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.

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

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. :1rotfl::1rotfl:

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

Perfectly said Gracie!!!!

:agree: 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....

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?

"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.