Wait until they hear about what Bill Gates does these days.
Most people who are angry about one are angry about the other too, everyone knows it's a tax avoidance scheme
Musk’s $5.7B Mystery Gift Went to His Own Charity
81–90 of 343 posts
Re: Musk’s $5.7B Mystery Gift Went to His Own Charity
#82Earlier quoted context omitted.
And can’t be clawed back in bankruptcy. Great way to preserve wealth
You're by definitions giving it away. It does nothing to preserve your own wealth even if it goes to a charity you control. It's no longer your wealth and unless you want to do something illegal its not coming back to you and can't benefit you.
> It's no longer your wealth and unless you want to do something illegal its not coming back to you and can't benefit you.
This is peak naivity - you are totally wrong.
Exanple one - charity can make political donations. Example two - can hire lobbyists. Example three - it can buy voting shares in companies you want to control. Example four - it can hire your family members or friends and pay them salaries.
Re: Musk’s $5.7B Mystery Gift Went to His Own Charity
#83Earlier quoted context omitted.
All true and a perfectly valid model. But also try: If I were incredibly wealthy and obsessed with running the score up, I’d see any taxes or other loss of wealth as a threat to my ego. If my tax accountants came to me and said I could have a greater net worth by founding a charity optimized for my personal benefit, I’d happily shuffle money there rather than paying taxes. I think that’s also a valid model. I don’t h…
I think he's probably optimizing for both. Don't hate the player, hate the game.
“In a rich man's house there is no place to spit but his face.”
― Diogenes of Sinope
Re: Musk’s $5.7B Mystery Gift Went to His Own Charity
#84If I had money to donate I'd donate it to the charity I thought would be most effective at helping the cause I cared most about. If I had enough money to create my own charity it would be focused on the cause I cared most about. My giant ego and hubris would make it hard for me to come to the conclusion that a charity I created wasn't the most effective at its goals, even if that didn't happen to be the case.
tbh it's even more of a non-story than that, because his "own charity" is a donor advised foundation that openly dispenses money to a wide range of completely independent charities and charitable causes he and his brother pick (many of them quite well known and well regarded), not some secretive organization with some obscure purpose that might just be an arm of one of his corporations or a place to hide wealth from…
There's a sibling comment to this by @Someone1234 that explicitly contradicts this:
> The Musk Foundation in particular has donated less than 1% of the "charities" assets (most donations less than $500K, most years less than $1M)
Re: Musk’s $5.7B Mystery Gift Went to His Own Charity
#85This reads like a hit piece, and a poorly executed attempt if so. This is standard practice and not uncommon. If we’re going to excoriate billionaires for putting their name on a foundation, shouldn’t Gates, DeVos, and others also be held to the same scrutiny? The article throws in an SBF comparison simply because both parties support the same brand of altruism.
yes
Re: Musk’s $5.7B Mystery Gift Went to His Own Charity
#86Earlier quoted context omitted.
And can’t be clawed back in bankruptcy. Great way to preserve wealth
You're by definitions giving it away. It does nothing to preserve your own wealth even if it goes to a charity you control. It's no longer your wealth and unless you want to do something illegal its not coming back to you and can't benefit you.
You can be employed by your own charity. Your own charity can provide you housing, cars, etc. even your vacation and travel can be paid for by your charity.
Re: Musk’s $5.7B Mystery Gift Went to His Own Charity
#87Re: Musk’s $5.7B Mystery Gift Went to His Own Charity
#88Re: Musk’s $5.7B Mystery Gift Went to His Own Charity
#89Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think he's probably optimizing for both. Don't hate the player, hate the game.
I don’t see how a charity can be simultaneously optimized for benefiting its founder and also benefiting people other than its founder. Different goals, different choices. Unless you’re suggesting that Musk is such an egomaniac that he thinks the best thing a charity can do is help him personally?
One could argue that he wants the charity to be good just because of the "prestige" of having a top charity, and that would be helping personally I guess.
Not sure how putting money in a charity would make him more money even with tax breaks than just investing that money somewhere else, although I got no clue how charity tax breaks work in the US,
Re: Musk’s $5.7B Mystery Gift Went to His Own Charity
#90Earlier quoted context omitted.
Donating $5.7B to save an absolute max (37% tax bracket; he's probably much lower with most income via capital gains) of about $2.1B in taxes doesn't make financial sense, unless you've got a plan to siphon off at least $3.6B tax-free out of the charity. Why do people think a $1B donation saves $1B in tax?
That money doesnt dissapear - it is still avaliable for lobbying, hiring staff and doing many other things.
Or funding research projects that will benefit you indirectly