Reblogged: Jimmy Wales on Making Money

[dianahsieh]

Jimmy Wales on Making Money:

Last week, I found this nice clip of

explaining why he's not milking Wikipedia for every last cent:

Jared Rhodes then pointed me to this clip from Jimmy's lecture at Ford Hall Forum, where he quotes me. (I'm pretty sure that he didn't tell me about it at the time... but perhaps I'm enjoying it afresh for the second time!)

The slide says:

Rational people "don't need to be told what to think, they need facts upon which to draw their own conclusions." (Diana Hsieh)

It's in the discussion of what a "neutral point of view" means, and that starts at about 18:00.

Jimmy Wales - Free Speech, Free Minds and Free Markets from Ford Hall Forum on FORA.tv

Still, I wish that Jimmy made bijillions (a word of his that I still use) from Wikipedia!

Original entry: See link at top of this post

[JASKN]

And yet, he could make bajillions, but that would go against the "core" of Wikipedia -- so says a snooty representative in an email reply to me after I wrote my distaste for the endless Wikipedia begging for money. "Wikipedia will never take money from advertisers."

I don't like fund raisers because there are no standards. What's enough? -- no price there to let us know.

[joerjohnson]

Thank you for posting this! Jimmy Wales has become a great inspiration for me recently and when I discovered that he is an Objectivist my eyes lit up. His thoughts shared here really speak to me.

I don't know if this is a proper place to solicite feedback but I've been thinking of starting a (non-profit) project that asks for and collects money from private citizens with the sole purpose of funding the government. I want to spread the idea that we don't have to forcibly tax people to raise money to run the country. We live in a time where there are billionaires like Warren Buffett calling for the "wealthy" to be taxed more - my thought is to ask them to do it of their free will. If Warren Buffett wants to pay more in taxes he and his friends can do it here.

Other ideas I've heard are to allow people to contribute to a specific state department. Or, ask billionaires to commit to a partial match program (or something similar). I have some ideas and I think there could be some serious challenges but I think its something the world is ready for.

I'm very curious what other Objectivists think about this idea? What struggles do you think I'd face? Do you have any ideas to help me along?

[softwareNerd]

If Warren Buffet wants to send in more money, he can do so here or here. Buffet is intelligent enough and savvy enough to be aware of this, so judge his words accordingly.

[Grames]

Thank you for posting this! Jimmy Wales has become a great inspiration for me recently and when I discovered that he is an Objectivist my eyes lit up. His thoughts shared here really speak to me.

I don't know if this is a proper place to solicite feedback but I've been thinking of starting a (non-profit) project that asks for and collects money from private citizens with the sole purpose of funding the government. I want to spread the idea that we don't have to forcibly tax people to raise money to run the country. We live in a time where there are billionaires like Warren Buffett calling for the "wealthy" to be taxed more - my thought is to ask them to do it of their free will. If Warren Buffett wants to pay more in taxes he and his friends can do it here.

Other ideas I've heard are to allow people to contribute to a specific state department. Or, ask billionaires to commit to a partial match program (or something similar). I have some ideas and I think there could be some serious challenges but I think its something the world is ready for.

I'm very curious what other Objectivists think about this idea? What struggles do you think I'd face? Do you have any ideas to help me along?

This cannot be done. Any money sent to the government goes to the Treasury Department. Spending by the various departments is set by budget bill which originates in the House of Representatives, is agree to by the Senate and is signed into law by the President. The budget is a law. Citizens do not get to alter the budget by voting with their wallets. And that is right and proper, as America is a republic and not a democracy.

To be perfectly clear, beyond the fact that you cannot do this I am saying you should not do this. I am against your idea.

[softwareNerd]

Other ideas I've heard are to allow people to contribute to a specific state department.

I like the idea of seeing what people would vote for. Without anything being binding on the government, it would be interesting to see how people would choose to allocate their taxes, and to see what this would look like if one aggregates it up.

There are some web sites that allow people to play with the Federal budget. I don't know if any of them allow people to "vote" for a particular allocation and them report the result like it were a survey.

Edited September 14, 2012 by softwareNerd

[joerjohnson]

Thank you for the thoughts and feedback, everyone.

Grames, actually that (allocating funds by agency) wasn't my idea but one a friend shared. And, you're correct that it cannot and should not be done. I hadn't given it much thought until you pointed that out, but you are 100% correct. Thank you.

softwareNerd, thanks for sharing the links. Voting could be cool feature. It could create some interesting data.