Re: Facebook, Google, et al
Posted: Fri Nov 11, 2022 10:48 am
...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?
wait, so the utility of a billionaire is...making money?Mjl wrote: ↑Fri Nov 11, 2022 11:36 am 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.
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 wrote: ↑Fri Nov 11, 2022 11:38 am 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.
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.
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).ousdahl wrote: ↑Fri Nov 11, 2022 11:43 amwait, so the utility of a billionaire is...making money?Mjl wrote: ↑Fri Nov 11, 2022 11:36 am 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.
I guess my question should be, why was what was presented NOT solving world hunger?
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.ousdahl wrote: ↑Fri Nov 11, 2022 12:19 pm 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...
forgive me if I failed to effectively distinguish "solving" from "helping combat." But speaking of such rhetorical bullshit, sweet semantics argument bro.Mjl wrote: ↑Fri Nov 11, 2022 12:32 pmYou don't donate money just for tax write-offs, that makes no sense, you end up with way less money than you started with.ousdahl wrote: ↑Fri Nov 11, 2022 12:19 pm 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...
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.
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.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.