that he could work on forming Microsoft, the world’s biggest software maker based in Redmond, Washington. He received an honorary diploma last year.
To contact the reporter on this story: Nadine Elsibai in Washington at [email protected]
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Bill Gates Calls Stimulus ‘Essential,’ Urges Growth (Update1)
Email | Print | A A A
By Nadine Elsibai
Dec. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates said today that an economic stimulus package that President-elect Barack Obama and Congress are considering is “essential” to the U.S. economy.
Gates said the first priority for the Obama administration should be a package that will spur the economy and create jobs.
“It’s essential. Spending is the only way to get out of this downturn,” Gates said in a speech at George Washington University in Washington. “With businesses, state governments and consumers pulling back, the federal government must step forward.”
As leader of the world’s biggest private charity, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Gates called on the incoming Obama administration not to “sacrifice long-term investments for short-term growth.” Gates urged funding on education for low- income and minority students in the U.S. as well as economic growth “for the poorest people in the world.”
The U.S. economy entered a recession in December 2007, according to a panel at the National Bureau of Economic Research that dates American business cycles.
Obama wants to enact a recovery plan soon after his inauguration on Jan. 20. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told reporters yesterday that any proposal would have to include at least $400 billion in spending, and he wouldn’t rule out a bigger package. Senators Dick Durbin of Illinois, Obama’s closest Senate ally, and Charles Schumer of New York argue that an infusion of as much as $700 billion is warranted.
Taxing the Wealthy
Gates said he expects “taxes on the rich will increase” as well as deficit-spending to help the cover costs needed to stimulate the economy.
“There’s very little doubt that at some point the taxes on the rich will increase, and I think that’s a very fine thing,” Gates said, responding to questions after his remarks. “Now people can say, ‘You’re so rich, you don’t mind.’ That’s true.”
Growth can come from increasing the 71 percent of students who earn a high school diploma in four years as well as the number who earn receive a college education, he said.
The federal government could use part of the aid money to help state and local governments “avoid the higher education funding cuts and tuition increases that they often have to rely on to balance their budgets in a recession,” Gates said.
Foreign Aid
Americans should support Obama’s pledge during the campaign to double U.S. foreign assistance to $50 billion by 2012 in the midst of this financial crisis because inequity in the world “wastes human potential and undercuts society’s best chance to solve its own problems,” Gates said.
“Whether we’re talking about advances in technology or innovations in education or disease prevention -- long-term strategic interests do not disappear in a downturn,” Gates said. “Developing the talent of our young people, addressing poverty, preventing disease, these are always smart, no matter what the outlook.”
His Seattle-based foundation, with an endowment of $35.1 billion as of Oct. 1, sponsored today’s forum.
Gates, 53, left Harvard College in the 1970s without earning a degree so that he could work on forming Microsoft, the world’s biggest software maker based in Redmond, Washington. He received an honorary diploma last year.
To contact the reporter on this story: Nadine Elsibai in Washington at [email protected]
