According to a report released by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on February 14, Tesla founder Elon Musk donated 5.044 million tesla shares to a charity between November 19 and November 29 last year.
The document does not disclose which charity it is, only that it "represents a gift of goodwill from donors to charitable organizations."
During that time, Tesla's stock price basically fluctuated around $1137. Combined with the closing price of the five donation dates, the total value of these 5.044 million shares is approximately $5.74 billion.
Whether it is the amount of money or the time of donation, it is difficult not to think of the "forced donation door" incident that once made a lot of noise last year.
Musk's "extravagant donation" of some "social cattle" may be the same as last year's "angry throwing" tesla stock, which not only attracted attention, but also did not suffer losses.
01
"Forced Donation Gate"
On January 19 last year, David Beasley, executive director of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), tweeted Musk, "To celebrate your ascension to the world's richest man, we now offer you a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to save 42 million people with $6.6 billion." ”
For just $6.6 billion, it can save 42 million starving refugees, not only to be praised by the world, but also to win the Nobel Peace Prize, and even to be worshipped as a god by a tribe deep in the jungle.
How, isn't it cost-effective?
More than half a year later, on October 26, while participating in a CNN talk show, the older brother talked about the new crown epidemic and climate change, which may aggravate the global famine problem. But the WFP may not be funded by next year, so hopefully the super-rich will come forward.
At this point, it is actually not strange.
The problem is that Brother David specifically named Musk and Bezos and asked them to make "one-time reinforcement" donations.
Then I calculated that Musk's net worth at that time was about $300 billion, and 6 billion was only 2%.
"You built 500,000 cars last year, and we saved more than 100 million people from famine; you only know how to make cars, and we know how to save refugees."
Listening to its tone, it is not like there is no money, but it is like eating.
The two sides quickly turned against each other.
Musk responded that WFP raised $8.4 billion in 2020, how come it didn't solve the boundary problem? Why do you think that my 6 billion can be solved?
And quickly forwarded a 2015 message: in 2014, UN peacekeepers sexually abused children in the Central African Republic, only mouth, only rations.
He also added his own comment: What's going on here?
This is undoubtedly cursing.
He then added, "If $6 billion can solve the global famine problem, I will immediately sell Tesla stock to donate this money." But WFP must use open and transparent accounting methods so that all people can see how the money is spent. ”
David replied directly to Musk on Twitter, saying that with your help, we can build a better famine solution. The details are so complicated that I can come to your house for an interview, and if I don't like to listen, you can throw me out.
It can be said that it is very embarrassing, how can this kind of thing be discussed in someone else's house?
Musk didn't pick up.
However, after holding back for 3 weeks, WFP really put the plan to solve the famine problem on the official website. Look at the following figure, the content is these 4, no.
This kind of plan, which is at most an outline, was actually placed on the official website by the Eight Classics of Zheng'er. It's hard to imagine that WFP, with 17,000 employees, took three weeks to make such a thing.
Originally, after such a long time, Musk did not respond, and everyone slowly forgot about this matter. But unexpectedly, Musk actually donated so much money in private, which suddenly provoked people's nerves.
Philanthropy is certainly a good thing, and if WFP can really solve the famine problem of 42 million people this time, musk will inevitably gain a higher prestige and be recorded in history as another identity besides capitalists.
But the question is, will people appreciate it?
02
Robbing the rich to help the poor?
As the saying goes, there are clouds, saving a person's life is better than creating a seven-level floating massacre.
From the perspective of philanthropy, Musk has become one of the world's largest individual donors last year, although it is not as good as the former world's richest man such as Buffett and Bill Gates, which once brought him voices such as slamming the door.
According to Forbes' 2022 U.S. Charity Rich List, the 25 most generous donors in the United States have donated as much as $169 billion in their lifetimes.
Buffett donated $46.1 billion, compared to $115.6 billion, with a donation ratio of nearly 40%.
Bill Gates and his ex-wife donated a total of $65 billion, which is also a considerable proportion.
In fact, for the matter of donations, as early as the beginning of last year, when he first became the world's richest man, Musk publicly stated, "Welcome to give me suggestions on donation methods that can really promote change." ”
The plan given by the WFP may not be called a way to "really drive change". But if we can solve the problem of rations for 42 million hungry people, it is enough to be commended.
However, even if money is donated, at least americans will not appreciate it. The people's sense of the capitalists has never been very good.
For example, this year, basically every tech billionaire has a lot of black spots on him.
Musk is better, but because of his own whimsy, he is ridiculed and bragged about not paying taxes.
Bezos is deeply obsessed with space tourism, and has been sent by netizens with the good wishes of "you don't want to go back to Earth".
Bill Gates is known for his COVID-19 vaccine as the "King of Conspiracy Theories".
Zuckerberg was the most unlucky, and was directly named "2021 America's GreatEst Villain of the Year" by New Republic magazine.
……
Every year, when various rich list lists are released, someone will calculate that the sum of the wealth of the first few rich people is equivalent to the sum of the assets of many poor people.
The calculated results are often staggering.
In 2019, for example, the combined wealth of the world's 26 richest individuals was equivalent to the total assets of the 3.8 billion poorest people.
In 2021, this gap will widen further.
According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, the world's top 500 richest people have added a total of $1 trillion in wealth in the past year, while the collective wealth of American billionaires has soared by 70% since the COVID-19 pandemic, with total assets exceeding $5 trillion. At the same time, 150 million new people will be pushed into poverty worldwide in 2021.
The richer the richer, the poorer the poorer, and the wealth gap between senior management and ordinary workers is getting bigger and bigger.
On October 18, 2021, next to the famous Landmark Wall Street Copper Bull on Fifth Avenue in New York, a bronze gorilla sculpture Harambe was placed, surrounded by bananas. People use this form to protest the gap between the rich and the poor.
The "forced donation" incident mentioned above actually has a rather strong meaning of "robbing the rich and helping the poor".
More than a decade ago, this was almost invisible in the United States, which promoted individual success and emphasized equal opportunity. But now the gap is getting bigger and bigger, and the people in many Western countries are now less and less satisfied with equal opportunities, but pursue "equal results".
Take a chestnut.
We often hear things like, "Your conditions are not as good as others, of course, you have to work harder than others." ”
People who work hard get more rewarded, and that's a matter of course.
But if someone says to you, "You're trying too hard, I don't want to try that hard." But you can't take more benefits than I do, or it's too unfair. ”
Those who seize opportunities and work hard, lazy and inactive people, both end up getting the same? You will definitely feel that this person is neurotic.
The metaphor may not be exact, but it is generally true.
It is normal for people to hate the rich, both ancient and modern, Chinese and foreign.
03
Walls of fools
How to face the growing gap between the rich and the poor, how to pursue the distribution of disputes, and how to choose between equality and efficiency?
It is one of the most mainstream global issues of this century.
20 years ago, in the "Wall of Fools" written by the Japanese anatomist Mengsi, there was such a passage:
"There are many kinds of desires. For example, appetite or sexual desire, once satisfied, temporarily disappears. But as the human brain becomes stronger, certain desires go on and on. The desire for money is typical, not exhaustive. This desire may be instinctive, without genetic inhibition. ”
(Pension Mensi)
Judging by the level of obsession with wealth of many well-known founders, the "wall of fools" does exist – creating from scratch, the company's revenue, profits and stock price rise, which makes people feel great; on the contrary, when performance and stock prices fall, it will produce skin pain.
For example, once Japan's largest circulation company, Daiei founder Nakauchi Konosuke said: "The company is my doppelganger." ”
Philip Kotler, the world marketing scholar, has often criticized that if wealth is not properly distributed to the middle class, their purchasing power will eventually decline, and the rich class itself will not be able to reap the benefits of wealth.
In theory, the distribution of wealth is naturally completed in the market economy, and then re-distributed through systems such as taxation. But society is complex, and the system is becoming increasingly difficult to function.
As we all know, taxes on the rich in the United States are difficult to collect. And the last great empire that collapsed because the tax could not be raised was Daming.
Buffett, for example, increased his wealth by $24.3 billion from 2014 to 2018, reported income of $125 million, paid a total of 23.7 million yuan in taxes, and a true tax rate of 0.1%.
There are seven income tax brackets in the United States, and the tax rates are: 10%, 12%, 22%, 24%, 32%, 35% and 37%, which is the highest marginal tax rate and can be deducted in a series of ways.
But no matter how it is deducted, it is impossible to reach the level of 0.1%.
Even Buffett himself has said; "I pay less in taxes than my servants." ”
In fact, Buffett donated so much money, not all for love.
Many charities, often run by the rich, do not have to pay capital gains tax on the shares donated to charities, and the money simply goes from the left pocket to the right pocket.
Not only can you save a lot of taxes, but you can also make a good name. It's a no-deal.
Taking Musk's donation of shares as an example, the target of the donation today is not the WFP that people speculate, so he can save 5.7 billion US dollars in 40%-50% tax, that is, up to 2.8 billion US dollars in taxes.
Combined with the previous public high-profile shouts, Musk is the person who pays the most federal taxes in 2021, amounting to as much as $11 billion.
We may be able to believe that this time the $5.74 billion is really donated, not the past routine.
There has long been a view that the harsh eyes of American society on the super-rich have long existed, and people have questioned whether they are "almost no tax, more and more wealth" is reasonable.
Musk's series of actions may be a response to this view.
Can he one day break down the walls and truly create a new entrepreneur who values the distribution of wealth?