[Topspinmo]

IMO Do you really think billionaire's give there money away? They contribute for leverage and control the money they get tax deductions for and probably kickbacks. Wake up very few people are truely Charitable and very few Charities have small overhead which means most of the money donated don't really trickle down to the ones that need it. Gates, Buffet, Turner and Bloomberg not donating there money for no reason they also get something out of it. I like how buffet said his secertary pays more taxes than him! Da!! that's cause she don't have room full of lawyers stealing from the government cheating on taxes. If he was really concerned and half the man he thinks he is HE WOULD PAY HIS FAR SHARE and keep his mouth shut, But that has no advanage for him.

Originally Posted by Cisco Kid

Welcome to the forum
Your 1st post
Your 1st day. just now signed up. ?

Thank-you.

Yes, my first post, but I signed up earlier this month because I was going to comment on a Veterans Post, but someone had already offered some good advice...so there was no point adding the same info.

I am really a just a lurker...who reads the forum every once in awhile. I only added my opinion on this...well...I just wanted someone to be polite and did not want the OP to feel bad.

Cheers-Katie

[Mack184]

I really doubt that anybody buys into TV on a whim. Very few people come here for any other reason except to retire. I'm guessing that people either visit or rent first and then make their decision to buy after some careful consideration. To buy into the concept of "The Viilages" is to buy into the vision and offering of Gary Morse & his organization.

Nobody has a gun to their heads to buy into TV. So it makes me wonder if someone has a serious problem with Gary Morse, his operations, his politics, his charitable giving and whatnot, WHY in the world would somebody buy in and thus enrich Gary Morse? It makes no sense. It's hypocritical.

If somebody's got a serious problem with how Gary Morse runs HIS empire, then there are lots of choices right within this area. Stonecrest..Spruce Creek South, Spruce Creek Golf Club, Legacy of Leesburg, Top Of The World and so on. None of these other communities as far as I know are CDD communities.

Del Webb was a rich man who built lots of 55+ retirement communities. Was he a bad man because he risked HIS capital to build? If not, then why does Gary Morse garner so much static for doing not only the same thing..but doing the same thing better? He risked HIS money, HIS name and HIS reputation to build this enterprise. So apparently HE does not deserve the financial reward for the risks HE took?

Gary personally may be a creep. He might be as much fun as a barrel of monkeys. Many people who are geniuses are VERY odd people. Many of them are not fun to talk to because they are obcessed with whatever it is that they are good at and can't talk about anything else. Had McDonalds been left to the operations of the McDonald brothers, it is likely that McDonalds would have been nothing more than a regional southern California burger chain. It took the vision of Ray Kroc to make McDonalds what it became. However, Ray Kroc was a miserable human being who had a bad habit of stealing the wives of his franchise owners. Gary's father may have started The Villages Project, but it took Gary's genius & vision to take the original Villages from a collection of small trailer parks into what it is today.

HE risked the capital, HE had the vision and HE put in the work to make it come to reality. HE gets to reap the rewards. As far as I can see he doesn't owe anybody an explanation of how much he makes, what he owns, what or what he does not give to charity or whether he wears boxers, briefs or goes commando.

[Bonny]

Originally Posted by Mack184

I really doubt that anybody buys into TV on a whim. Very few people come here for any other reason except to retire. I'm guessing that people either visit or rent first and then make their decision to buy after some careful consideration. To buy into the concept of "The Viilages" is to buy into the vision and offering of Gary Morse & his organization.

Nobody has a gun to their heads to buy into TV. So it makes me wonder if someone has a serious problem with Gary Morse, his operations, his politics, his charitable giving and whatnot, WHY in the world would somebody buy in and thus enrich Gary Morse? It makes no sense. It's hypocritical.

If somebody's got a serious problem with how Gary Morse runs HIS empire, then there are lots of choices right within this area. Stonecrest..Spruce Creek South, Spruce Creek Golf Club, Legacy of Leesburg, Top Of The World and so on. None of these other communities as far as I know are CDD communities.

Del Webb was a rich man who built lots of 55+ retirement communities. Was he a bad man because he risked HIS capital to build? If not, then why does Gary Morse garner so much static for doing not only the same thing..but doing the same thing better? He risked HIS money, HIS name and HIS reputation to build this enterprise. So apparently HE does not deserve the financial reward for the risks HE took?

Gary personally may be a creep. He might be as much fun as a barrel of monkeys. Many people who are geniuses are VERY odd people. Many of them are not fun to talk to because they are obcessed with whatever it is that they are good at and can't talk about anything else. Had McDonalds been left to the operations of the McDonald brothers, it is likely that McDonalds would have been nothing more than a regional southern California burger chain. It took the vision of Ray Kroc to make McDonalds what it became. However, Ray Kroc was a miserable human being who had a bad habit of stealing the wives of his franchise owners. Gary's father may have started The Villages Project, but it took Gary's genius & vision to take the original Villages from a collection of small trailer parks into what it is today.

HE risked the capital, HE had the vision and HE put in the work to make it come to reality. HE gets to reap the rewards. As far as I can see he doesn't owe anybody an explanation of how much he makes, what he owns, what or what he does not give to charity or whether he wears boxers, briefs or goes commando.

Hmmmmm. that commando part sounds interesting. Maybe I'll Google & see if I can find out what he does or doesn't wear.

[CFrance]

Originally Posted by Mack184

I really doubt that anybody buys into TV on a whim. Very few people come here for any other reason except to retire. I'm guessing that people either visit or rent first and then make their decision to buy after some careful consideration. To buy into the concept of "The Viilages" is to buy into the vision and offering of Gary Morse & his organization.

Nobody has a gun to their heads to buy into TV. So it makes me wonder if someone has a serious problem with Gary Morse, his operations, his politics, his charitable giving and whatnot, WHY in the world would somebody buy in and thus enrich Gary Morse? It makes no sense. It's hypocritical.

If somebody's got a serious problem with how Gary Morse runs HIS empire, then there are lots of choices right within this area. Stonecrest..Spruce Creek South, Spruce Creek Golf Club, Legacy of Leesburg, Top Of The World and so on. None of these other communities as far as I know are CDD communities.

Del Webb was a rich man who built lots of 55+ retirement communities. Was he a bad man because he risked HIS capital to build? If not, then why does Gary Morse garner so much static for doing not only the same thing..but doing the same thing better? He risked HIS money, HIS name and HIS reputation to build this enterprise. So apparently HE does not deserve the financial reward for the risks HE took?

Gary personally may be a creep. He might be as much fun as a barrel of monkeys. Many people who are geniuses are VERY odd people. Many of them are not fun to talk to because they are obcessed with whatever it is that they are good at and can't talk about anything else. Had McDonalds been left to the operations of the McDonald brothers, it is likely that McDonalds would have been nothing more than a regional southern California burger chain. It took the vision of Ray Kroc to make McDonalds what it became. However, Ray Kroc was a miserable human being who had a bad habit of stealing the wives of his franchise owners. Gary's father may have started The Villages Project, but it took Gary's genius & vision to take the original Villages from a collection of small trailer parks into what it is today.

HE risked the capital, HE had the vision and HE put in the work to make it come to reality. HE gets to reap the rewards. As far as I can see he doesn't owe anybody an explanation of how much he makes, what he owns, what or what he does not give to charity or whether he wears boxers, briefs or goes commando.

I agree. I also agree it is okay to Google the man to see what his charitable interests might be, or his other characteristics... the same way you would a politician so you could know as much as you possibly can about the man you are about to put your money/support with. You used to not be able to do this so easily before the internet. I think the web has helped people gain more knowledge, for their own personal good. And I will defend the right to gather information. If you are a person of integrity, you will not use it to anyone's detriment.

It's all out there on the web. You can hear about it on TV, read about it in People Magazine, or look it up on the internet. Nothing illegal about that, and we all should be careful what information we put out there.

And that's all I'm going to say on this subject.

[gerryann]

Originally Posted by Rc Moser

IMO Do you really think billionaire's give there money away? .

Yes, sometimes I think they do for no other reason than to feel good about themselves. A relative married into the family of one of the top billionaires in the country. His worth $3.1 Billion. He is extremely generous. Trips for the entire family around the globe, use of all yachts, gifts, etc, etc. I don't believe any is done for any reason other than personal satisfaction.

[Mikiem]

Originally Posted by gomoho

and just why would that be any of your business???

it's not any of my business, however i also am courious. I am a firm believer in helping others if at all possible.

[Lark7]

Frankly, what the Morse's do with their wealth is none of my business just as it is none of my concern as to what anyone does with their wealth. If one did know, then there would be a discussion as to the merits of any charitable contributions made by the family. Some seem to be curious because of the level of wealth but to me it is a matter of privacy. We should respect others' privacy just as we would want our own privacy respected by others. I am now stepping off the box.

[graciegirl]

Originally Posted by CFrance

I might like to contribute to some of the charities the Morses do because... well, they might be areas I am interested in, or I might like to support charities he is interested in because I think he has done a great job and I could join him in his areas of charitable interest.

There are many reasons why someone might Google what charities a wealthy person contributes to, and I don't think it's wrong to do so. In fact, I might try to find out if he supports anything in MI, since he's from there. I might find a charity in like to, since we have lived there since 1987 but didn't hear about him till we came down here.

JMHO

This was a much smaller place in 1987 and so was the place in Michigan that Gary Morse hailed from. His dad came I think from the Chicago area and he is the one that started the original trailer park.

No one really knows much about them, but it doesn't seem like the family were builders or civic planners or decorators or architects or Disney Dreamers.

Somehow they learned to do all of those things and built a much better mouse trap than anyone else. The quintessential American Dream. What we were all raised on.

What if the Morse family was just like our own family with pride in what they accomplished and could get their feelings hurt with these kinds of criticisms? What if they were REAL people and they read this forum. I think I would if I were them. No body knows. It seems just as mean Mickey to assume that they do NOT have feelings just because they have made a lot of money.

To me that is an ugly kind of jealousy and class envy and very mean indeed.

They have become VERY wealthy in the last ten years. They didn't stop being people.

[Cantwaittoarrive]

Originally Posted by mickey100

The question was raised in another thread about whether or not the Developer had made some contributions for the good of humanity as a whole such as building a new school or hospital which will not directly benefit themselves financially other than maybe being named after them. The post went on to say that maybe we would all feel better if we knew more about the generosity shown by the Developer when it did not directly benefit him/them.

I have never heard about the Morses supporting a charity, and am really curious if they do so. We hear so much about the 4 jets he owns, the multi million dollar yacht, his ownership of the Villages banks, local newspaper, a television channel and an AM radio station. His realty company controls 60 percent of the re-sale market in the Villages. He even owns the utility company. And before someone jumps in and says he deserves it all, he's such a wonderful businessman, don't bother. I agree - he knows his financial P's and Q's. That's not what this post is about. But why do we hear nothing about charitable contributions? The guy is supposedly worth $2.5 billion. If we Google other billionaires we see plenty of charity donations - look at Gates, Buffet. Bloomberg, Ted Turner, and others. But I can't come up with a single charitable donation from the Morses.

I don't know but in my book the fact that all of the people that work either directly or indirectly because of the developer is more than enough contribution. The family that created the dream that is TV has created more wealth for others than 99.9999% of the rest of us have.

[Trish Crocker]

Originally Posted by graciegirl

This was a much smaller place in 1987 and so was the place in Michigan that Gary Morse hailed from. His dad came I think from the Chicago area and he is the one that started the original trailer park.

No one really knows much about them, but it doesn't seem like the family were builders or civic planners or decorators or architects or Disney Dreamers.

Somehow they learned to do all of those things and built a much better mouse trap than anyone else. The quintessential American Dream. What we were all raised on.

What if the Morse family was just like our own family with pride in what they accomplished and could get their feelings hurt with these kinds of criticisms? What if they were REAL people and they read this forum. I think I would if I were them. No body knows. It seems just as mean Mickey to assume that they do NOT have feelings just because they have made a lot of money.

To me that is an ugly kind of jealousy and class envy and very mean indeed.

They have become VERY wealthy in the last ten years. They didn't stop being people.

Perfectly said Gracie!!!!

[justjim]

Originally Posted by mickey100

Thank you. How funny and sad, really, that a simple question about the Developer's philanthropy has raised such ire and meanness from "the friendly" Villagers.

Mickey I agree. Some of the comments are a bit harsh and I think you ask a good faith question out of curiosity. The Developer has given back to the community i.e. land for the schools and discounted land for churches that I've heard about. What else?? After all charity up to a point is a tax deduction and all good business people are looking for tax deductions. Give Mickey a break....

[Mack184]

Originally Posted by Rc Moser

IMO Do you really think billionaire's give there money away?

Ahh..where to start? First off in this form billionaires is a plural, not a possessive and does not need an apostrophy. The correct use of (there) is actually (their).

Well let's start the list...The family names of Vanderbilt, Rockefeller, Carnegie, Gates, Buffett, Turner, Ford, Meyerhoff & Wynn come to mind. Quite frankly is doesn't matter WHY they do it. The fact that they do it and the ultimate benefit to the people it goes to is the real matter. I don't exactly care about their political, social or personal reasons. Can your charitable giving equal the percentage of your wealth that these people have given away?

[Mack184]

Originally Posted by mickey100

Thank you. How funny and sad, really, that a simple question about the Developer's philanthropy has raised such ire and meanness from "the friendly" Villagers.

"Friendly Villagers" are reacting to a snide, mean-spirited question that was designed from the get-go to be another opportunity to bash Gary Morse. What Gary does or does not do with his money is 100% none of your business. You started the fire and now you're acting surprised that the fire is burning.

[justjim]

Originally Posted by Mack184

"Friendly Villagers" are reacting to a snide, mean-spirited question that was designed from the get-go to be another opportunity to bash Gary Morse. What Gary does or does not do with his money is 100% none of your business. You started the fire and now you're acting surprised that the fire is burning.

I don't think that OP was trying to "bash the Morse's"---- not at all. That is looking at the post from a negative point of view. By listing the "family" contributions to the Community could be considered something very positive IMHO. I don't see the point of "bashing" Mickey. And I might add----don't have any idea who "Mickey" might be.