Gatesā connection to the U.S. detention and deportation machine is a company called Signature Aviation. Signature calls itself āthe worldās largest network of private aviation terminals,ā and itās a linchpin in the day-to-day machinery of Trumpās immigration enforcement apparatus.
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The private firm that holds Gatesā and the Gates Foundation Trustās assets, Cascade Investment, increased its stake in the company to 30% in 2021, when it and two partners bought Signature outright for $4.7 billion. Human rights advocates ā plane trackers and activists who keep tabs on deportation flights, as well as the aviation and logistics companies profiting from them ā say Gatesā stake in Signature is at odds with his humanitarian work, including the Gates Foundationās support of a plethora of immigration-focused nonprofits. Without FBOs like Signature, they say, Trumpās mass deportation agenda would be stuck on the ground.
Gates himself has not publicly commented on Signature Aviationās crucial role in servicing ICE Air flights. Neither the Gates Foundation nor Cascade Asset Management Company, which oversees Cascade Investment, responded to multiple requests for comment.
Iāve been arguing for many years that being a billionaire is incompatible with being a decent human.
We live in an economy of finite means, and being willing to put an absolutely insane portion of that finite resource into a bank account is exactly tantamount to ensuring poverty exists elsewhere. Anyone willing to horde such an insane amount of money is simply evil.
I think part of why the public doesnāt get more upset about this though is that most people donāt understand how big a billion is. It is a number so large that our feeble little brains really struggle to grasp it, and we in common discourse talk about millionaires and billionaires like itās just the next logical step.
The difference between a million and a billion is about a billion.
The problem is that 2/3 of Americans donāt want to villainize them because they still hold on to some fantasy that they may become one soon. Somehow through bootstraps and luck they might just magically become a billionaire, because theyāre fucking stupid.
Iām just working minimum wage and praying inflation will get to the point where it carries me there. If it happened in Zimbabwe, it can happen here!
When the world sells off us treasury bonds and stops trading in the dollar thatās highly likely. But itāll cost $500,000 for a loaf of bread and minimum wage will still be $7.25.