“I think he [Bill Gates] has a Napoleonic concept of himself and his company, an arrogance that derives from power and unalloyed success, with no leavening hard experience, no reverses [...] They don’t act like grown-ups!”

--Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson

Photo from Jackson's firm's Web site

Summary: The world's richest person (on and off) is trying to portray himself as the person who fights against rich people and greed; A look at other PR-imposed inversions

SOME truly unbelievable spin has come out of the Gates Foundation recently. For those who read this site regularly it ought to be known that the foundation pays many journalists to worship Gates' agenda in the press. No wonder a lot of people are unable to critically assess this agenda, which revolves around patents, publicity, control, and monopolisation. But today's post is about a different type of spin we have covered here before [1, 2, 3, 4]. It is basically the spin which would have the gullible believe that the world's richest man is in fact the enemy of rich people and the only one who can help fair distribution of wealth. Yes, no kidding, that's what readers are occasionally begged to believe. A good example of this storyline is those recent trips to China's rich men, who are far less wealthy than Bill and Warren who daemonise and pressure them (Bill and Warren have a shared tax haven). But wait, it gets worse.

This newer bits of spin dissociates Microsoft's greed (which is how Gates made all his fortune) from Gates himself. Are people truly expected to absorb the spin that "Microsoft Hates Bill Gates' Rich People Tax" (as the headline puts it)?

That's just not the story at all. The main story is that this "Rich People Tax" has loopholes which Gates exploited because it does not apply to him. The father of Bill (with identical name) is lumped in even though he too appears to be enjoying those same tax exemptions. Well, the corporate press cannot possibly miss those simple facts, maybe it is just not interested in investigating and reporting accurately. It's really quite striking. See a related and very informal discussion in IRC where Facebook's actions are shown to be similar. Therein too there is the schools PR ("think about the children!") and as Dr. Ravitch has warned [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6], danger lurks as it's a strategic move. Gates continues to exploit the government for education that's actually his indoctrination and based on this new report, Steve Jobs wants a piece of the pie too:

The White House says President Barack Obama has discussed American competitiveness and education with Apple Co. co-founder Steve Jobs.

It helps show that fortune holders continue to act as somewhat of a shadow government and we wrote about it a week ago.

Apple and education don't mix. It's quite an oxymoron to them. In fact, Apple encourages ignorance in some ways.

A day or so ago we also noticed that the Gates PR team is busy advertising the "Bill Gates" brand in some articles regarding action against global warming. It is problematic when Gates talks about climate danger while his own advancement of patents and investments in large oil-producing companies not just make matters worse emissions-wise; it gives money to sponsor global warming denial, which two firms Gates gives money to are confirmed to be doing.

Most people know about Gates only what PR agents are telling them (or paying journalists to recite). ⬆

“As we sat down in our Menlo Park conference room, Bill skipped the small talk, and went straight to the point, “Microsoft owns the office productivity market, and our patents read all over OpenOffice.”"

--Sun's CEO)