I wrote something similar. I agree. He could be doing so many good things, like all the other top billionaires. They would still make money, just not as much. This is a disease. In this kind of world, to be able to sleep at night while children die of starvation daily, while at the same time growing your own wealth by a degree of billions, is lunacy.
The thing is they just don't care. They lack empathy and genuinely don't care about those children. How else do you become that successful if you had a shred of morality?
He could rebuild so much of America's rail infrastructure, build proper California high speed rail. Not Hyperloop. But nah. Vapourware is the way to go.
This is a guy that paid $11,000,000,000 tax in 2021 alone and you're not happy with that, nor that he uses the actual money he gets to keep on investing in sending humans and commercial payloads into space, providing fast low latency internet to the entire world just for fun, revolutionising electric cars and all kinds of other stuff
Honestly, the disease is people looking at that and thinking 'we need to milk more out of him' rather than 'maybe I could do something myself'
Yes, that President. The one who has the authority to direct the US military, which controls Starshield's military operations.
Starshield's service to Ukraine was restricted under US military authority, not by Musk unilaterally deciding to switch off Starlink, or allegedly whispering in Trump's ear.
Musk supporting Trump politically doesn't somehow transfer presidential authority to Musk, nor authority over Starshield.
❌ Claim: He promised to donate half that amount to “solve world hunger,” and then reneged on that promise.
In late 2021 Musk tweeted that if the UN World Food Programme could describe on the Twitter thread exactly how $6 billion would solve world hunger (with open accounting), he would sell Tesla stock and do it.
WFP head David Beasley clarified that $6 billion would not end world hunger.
Musk did not continue the conversation, and did not renege on anything.
❌ Claim: The disease is called “hoarding.” At least that’s what we call it with literally anything other than money.
Obviously it's not a disease, also it's not hoarding as the money is not in some giant scrooge mcduck vault but is invested in companies he is growing.
And the disease is called "hoarding." At least that's what we call it with literally anything other than money.
Yeah but the dude is constantly reinvesting his monies into new things, new inventions and new companies, and many of those things end up doing extremely well, like Tesla and SpaceX, which directly contribute to his wealth as a return on those investments. That isn't exactly just simply hoarding money.
And the disease is called "hoarding." At least that's what we call it with literally anything other than money.
Yeah but the dude is constantly reinvesting his monies into new things, new inventions and new companies, and many of those things end up doing extremely well, like Tesla and SpaceX, which directly contribute to his wealth as a return on those investments. That isn't exactly just simply hoarding money.
It is though. His company reinvests money, not him.
Wrong. Both the companies he is affiliated with and Musk himself reinvests their money. Musk bought Twitter primarily from monies earned by selling stock he owned. That's a direct example of him reinvesting his own money.
This is a guy who promised to donate half that amount to "solve world hunger," and then reneged on that promise.
So what? People are free to change their mind, Musk included. I encourage others to consider changing their mind from time to time as well.
And the disease is called "hoarding." At least that's what we call it with literally anything other than money.
Yeah but the dude is constantly reinvesting his monies into new things, new inventions and new companies, and many of those things end up doing extremely well, like Tesla and SpaceX, which directly contribute to his wealth as a return on those investments. That isn't exactly just simply hoarding money.
You think that "buying things from other people" is the same as "reinvesting"?
Yes. Buying a publicly traded company through stock is indeed an investment, and using monies earned from stock previously bought or owned from other companies is indeed reinvesting that money.
Interesting take. I've never seen that one before.
Yeah, people should do NOTHING with their money but help the poor, I agree!!
How many people spend money and time on thins like birthday gifts for loved ones or going to see a movie, or getting a pizza with friends instead of spending that money to help poor people more?
Are you? How much tax did you pay this year to fund essential services, Musk paid $11billion in 2021, how close are you to that? Quite far off? Perhaps you should get a job then and start giving all your money away, who knows if everyone does it it might come close
Does that even cover what his companies get in government money?
He is not the hand that feeds, none of his companies needs him. He is not an engineer, no a programmer, doesn’t build and I doubt that he would be able to mop the floors. I am absolutely convinced all his companies would be better off without him. Especially since twitter and ketamine deep fried his brain a few years ago.
It more than covers what his companies get in subsidies.
Remember that a lot of government money he receives is literally in exchange for services, eg space launches, ISS work, etc.
And most of the other subsidy money is something you benefit from as well, there is a reason America is such a powerhouse of the world, and part of it is that it encourages entrepreneurship through subsidies to ensure these companies work and invest in America and don't simply leave and go elsewhere.
He is an engineer and a programmer.
The fact you think he can't even mop the floors yet has built an empire making him the richest man who has ever lived suggests that you are a bit of a fool.
I doubt it. Especially thanks to all those tax cuts.
He is neither, he is an investor who was born rich and bought good ideas and there is probably a reason why everything he touched has failed for years now. Be it the cybertruck or doge or the roadster or twitter or xAI or …
Obviously not working hard enough, or smart enough, come on pay piggy, earn more to pay for society, children are literally dying of starvation and here you are shitposting on reddit when you could be earning more money to pay for them.
Pretending you're not in a position to give money away, uh huh, are you literally scrabbling in the dirt, no, so get working
please dont make him out to be altruistic just because he pays what he is required to...by law..
If he pays what is required by law, as you have also done, what exactly is the problem? Where is his obligation to pay more? That's not saying he is altruistic, but him not volunteering more tax payments doesn't make him evil. Nevermind those tax payments are billions of dollars.
So Musk pays his legally required taxes, to the tune of billions of dollars, and you even acknowledge he has no obligation to give more. Yet somehow he's evil because he doesn't voluntarily spend his remaining wealth solving the world's problems?
That's quite the moral standard. Apparently paying billions in taxes isn't enough unless you personally eradicate world hunger afterward.
And Musk didn't personally engineer the car you're complaining about. Tesla has engineers who design and develop its vehicles. But sure, let's pretend every engineering project is Musk playing with his personal piggy bank instead of a company employing people to build products.
The argument is that the law doesn't tax people fairly because the richest have been getting tax cuts since Reagan. The richest people pay too little un comparison to what they earn (when they aren't comitting tax evasion).
Billions is absolutely nothing to trillions. And these people use that money to fuck over us workers. Stop batting for trillionaires.
If you think the wealthy should be taxed more, that's an argument for changing the tax laws. It doesn't establish that someone complying with those laws is doing something wrong.
And billions in taxes doesn't suddenly become "nothing" because someone's wealth is measured in larger numbers.
I'm not arguing that Musk is altruistic or that tax policy is perfect. I'm questioning the idea that someone is morally obligated to voluntarily surrender more of their wealth simply because they have it.
Disagreeing with that doesn't mean I'm "batting for trillionaires."
Yeah, pretty much. People are big mad at the bad, evil billionaire, who... checks notes.. pays his legally required share of billions in taxes, shares this publicly as well, but it still isn't enough, because he has more he could give... to taxes?
Why doesn't Musk solve world hunger or something more useful?! /s
So you're comparing people buying whole fucking governments as oposed to helping out the poor to being equal to buying presents for loved ones? What kind of level ar you at, bro? Get out from under that rock and catch some sun, damn.
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u/sedativumxnx 7h ago
I wrote something similar. I agree. He could be doing so many good things, like all the other top billionaires. They would still make money, just not as much. This is a disease. In this kind of world, to be able to sleep at night while children die of starvation daily, while at the same time growing your own wealth by a degree of billions, is lunacy.