as of 07-01-21 Elon Musk tops list of billionaires

[CYXR 257]

1 Elon R Musk $195B 
2 Jeff Bezos $185B 
3 Bill Gates $134B 
4 Bernard Arnault $116B 
5 Mark Zuckerberg $102B 
6 Zhong Shanshan $93.1B 
7 Warren Buffett $88.2B 
8 Larry Page $83.6B 
9 Sergey Brin $81.0B 
10 Larry Ellison $80.0B 

https://www.bloomberg.com/billionaires/

 

 

[martin-w 3,234]

I like the fact that the richest man on the planet wants to get us to mars and assist in the transition to renewable energy.

 

[W2DR 1,859]

Who cares who has how much money these guys have? With all that's going on in the world I can't believe anyone pays any attention to this WNA............

Edited January 8, 2021 by W2DR
kant spel

[HighBypass 2,339]

I don't like the fact that no.5 thinks he a publisher and not a platform and tries to censor everything NOT in his narrative...

[martin-w 3,234]

26 minutes ago, W2DR said:

Who cares who has how much money these guys have? With all that's going on in the world I can't believe anyone pays any attention to this WNA............

 

I care. Because that enormous wealth can be used for good or bad. As I said, I like the fact that the richest man on the planet is using that wealth for laudable endeavours.

[W2DR 1,859]

So let's talk about how much these guys give, not how much they are "worth". For many years I  worked for, what was then, the largest corporation in the world. And I can assure you that we, the employees, collectively gave far more for "laudable endeavors" than these folks ever will. And I'm sure the employees of the major corporations in the world are doing the same today. But have you ever seen list of the good these corporations have done? So I say again, who cares about how much these guys are worth?

[Patco Lch 1,464]

Just think. Like all of us the day will come when they own nothing more then the box they're laying in and the dirt on top of them. In that point all men are truly created equal.  

[Fielder 3,644]

Praise Bezos. Earned his money the old fashioned way, by giving great customer service. Now other sellers are doing likewise, in order to compete.  Walton and Bezos focused on putting the customer first and those two establishments became the big retail giants. Good on them, I hope they get much wealthier.

Elon Musk is a crazy genius, sort of a modern day Tesla.

[W2DR 1,859]

Nikola Tesla contributed more to the world as we know it today than Elon Musk will ever do for those of us who will follow. There is a vast gap between genius applied and Wall Street made.

[Fielder 3,644]

[Swe_Richard 1,172]

Yeah, could hardly care less about who owns the most fiat money. As someone said; we are all equal before the reaper. 

 

 

Would like a Tesla Model 3 Performance, though... 

[CYXR 257]

2 hours ago, PATCO LCH said:

Just think. Like all of us the day will come when they own nothing more then the box they're laying in and the dirt on top of them. In that point all men are truly created equal.  

I wish... I`ll be in a governmental box on government property. 

[dave2013 1,123]

19 minutes ago, Rob_Ainscough said:

So you must really hate AVSIM 😉  hehe ... just about every website (especially the free ones) have the right to control the narrative.  I removed myself from Facebook many moons ago when I discovered they lied about the data they collect and sell ... such specifics of what they sell were NOT listed in the Privacy and Usage terms.

Perhaps the better option is to research any narrative for credibility and facts and follow the white rabbit.  If the narrative can't be validated (i.e. just hearsay, opinion, no document trail, faked, no independent methodology to verify, etc.), then it's just that, a narrative and not a fact.  The narrative can become dangerous when someone wants to believe the narrative without using common sense or due diligence to discover if it's fact or fiction.  Facts are discoverable (may take some work but possible), fiction is not.

Sadly many (certainly not the majority) in today's narrative seem to feel that Freedom means "free to make stuff up" and "free to have no accountability" and "free to do whatever one wants" ... that's not how a society works and there is no place on this planet were such a concept can exist (sorry all Islands have been claimed and even those are under a government's rule of law).

I don't have a problem with rich people or people making money.  I do have a problem with how some make their money and then use the benefits of being in a society but don't pay taxes for the things they use in a society (like roads, lights, fire stations, police, hospitals, power distribution, water distribution, schools/education, sewage, airports, military as "defense", etc. etc.).  

As far as Elon Musk, I'm certain his mission is to setup a colony in space/moon/mars of which he will control who can be a member and the qualifications necessary ... of course this is just my narrative. 🙂

Cheers, Rob.

I agree with most of what you said here, but consider:

Yes, websites have the right to allow/disallow people to use their forums, to control the narrative, and to censor whom they wish.  However, the question is do they have the right to discriminate, i.e. allow certain messages to be posted and not others because they disagree with the message(this excludes messages that incite violence, racism, hate, etc.).  Should Facebook and Twitter be allowed to do this?  The question is not so simple as there are other legal issues involved such as the definition of a publisher vs just being a neutral forum.

I had a debate recently with a guy who is an ardent libertarian.  He believes that any business should be allowed to discriminate for any reason they wish.  So, for example, a restaurant should be able to refuse service based on your ethnicity.  I don't agree as I think society has to have limits and rules that by their nature infringe on one's freedom, but he vehemently disagreed.

Personally, I think that Facebook, Twitter, etc. should be able to censor whomever they want.  What I want to see are alternatives to those platforms so that they do not end up with a monopoly.  We cannot allow a few media companies to control our speech.

As far as "the truth" is concerned, well, it is increasingly elusive IMO.  You would think that with all the technology and means of communication at our disposal we would easily be able to ferret out the facts, but I find that it is getting harder and harder to know what is true.  There are so many competing narratives and each side has their own facts to back up their claims.  Yes, with enough work one can eventually discover the truth, but how many of us have the time to devote to such in depth research on every issue?  The Press is supposed to do a lot of this for us, but the reputation of the Press has been declining for decades, and many don't trust the news media any more as they have proven themselves to be biased on many issues.

Totally agree with you on the tax issue.  It is absurd that enormously wealthy folks and companies can end up with a tax rate that is lower than middle-class rates due to special tax breaks and rules.

Maybe the way forward will be to let unbiased, unemotional, impartial, agenda-less AI computers decide many issues for us, kind of like Dr. Theopolis in Buck Rogers.

Dave

[W2DR 1,859]

3 hours ago, CYXR said:

I wish... I`ll be in a governmental box on government property. 

If things keep going like they have been we're all going to end up in a governmental box. So, you won't be alone 🙂

[martin-w 3,234]

17 hours ago, W2DR said:

So let's talk about how much these guys give, not how much they are "worth". For many years I  worked for, what was then, the largest corporation in the world. And I can assure you that we, the employees, collectively gave far more for "laudable endeavors" than these folks ever will. 

 

You the employee isn't hell bent on getting us to Mars though. Something we need in order to provide a presence somewhere other than just the Earth. When the big rock comes, or we ourselves complete our sabotage of the natural environment, we need a presence elsewhere. It could be the diference between the human race ceasing to exist, or continuing its existence. This is the laudable endeavour I was obviously talking about and what he GIVES. And why I'm interested in WHO has the wealth and WHAT they intend to do with it.

As for more conventional laudable endeavors, Musk tells us his plan is to donate half his wealth to charitable organisations.

Bezo's has donated $10 Billion to fight climate change. He's also topping the list for 2020 charitable donations. He's far from perfect in terms of the way his employees are treated and the avoidance of tax of course. 

 

Edited January 9, 2021 by martin-w