Musk creates "Troll charity": donating money is not to improve personal voice

According to foreign media reports, the rich usually invest part of their huge wealth in charity, but they often have their own purpose, that is, to help improve their personal reputation. For example, Jeff Bezos, the former world's richest man, donated to the food bank and homeless families. At the same time, he also promised to spend $10 billion to fight climate change. however, the current world's richest man Elon Musk He adopted a different strategy. Recently, he had a public quarrel with WFP officials on Twitter and said: "if the WFP can accurately describe how $6 billion will solve the problem of world hunger, I will sell Tesla's shares and donate now." in addition, he launched an online survey to ask fans whether they should sell 10% of Tesla's shares in order to pay taxes for some of his wealth. Of course, some people insist that musk is changing society in other ways, including operating electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla and Rocket Company SpaceX, which are already helping to improve human living environment. Urban Research Institute Benjamin soskis, senior research assistant of the non profit and charity center of the Urban Institute, believes that musk is building "Troll charity". He points out: "Musk seems very interested in this novel method. He doesn't seem to care much about using his charity to please the public. In fact, he seems more willing to use his status as a philanthropist to annoy the public to some extent." most of the rich do the opposite of musk. They usually use charity as a means to enhance their image, or distract the public from their business behavior of earning huge wealth. When, how and why the super rich choose to donate their wealth is more important than ever, because so much money is concentrated in their hands, not their own Under the current rules, only a small part of the money needs to be taxed. To some extent, society has fallen into the quagmire of relying on the voluntary payment of the rich. Homi Kharas, a senior researcher at the center for sustainable development of the Brookings Institution in Washington, said: "New philanthropy, that is, someone has enough money to influence something around the world, is a very new phenomenon. Most billionaires have accumulated their wealth because the world economy has been globalized, but to maintain the globalized world economy, we need more inclusive growth." there are also many different types of donors, such as Bezos's ex-wife Mackenzie Scott, who donated billions of dollars to support diversity and fairness; self proclaimed "efficient altruists", such as Facebook co-founder Dustin moskovitz and his wife Carrie tuna , they participated in a campaign to find conclusive evidence to maximize their donations. There are also traditional donors, such as Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and media giant Michael Bloomberg , they have set up special agencies to deal with their own donations. musk and Bezos have become the two richest super rich in the United States with $268 billion and $2020 billion respectively, but their ways of giving back to society are in sharp contrast. earlier this year, Bezos and Amina J. Mohammed, Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations On the stage together, listening to the praise of former US Secretary of State John Kerry, who said: "Bezos is coming forward in a way that many capable people can't do." Meanwhile, musk replied to a tweet from U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders: "I've always forgotten that you're still alive." Sanders had previously asked "the super rich to pay their tax bill". Musk's unconventional donation did not prevent people who need Musk's donation, such as World Food Program Director David Beasley, from seeking his help. Soskis said: "The resources at Musk's disposal are so huge and may have a significant impact. If we want to put some pressure on him to shape his somewhat immature charitable priorities, we must contact him and accept some of his provocations." however, the idea that "donation helps improve reputation" may be only partially correct. Donors are sometimes praised, but high popularity often means that their motives and actions are questioned. < Beth breeze, author of in defense of charity, said: "If you put your head over the charity railing and say 'I'm interested in the environment' or any charity field, people will start to question this." Bretz refuted the recent trend of criticizing philanthropists. She said that philanthropists are often described as "tax evasion, conceited and annoying". Criticizing them may be rewarded, but there are few comments that she believes are useful for the greater good. Bretz said: "What I care about is not whether the rich can withstand these criticisms. They should be able to take care of themselves. What I worry about is whether the donations will dry up." Troll philanthropists may be more likely to be the target of criticism. However, the usual way of donation can not break the public's doubts. there are several different schools of criticism for different types of donors. There is a view that philanthropy is another means of using wealth to consolidate power and influence. Large donations are often compared with the total net assets of donors Donations to cultural institutions such as the Metropolitan Museum of art and Ivy League schools are now often criticized because they contribute to the status quo. Even after the fire at Notre Dame in Paris, donations received for the reconstruction of the church have been strongly questioned. technocrats donate Set strict benchmarks and set strict restrictions on how to use their money. These institutions are labeled with control and hierarchy. In contrast, unrestricted donation is praised by many as the best method. in February this year, the chronicle of charity listed Bezos as the "top 50" in 2020The philanthropist topped the list, although most of his donations were due to his commitment of $10 billion to the Bezos earth fund, which has just started operation. This is a bit like Barack Obama's unexpected Nobel Peace Prize less than a year as president, because it seems to strengthen criticism rather than weaken it but after a slow donation, Bezos began to look like a good student. He donated $100 million to the food bank of the United States and $100 million to the Obama foundation. The outflow of funds from the Bezos earth fund is also faster. Just over the past week, he announced another 44 grants worth $443 million to groups working on issues such as climate justice and protection, part of a $10 billion commitment musk himself seemed to adopt a seemingly traditional way of donation at first. He founded musk foundation in 2002 and signed a non binding "donation pledge" in 2012, promising to donate half of his wealth. As of June 2020, musk foundation has donated slightly less than US $3 million to nine organizations, most of which are related to education, and US $20 million to fidelity chartered. Fidelity charity runs a fund for donor advice, which critics say can be used as a parking lot for charitable funds. By the end of the fiscal year, the musk foundation had nearly $1 billion available since then, musk has announced US $150 million, including US $100 million carbon emission reduction Innovation Award and US $30 million to non-profit organizations in the Grand Valley, South Texas. This may be because of legal requirements, or it may be a new way of charity. The tax law requires private foundations to allocate about 5% of their donations each year charity commentator Rhodri Davies said: "the special obstacle faced by donors with scientific and technological background is that they not only think that their talents make them good at what they are doing, but also think that their business behavior makes society better." For example, musk once said that landing humans on Mars through SpaceX is an important contribution, and firmly opposed the billionaire tax at the same time, Halas believes that it is necessary to actively interpret Musk's exchanges with WFP officials. He may really want to know how the money will be used and publicly publish his due diligence work on twitter. "I think his willingness to participate is really good and his response is wise," carlas of the Brookings Institution said of musk (small)

2023-03-22 10:04:47

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