Inside the Ownership Society

Summit in Detroit

I wasn't invited and couldn't have afforded the $ 1,500 registration fee if I was. But more than 60 of "smartest guys in the room" will speak at the Detroit Economic Club's National Summit, set for June 15-17 at the Detroit Marriott Renaissance Center. The topic--how to improve America's competitive position in the global economy with plenty to offer on public school reform. Citigroup Inc. CEO Vikram Pandit will keynote. Other chief executives planning to take part are: Harold McGraw III, of McGraw-Hill, and Steven Ballmer of Microsoft Corp. The summit is co-chaired by Ford Motor Co. Executive Chairman Bill Ford and Dow Chemical Co. Chief Executive Andrew Liveris. Jim Shelton will represent the DOE.

Several groups are planning to hold a People's Summit, including a "Tent City" outside the Renaissance Center.

Gates fund takes in $10.4m in donations

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's annual report says it brought in $10.4 million in individual donations in 2008, without even trying. That doesn't even count new money from Warren Buffett, who gave the world's richest foundation's trust about $1.8 billion worth of Berkshire Hathaway stock last year. Gates people say, "it's not right to say yes to Buffett and no to everyone else" who wanted to throw money at us. (AP Wire).

Good Tweet

Gates says it's not small schools but it's effective teaching. I ask why either/or? Why not both? http://bit.ly/lDWCu (Tiomikel).

Gates abandoned small schools -- But not me!

Check out these Victoria, Texas grads
Or this small alternative in Portland

Kopp on Gates

TFA founder Wendy Kopp spoke recently at the Washington University commencement and offered gave us a glimpse into the top-down, save-the-world mentality of the power philanthropist:

A couple of years ago, Bill Gates gave a commencement speech in which he shared his regret with his professors at Harvard — which he attended for one year — that he hadn't been exposed to societal inequities earlier so that he would have had time to truly solve them. (Record)