Facebook, Google, et al

[ousdahl]

...and have we discussed this was after he flaked on plans to put $6 billion toward eradicating world hunger, or should we take that to the evil rich people thread?

[Mjl]

He didn't really flake on that. He said he'd do it if someone showed him how. What was presented was very much not solving world hunger for $6 billion. So he didn't give the $6 billion

[ousdahl]

ah.

I still don't think he deserves a pass tho.

Why's he gotta wait on what someone else presented? Why can't he just use that ridiculous fortune and that big brain of his to figure out how to fix world hunger on his own?

[MICHHAWK]

Why's he gotta wait on what someone else presented? Why can't he just use that ridiculous fortune and that big brain of his to figure out how to fix world hunger on his own?

you could say the same for every billionaire.

[ousdahl]

hey look you guys, even mich is starting to get it!

[Mjl]

There's organizations entirely dedicated to fighting hunger. They would be in a better place to devise a solution. When they have that, billionaires, who specialize in making money, can help with that part. Saying he's rich so he should know everything is just... childish.

[StayCurious]

All those tech companies are struggling because the advertising money is no longer there. This isn't 2021 where currency was created and everyone falsely thought we had thriving economy.

[ousdahl]

There's organizations entirely dedicated to fighting hunger. They would be in a better place to devise a solution. When they have that, billionaires, who specialize in making money, can help with that part. Saying he's rich so he should know everything is just... childish.

wait, so the utility of a billionaire is...making money?

I guess my question should be, why was what was presented NOT solving world hunger?

[ousdahl]

All those tech companies are struggling because the advertising money is no longer there. This isn't 2021 where currency was created and everyone falsely thought we had thriving economy.

at least with twitter, isn't a big reason why the advertising money is no longer there is cuz advertisers put their budgets on pause out of concern Musk wasn't doing enough to counter hate speech and misinformation?

[StayCurious]

at least with twitter, isn't a big reason why the advertising money is no longer there is cuz advertisers put their budgets on pause out of concern Musk wasn't doing enough to counter hate speech and misinformation?

Partly true. The woke police have a part in this, but it's much larger than that. Facebook just cut another 11,000 jobs this week.

[ousdahl]

tell us more about the woke police!

[ousdahl]

and Facebook may be a whole different beast.

They've been trending downward for a while ever since the rebrand to Meta (which seemed to try to distract from all the other PR issues), privacy concerns, security concerns, antitrust concerns, product innovation concerns, failure to attract new users, a business model that seemed to rely on infinite growth that suddenly encountered a finite number of users...the whole thing has been a mess for a while.

I think maybe the whole drop in ad revenue might be some chicken/egg thing.

[MICHHAWK]

do you care if the big social medias monsters are struggling financially.

i don't.

[Mjl]

There's organizations entirely dedicated to fighting hunger. They would be in a better place to devise a solution. When they have that, billionaires, who specialize in making money, can help with that part. Saying he's rich so he should know everything is just... childish.

wait, so the utility of a billionaire is...making money?

I guess my question should be, why was what was presented NOT solving world hunger?

Because the proposal specifically admitted it would not solve world hunger? There is a massive, massive difference between what Elon offered (will donate $6 billion if you show me how $6 billion will solve world hunger) and the actual proposal ($6.6 billion to help combat hunger in the short term for 42 million people).

And, he did donate nearly $6 billion (https://fortune.com/2022/02/15/elon-mus ... ld-hunger/).

[ousdahl]

to whom, exactly, did he donate that nearly $6 billion? Why does the headline say it's "mysterious?"

I can dig the "do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing" sorta sentiment, but I think it's also possible that whatever he did donate that nearly $6 billion to was done out of concern for little more than his own interests (tax write-offs?)

And man, to be able to help feed "only" 42 million people...

[MICHHAWK]

up until elon musk bought tweeter. he was the greatest person since sliced bread. now that he owns tweeter, he bad.

[Deleted User 863]

LOL @ tax write offs being a main concern of Musk for his charitable contributions.

[Mjl]

to whom, exactly, did he donate that nearly $6 billion? Why does the headline say it's "mysterious?"

I can dig the "do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing" sorta sentiment, but I think it's also possible that whatever he did donate that nearly $6 billion to was done out of concern for little more than his own interests (tax write-offs?)

And man, to be able to help feed "only" 42 million people...

You don't donate money just for tax write-offs, that makes no sense, you end up with way less money than you started with.

And if you want to make a point, make it. There is a massive, massive difference between "solving" world hunger and "helping combat" world hunger. You are the one who framed it as him not following through with what he said. When it was brought up that that's completely inaccurate, you moved the goalposts. So typical of every argument I hear from any far right or far lefty. Such rhetorical bullshit.

[Deleted User 863]

Q needs to read up on how tax write
offs for charitable contributions work.

[ousdahl]

to whom, exactly, did he donate that nearly $6 billion? Why does the headline say it's "mysterious?"

I can dig the "do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing" sorta sentiment, but I think it's also possible that whatever he did donate that nearly $6 billion to was done out of concern for little more than his own interests (tax write-offs?)

And man, to be able to help feed "only" 42 million people...

You don't donate money just for tax write-offs, that makes no sense, you end up with way less money than you started with.

And if you want to make a point, make it. There is a massive, massive difference between "solving" world hunger and "helping combat" world hunger. You are the one who framed it as him not following through with what he said. When it was brought up that that's completely inaccurate, you moved the goalposts. So typical of every argument I hear from any far right or far lefty. Such rhetorical bullshit.

forgive me if I failed to effectively distinguish "solving" from "helping combat." But speaking of such rhetorical bullshit, sweet semantics argument bro.

after Musk very publicly brought attention to the fact he would make the donation toward solving/helping to combat world hunger, why would he then turn around and work in some quiet way about it?

After the long list of criticisms Musk has brought upon himself for questionable ethics (among other issues), why would such an attention-starved guy turn a charitable publicity stunt into some mysterious act? DID he help to feed 42 million people? Are we supposed to give him the benefit of the doubt?

from the link in your link:

The world’s richest man donated more than 5 million shares in the electric automaker from Nov. 19 to Nov. 29, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The gift was worth about $5.7 billion, based on average prices the days he sold the stock, making it one of the biggest to a charity in history. An unidentified trust was involved in the transaction, and the name of the charity wasn’t cited in the document.

The donation occurred as Musk, Tesla’s chief executive officer, battled with politicians including Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren over inequality and a potential wealth levy. Around the same time, Musk suggested he’d sell stock if the United Nations could prove it would help solve world hunger after the head of the organization’s food-aid arm suggested billionaires like Musk should “step up now, on a one-time basis.”

A large gift to charity last year would help reduce what Musk claimed would be the biggest tax bill in U.S. history. Bloomberg calculated in December that Musk could owe more than $10 billion to the Internal Revenue Service, triggered by his exercise of an unusually large number of options in 2021.

Musk has an eponymous foundation that’s become more active over recent years, with large, eight-figure gifts promised to the city near his South Texas spaceport, a $100 million competition for carbon removal and $5 million to two scientists for COVID-19 research. Before then, his foundation’s largest contributions were to donor-advised funds, or DAFs, where charitable money can sit in perpetuity.

The Musk Foundation, which used to count Musk’s brother Kimbal as a director, has recently added a new face to its roster. Several grant recipients Bloomberg spoke with have said their primary point of contact at the foundation is Igor Kurganov, a professional poker player-turned-philanthropist who is active in the effective altruism space.

I guess what I struggle to believe is, if Musk really DID do anything that noble after being called out, he just strikes me more as the kinda guy who would toot his own horn for doing so and rub the act in the faces of his critics, rather than just go about it mysteriously.

Given his reputation (heads up Mich but Musk has been accused of being bad about all sorts of things for years before he owned Twitter), I just think it's more likely a dood like him making a mysterious donation is prob more self-serving than altruistic.