If I Had $3 Billion:
Dividend Payout to Bill Gates
Sparks an Internet Debate
The $3.35 billion dividend payout Bill Gates will receive this year did more than just add to the Microsoft chairman's already deep pockets. It boosted a national pastime: telling him how to spend it.
Thanks to the Internet that Mr. Gates helped proliferate, what in earlier eras might have been small talk at the office, or fantasizing at the family dinner table, became an interactive dialogue around the country. Do a Google search (or OK, an Internet Explorer search) like "if I had Bill Gates's money," and advice pops up from all corners.
Mr. Gates quickly solved the debate, announcing that he plans to give all of it to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which already has $26.5 billion in assets, and funds projects to improve health and education world-wide.
But that won't stop an army of newly created armchair billionaires from offering their two cents. People read an inspirational book or hear a great CD and create online postings: "If I were Bill Gates, I'd buy this for everyone in the world." Others picture his money in their accounts and offer up plans to buy Wyoming and give it to Native Americans, or to build tent cities for the homeless, or to pay spammers to stop sending spam e-mails to the world's inboxes. They'd buy foreign countries or find a cure for old age.
Dreaming about being Bill Gates, or even about having a joint checking account with him, is hardly a new pursuit of course. But the chatter picked up following Tuesday's announcement that the company will pay a special $3 per share dividend later this year.
Mr. Gates is different from the lottery winners we read about, who are overwhelmed by financial-planning decisions and money-hungry relatives. He's not like the movie stars who grew up poor and now live in mansions. He's not even comparable to the dot.com multimillionaires, or those who inherited their fortunes long ago, and are now funding universities or large foundations.
Mr. Gates, who has an estimated net worth of $46 billion, is in his own league because his is the name we use to define wealth that is almost beyond imagination, just as the Rockefellers were the standard for previous generations.
It was Mr. Gates's vast riches that led Michael Buffington, a 28-year-old Web designer in Portland, Ore., to feel compelled to issue a statement on his personal blog earlier this year. If he had Mr. Gates's money, he'd buy his own island nation. He'd create a think tank where people could play air hockey to get their ideas flowing. He'd build a house where the walls changed colors depending on his moods, and moving floors transported him from his bedroom to the bathroom.
"I think everybody sits around thinking about Bill Gates's money," he says. "Even if you're a rich person, it's hard to comprehend it." He wonders why Mr. Gates doesn't try to fully devote himself to being the most altruistic human in history or become "blatantly evil" -- like Superman's nemesis Lex Luthor. "He could be evil in a take-over-the-world kind of way. People would accept it. You have that kind of money, go nuts with it."
Mr. Gates also turns up in the personal statement that Karl Forgeron, a chiropractor in Streamwood, Ill., put together for patients. In it, he lists 13 things he'd do "If I had Bill Gates's money." Among them: invest in God and donate to charities; build a dream home with Japanese gardens; invest in his kids' "character development"; purchase a purple Dodge Viper with a "PURRPLE" license plate; and "keep my job as a chiropractor! I love chiropractic!"
His list allows him to tell patients that no fortune on Earth could take him away from the work he loves. It's a strong statement.
Others also use Mr. Gates as a way to measure their commitment to the life they've chosen. Business consultants encourage people to look at their jobs and ask themselves: "If I had Bill Gates's money, would I still do it?"
One woman wrote an online essay about her Christian upbringing and asked: "If I had Bill Gates's money, would I feel guilty? Or would I simply feel it was my divine-given right for all my hard labor? I can't say." On another site, a pastor wrote of how his mom died, but even Mr. Gates's fortune couldn't buy him five more minutes with her.
Some people like reminding themselves that Mr. Gates is just as human as they are. "If I had Bill Gates's money, I sure wouldn't have Bill Gates's chin," wrote one person in a Web chatroom. Another man wrote that if he were as rich as Mr. Gates, he'd "get a good haircut."
Mr. Buffington wonders if Mr. Gates has ever cruised around the Internet, typed in "Bill Gates," and come upon his blog. He'd be happy to help Mr. Gates consider his financial options, and he keeps rattling off possibilities. "He could give everybody in the world five bucks, but I think he should exclude Americans. They don't need the extra five dollars."
As I plowed through all the chatter about Mr. Gates and his money -- about using his fortune to rebuild Asbury Park, N.J., buy Disneyland, pare down the national debt, or finance life-extension science -- I came upon a Web site called Hulver.com. On it was a poll asking visitors what they'd do if they had Mr. Gates's money. Among the most popular choices: "I'd spend more time sleeping," "I'd live a quiet life of sober reflection," and "I'd be laughing too much to do anything else."
The top vote-getter? "I'd keep quiet in case Bill finds out that it's me who's got his money."
“如果我有比尔?盖茨那么多钱”
比尔?盖茨(Bill Gates)今年将获得的33.5亿美元股息不仅使这位微软公司(Microsoft)董事长的钱袋变得更鼓，还在美国引发了一场全国性的闲暇谈资：告诉比尔?盖茨如何花钱。
要在以前，这可能只是写字楼里同事间的闲聊，或是家庭餐桌上的话料。如今可不同了，在由比尔?盖茨发展到千家万户的互联网上，所有美国人都能聊聊这事了。如果你到网上搜索“如果我有比尔?盖茨那么多钱”类似的话，就会获得来自各地的各种花钱建议。
比尔?盖茨很快就结束了这些争论，他宣布计划把钱都投入比尔?盖茨及梅林达-盖茨基金会(Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation)。该基金目前已经有265亿美元的资产，致力于改善世界范围内的医疗和教育状况。
然而，这并未阻止众多幻想中的亿万富翁继续对这个问题给出自己的答案。当人们读到了一本好书，或是听了一张很不错的CD就会在网上发帖子说：“如果我是比尔?盖茨，我会给所有人的都买一本（张）”。还有人幻想著如果通过自己的帐户可以花比尔?盖茨的钱，他就会把怀俄明州买下来，然后把它送给印第安人；为没有家的人建一个帐篷城市；给发送垃圾邮件的人钱让他们不要再发送垃圾邮件了。他们还梦想把其他国家买下来，或是花钱开发长生不老药。
梦想成为比尔?盖茨、或是与比尔?盖茨共同拥有一个帐户并不是最近才出现的现象。但在微软上周二宣布今年晚些时候将派发每股3美元的的特殊股息后，这种谈论就更加热闹起来。
比尔?盖茨与那些中了彩票的人不同，后者会有很多理财专家蜂拥而至提供理财建议，他们还得应付眼红的亲戚。比尔?盖茨也与那些出生贫苦、现在住在公寓里的电影明星不同。甚至连那些因互联网热而暴富的人，还有那些多年前继承了大笔财产、如今为一些大学或基金会提供资金的人，都与比尔?盖茨不具有可比性。
比尔?盖茨就是比尔?盖茨，他大约有460亿美元财产，他的名字成为多的难以想像的财富的代名词，就好像以前的洛克菲勒一样。
俄勒冈州波特兰一位28岁的网页设计师迈克尔?巴芬顿(Michael Buffington)今年早些时候在自己的网志上发表个人声明说，如果他有比尔?盖茨那么多钱，他就会买一个独立的岛国；他会建立一个智囊团，让智者们做在一起神侃，擦出思想火花；他还要建造一所房子，它的墙面要能根据他的心情变换不同的颜色，活动的地板可以自动把他从卧室带到浴室。
“我觉得人人都在幻想如果自己能有比尔?盖茨那么多钱该怎么花”，他说。“即便你是个富有的人，也很难以理解这样做的意义。“他奇怪为什么比尔?盖茨不让自己做一个历史上最无私的人或是一个最明目张胆的恶人-- 就像超人的死敌Lex Luthor。“他可以成为一个非常霸道的恶人。既然有那么多钱，想怎么样就怎么样。”
比尔?盖茨还出现在伊利诺伊州脊椎指压治疗医生卡尔?霍治朗(Karl Forgeron)写给病人的个人声明中。假如他是比尔?盖茨，他列举了13件他想要做的事情，包括：投资教会和捐赠慈善机构；建造一个带有日本花园的梦想家园；投资孩子们的“个性发展”计划；买一辆紫色Dodge Viper，上一个紫色的牌照；让我永远当一名脊椎指压治疗医生，这是我最热爱的职业！
他的这份声明是想对自己的病人说，无论有多少财富他都不会离开自己热爱的工作。这份声明很有力量。
还有的人用比尔?盖茨来衡量他们人生选择的坚定程度。商业顾问总是鼓励人们想想自己的工作然后问自己：“如果我有比尔?盖茨那么多钱，我还会做这份工作么”？
有位女性在网上撰文谈到她长期受基督教的熏陶，她问自己：“如果我有比尔?盖茨那么多钱，我是否还会觉得有罪恶感呢？我会不会只是简单的认为所有艰苦的劳动都是神要求我做的？我自己也不清楚。”在另一个网站上，有人写道他的母亲刚刚去世，即便有比尔?盖茨那么多的财富，也不能买到让他和妈妈多呆5分钟。
有些人喜欢提醒自己：比尔?盖茨也和他们一样是普通人。“如果我有比尔?盖茨那么多钱，我就不会要像他那样的下巴了”，有人在网络聊天室里写道。还有人写：“如果有比尔?盖茨那么多钱，我一定把自己的头发好好弄个造型。”
巴芬顿先生不知道比尔?盖茨本人是否常在网上溜达看看，敲入“比尔?盖茨”，然后看到巴芬顿的个人网志。他很高兴能帮助比尔?盖茨设计他的理财计划，他不断拿出各种可能的花钱方法。“他可以给世界上每个人5美元，但我想这不应当包括美国人。他们并不需要这额外的5美元”。
我浏览著有关比尔?盖茨和他的钱的种种谈论--用他的钱重建新泽西州的Asbury公园、买迪斯尼乐园(Disneyland)、削减国家债务、或提供资金用于延长生命的研究等等，我发现了一个名为Hulver.com网站。这个网站上有一项调查，要访问者回答如果他们有比尔?盖茨那么多钱会干什么。人们选择最多的选项有：“我会花更多时间睡觉”；“我会过一种平静而自醒的生活”；还有“我乐得什么都干不了了”。
获得投票最多的选项是什么呢？“我不能声张，以防比尔?盖茨发现是我拿跑了他的钱。”
