Email or username:

Password:

Forgot your password?
stux⚡

Do you know the difference between a Million and a Billion? 1 million seconds is 12 days. 1 billion seconds is 31 years.

Elon Musk donated $5.7 billion at the end of 2021, but kept the recipient a secret. New reporting shows the money went to his personal charity, meaning he didn't actually lose control over it - but it did net him a $4.6 billion tax break. The man is a leech on society.
60 comments
Natsura :meowBox: :verified:
@stux Elon and the rest of the billionaires need to be destroyed... they're nothing but leeches on society
Attila Kinali

@stux And this is surprising why? All the billionaires in the US do the same. And it has been known for a long time too.

stux⚡

@attilakinali Doesn't mean we can't shame them for it :ablobwink:

Attila Kinali

@stux Yes, but then you have to shame them constantly. If there is one constant in the world, than it's that rich people have many ways to avoid paying taxes. The charity thing is just their newest shtick.

Dee

@attilakinali @stux It’s important to inform others so that they are constantly being shamed by one person another.😉

Deuchnord

@attilakinali @stux so, because all rich people do it, we should just stop talk about it?

Doug

@attilakinali @stux You seem resigned to the idea that that cannot change.

All the rules that govern our society were made up by people. It's perfectly possible to make up different rules that lead to a better society.

Attila Kinali

@dougc @stux And you seem to mistakenly assume that you know mindset and mentality from a single, 3-sentence post you've read.

I am not resigned. Neither do I think that change cannot happen. All I did is criticizing the hypocrisy of picking out a single instance of tax avoidance, and being much outraged by it, instead of realizing that it's not an isolated thing, but something that has been going on for centuries. I.e. going for a single symptom instead of the source of the problem.

Doug

@attilakinali @stux

Right, but it's by pointing out individual cases that we raise awareness of the brokenness of the system. My reading of the original post was not simply that Musk does selfish things to appear nice, but in truth just keeping control of the money.

Rather it's an example that can get people to ask the question "How does he get away with this" and look at the rules that have been made that allow this kind of thing.

sainishwanth

@attilakinali Nothing wrong with calling him out. You're assuming everyone knows this just because you do.

DELETED

@attilakinali @stux +1 ... err +1b ... nothing new here ... classic tax scheme that's been employed for a very very long time.

OpenDNA⚙️

@wekeys @stux Patagonia is a little different. They've been using their corporation to generate revenue for environmental causes for decades.

It's more accurate to say Patagonia is an environmental non-profit exploiting the tax code by paying taxes than a for-profit dodging taxes by using a non-profit.

WeKeys :unverified:

@opendna @stux i don't speak about the past, but the future :
nytimes.com/2022/09/14/climate
Holdfast Collective is a 501(c)(4) who will/can do political lobbying,
It's great if they push good thing, but inside this Holdfast Collective there is familly of Patagonia, a nice way to bypass taxes.

If we have to make a scale between Elon Musk and Patagonia Owner, it's clear that Elon is worse, but they both bypass taxes in a cynical way.

@opendna @stux i don't speak about the past, but the future :
nytimes.com/2022/09/14/climate
Holdfast Collective is a 501(c)(4) who will/can do political lobbying,
It's great if they push good thing, but inside this Holdfast Collective there is familly of Patagonia, a nice way to bypass taxes.

jonossaseuraava
@stux
Hey that's an actually pretty good way to make the difference comprehendible!
non_saturatio

@stux
Side topic: I've in fact been informed that 'billion' means differently in different parts of the world. Here it's a million millions, but in America it's like... a thousand millions? Something like that? Anyway confusing for International conversations 🤭

Just an innocent man

@non_saturatio @stux that used to be the case (British Billion vs American Billon) but by convention it's now 1000 million everywhere because it was giving mathematicians a headache ;-)

non_saturatio

@chrisgn
Oh! Then now 'billion' and "billón" doesn't mean the same anymore, although Spanish definition includes an entrance for the USA meaning.

dle.rae.es/bill%C3%B3n
@stux

Losfromcp

@non_saturatio @chrisgn @stux I remember as a kid being corrected to say "mil millones".

non_saturatio

@losfromcp
Really? :))) I wonder what huge thing was the kid you talking about.

I guess it's language economy somehow. It's more economic to reserve the "different" term for the longest phrase, so we substitute "millón de millones" better than "mil millones". Also you can use "trillón" para "un millón de billones" and so on.
How do you say "a million of millions of millions" in English?

Nvm, I'm going dizzy omg lol
@chrisgn @stux

@losfromcp
Really? :))) I wonder what huge thing was the kid you talking about.

I guess it's language economy somehow. It's more economic to reserve the "different" term for the longest phrase, so we substitute "millón de millones" better than "mil millones". Also you can use "trillón" para "un millón de billones" and so on.
How do you say "a million of millions of millions" in English?

Losfromcp

@non_saturatio @chrisgn @stux hahaha 😆

I was talking about the number of Transformers I wanted. Living in the US, I was using the English definition and my mom used it as a teaching moment

Sanscelerien_

@non_saturatio @stux
See here about the short and long scales of large number notations.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_of
And in this other page you can see a map showing were the short and long scales are used.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_and

Eric Hendrickson 🏳️‍🌈 📺 🐧

@non_saturatio @stux In the US a billion is one thousand million or 10⁹, but in some EU countries, it is 10¹², or a million million, which in the US is called a “trillion”.

It is very confusing since there seem to be no standards for labeling large numbers.

#million #billion #trillion

Jose Luis Peruyero

@stux furthermore, 1 billion seconds is almost 32 years an "1 billón" is more than 31,700 years

David Wright

@stux A real billion, or a US cheapskate billion? 😁

RobertJackson

@stux

Folk who somehow say "illion" esp radio and TV reporters when they are being selective with the fact. Naughty!

Andrew Minhinnick

@stux this just gave my sister's partner a headache trying to disprove it, wrongly, thank you

Leif

@stux 4.6 billion dollars equals 145 dollar every second, day and night, for a year.

Or one dollar per second, day and night, for 145 years.

desea
@stux @sophon shit like this is what i mean with taxes on rich people, shit like this has to stop
Ben Haube 🏳️‍🌈🐧:twit:

@stux I don't really find this surprising at all. All the billionaires "donate" to their own charities. It's a win-win. They can get the tax breaks while enriching themselves AND making themselves look good.

ALL billionaires are evil at heart. They make their billions on the backs of their workers, and are fueled by nothing but greed.

Adam K

@benhaube @stux You do realize that his charitable foundation (or any other charitable foundation) can only give the money to other charities right? It’s not like it is his to spend on himself anymore. It just shifts the tax break in time to his initial donation, rather than the ultimate donations. This isn’t a trick for only billionaires — there are constant ads on the radio to set up your own for $5000 or less.

Stefan Dembowski

@stux HUH.

That certainly puts it into perspective.

foot long chili skottdog

@stux what really put one billion dollars into perspective for me is when I found out that if you have one billion dollars, you could spend $5k every day for 500 years and still not run out of money. That's more than anyone needs!

Quieroserabuela

@DemocracyMatters @stux
Said it many times already. For me he's just like Trump. Only richer.

Patty Kimura

@stux Lol. I love those folks who take issue with what a billion means rather than that rich guy give billions to himself and calls it a generous charitable act. We are an interesting community of differences.

Justin

@stux the issue is not the person. It's the system, capitalism. Fix that and you fix the rest. Good luck!

Jane Shull

@stux I’m grateful that I don’t know Elon Musk personally.

Barbara Anello

@stux

Elon Musk ― the 'other' Biblical #Grifter

"The mystery recipient of a $5.7 billion donation Elon Musk made in 2021 has been revealed. The money went to Musk's own charitable foundation, Bloomberg reported."

Image of a Bloomberg headline
Text:  Musk’s $5.7 Billion Mystery Gift Went to His Own Charity
Rick Arseneault

@stux the more I read about his exploits, the more I realize he's just trump with rocket ships and electric cars.

Jonny Miskatonic

@stux yep. The Fat Boys taught me the difference.

jamiestickman

@stux er, financial billon not the same ad a true numerical billion.

1000 x million dollars is a financial billion

1,000,000 x million is a numerical (true) billion.

David31415

@jamiestickman @stux what’s your point? 1000 x 1 million seconds is 31 years. Just like stux said.

Carol Peters

@stux the man knows how to play the system, guess who created the system? more [white men] just like him

Tobotron

@stux really puts it in perspective doesn't' it?

SloanLA

@stux With 1 billion you can give away $1 million a day for 2.74 YEARS. Every. Single. Day. With JUST the billions AMZN stock went up in 2020 during the pandemic, Bezos could have granted $130,000 worth of his stock to ALL 600,000 employees. There isn't an inflation problem, there is a wealth THEFT problem.

Jim Neal

@stux Leech is understatement - Skum

Go Up