Musk Buying Twitter Part II

[sablebrush52]

It’s surprising to me that due to the residual value of the name Montgomery Ward, you can still order online from Montgomery Ward’s decades after they went bankrupt.

https://www.wards.com/?&source=google&code=Brand-MW&medium=inhaus&link=mi-g-montgomery%20ward&cm_mmc=google-_-Brand-MW-_-Brand-Exact-_-mi-g-montgomery%20ward&cm_mmca1=PGB&cm_mmca2=&gclid=Cj0KCQiAtICdBhCLARIsALUBFcEb2EeheaMG7DpQiYUzAimxvor9JjU5VnBGSEuWu9hLRuxDmWpCq7IaAngAEALw_wcB

In the worst event, Musk loses all his 44 billion investment, the bankers own the stinking remains of Twitter, and they sell the name to Facebook, or some other social media company.

Provided Musk waits six months and sells Twitter, he won’t get a tax credit but he’ll have have a huge long term capital loss, one of the largest in the history of the world to offset any future long term capital gains he may have.

Who knows, in a few years he may recover like the Hunt brothers did.

How the Hunt Brothers Cornered the Silver Market and Then Lost it All - Priceonomics

In 1980, two brothers from Texas controlled two-thirds of all the privately held silver on earth. This is the story of how one of history's biggest bets went bust.

priceonomics.com

Ah yes, the Hunts...

Every era has its stuntmen.

Which is why I don't like huge concentrations of money and power in the hands of one individual. We're all to some extent batshit crazy, but adding vast money to batshit crazy just ends up with more people's lives being needlessly, not to mention whimsically disrupted.

 

[Briar Lee]

Ah yes, the Hunts...

Every era has its stuntmen.

Which is why I don't like huge concentrations of money and power in the hands of one individual. We're all to some extent batshit crazy, but adding vast money to batshit crazy just ends up with more people's lives being needlessly, not to mention whimsically disrupted.

The Hunt brothers inherited (and mostly squandered) their wealth from their legendary father, H.L. Hunt, who pioneered modern oil drilling in Texas, was married to three women (two at the same time) and left 15 children.

At least the death of H.L. Hunt in 1974 inspired a classic country ballad.

I read where Snoop Dog, took his own poll and 80% want him, to run Twitter.

Couldn’t hurt, I suppose.

 

[karam]

Exactly. After having watched several episodes of "Spunk of the Dragon" or whatever the Game Of Thrones prequel is titled, I can use something entertaining.

Even better because it's unscripted.

Probably not so much fun for those directly involved, however, except for the toxic crazies, who are having a field day running rampant over the site.

The site itself being bankrupted and shuttered would give Musk one hell of a business tax credit, which will more than pay for the whole mess.

So catch the limited run while you can.

I liked the prequel, actually, on the other hand couldn't watch the LotR prequel at all.

Can you please explain the bolded, I am not familiar with US (or any other) industrial tax law but it sounds very interesting.

 

[Briar Lee]

I liked the prequel, actually, on the other hand couldn't watch the LotR prequel at all.

Can you please explain the bolded, I am not familiar with US (or any other) industrial tax law but it sounds very interesting.

In the United States billionaires, only pay 15% on the first $150,000 of ordinary income for Social Security retirement, and up to a 40% income tax on salary, state sales taxes (if there are any) on retail purchases, and state property taxes on their mansions (if the state has any). The vast majority of their wealth is in stock, which is not taxed until sale, then only at 20% long term capital gains.

So if Elon Musk earns 100 billion from an increase in his stock, he pays no taxes of any kind unless he sells.

Let’s say he looses 40 billion when he sells Twitter.

He can then sell 40 billion in Tesla and pay zero taxes, offsetting his losses on Twitter as a deduction.

But the taxes on selling 40 billion in Tesla would have only been 8 billion, and he’s lost 40 billion.

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

I wouldn't shed many tears for Musk. I haven't read much about him because I don't really care. I don't think you need to worry about him ever living in a homeless shelter though. I think the biggest business problem he now has is the rest of the world now making EVs to compete with tesla. No more free ride. Which is what made his investment into Twitter so stupid. That money should be going back into Tesla.

 

[sablebrush52]

The vast majority of their wealth is in stock, which is not taxed until sale, then only at 20% long term capital gains.

If even that amount since the tax code has a variety of legal loopholes that allow the deserving super wealthy to avoid paying taxes, such as borrowing on the “value” of equities, which is untaxed and provides income until death, at which point there are ways to avoid paying taxes on that stock. Family foundations are another good tax dodge, but one needs to be fabulously wealthy to qualify for a tax free existence. The merely very wealthy don’t qualify.

 

[sablebrush52]

Back to Twitter, Musk polled Twitter users regarding whether they think he should step down from running Twitter. Musk stated he would abide by their decision. Over 57% voted in favor of Musk stepping down. Musk is changing the rules about who gets to vote. Doesn’t look like he’s abiding anything.

 

[TheWhale13]

Back to Twitter, Musk polled Twitter users regarding whether they think he should step down from running Twitter. Musk stated he would abide by their decision. Over 57% voted in favor of Musk stepping down. Musk is changing the rules about who gets to vote. Doesn’t look like he’s abiding anything.

But Musk is an honorable man?!

 

[ashdigger]

I’m more concerned with Bill Gates and his purchases than Elon Musk and his Fritter

 

[sablebrush52]

I’m more concerned with Bill Gates and his purchases than Elon Musk and his Fritter

You mean all that farmland? He's just trying to be out the CCCP, who've been buying up hectares after hectares sold by patriots.

 

[ashdigger]

You mean all that farmland? He's just trying to be out the CCCP, who've been buying up hectares after hectares sold by patriots.

Except he has an agenda too.

Gates is a rich scumbag who buys doctors just as the government buys research.

Musk has an agenda, Gates has an agenda, Bezos had an agenda. Money buys access to agendas.

Btw, nice comment shitting on “patriots”. I guess it would be too hard just to say “sellers”.

Any idea how hard it is to be a farmer or rancher in the modern world? I guess shitting on Blue Collar is fashionable in your neck of the woods.

 

[Briar Lee]

I have a copy of a deed in my abstract where my great uncle Elmer, and his wife Cora, sold his 60 acres with house and barn to my great aunt Eva, for $3.50 an acre in 1936.

It’s only about a quarter mile North to Bug Tussle, from the foundation of Elmer’s house.

The owner of most of Bug Tussle today, a multimillionaire, told me he was tired of being land poor and offered 40 acres of his land, fenced off, for $250,000, or $6.250 an acre. It sold for the asking price in two days, to a couple from Colorado who have built a $500,000 home on it, and drilled a well and added a long drive to the gravel road.

He warned me to ask $350,000, or $8,750 an acre, if I want to sell off a forty.

After Elmer left for Bakersfield, California to labor in the fields of the other man, my father share rented his 60, and Eva promised him he could buy it back for $3.50 an acre if he could save up $210 he could buy it. It took him until 1944, and by then land had risen so much Eva priced it at $15 an acre, and Daddy paid $900.

When he died in 1971 it might have been worth $200 an acre, and when my mother died in 2010, about $2,500.

I don’t intend to sell, but paying 20% capital gains taxes on all above $2,500 an acre sort of takes the fun out of it.

It rents for $25 an acre a year. Three acres will pasture a cow and her calf for a year.

It is an absolute miracle hamburger is not $25 a pound.

 

[Zeno Marx]

Anyone here watch US Farm Report early on Sunday Mornings? I grew up in the Midwest in a small farm town. My first job was bailing hay. All my neighbors were retired farmers, as our house was right on the edge of town. It was a requirement in high school to take 1/4 of agriculture (8 weeks), learning how to germinate seed, test crops for moisture content, and a couple other basic tasks. A good half of my classmates were FFA members. I was never going to be a farmer, but that was the culture. I'm grateful that I was required to take that class. Gave me an appreciation for farming and also stuck me with a personal investment with the profession. We're fickle like that, aren't we? We're more interested in something if they can jab us with personal investment. Brings to mind the Mark Twain quote.*

So, I watch US Farm Report because I find ag business to be sort of fascinating, and with the war in Ukraine, I feel it is incredibly important information to follow. There's a moderate conservative on the program who does one analysis segment and one customer question segment. A common comment/question from farmers is that China is buying up all the land and jacking up land sales. Similar comments are about Bill Gates and other large investors. Neither proves to be true. Foreign farmland ownership in the USA is around 3% and hasn't changed much over the past decade. What Bill Gates has done, as well as a couple other large investment groups, hasn't significantly changed farmland prices, nor agriculture markets in general. So, why are we seeing record prices for farmland? Farmers are the ones buying the land at those record prices. It's not China. It's not Wall St or Bill Gates. Expansion is the easiest, most obvious, and usually most expensive way to promise longevity. It's more complicated than that, but farmers are at the core of these rising costs, not outside forces.

*“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” - Mark Twain

 

[sablebrush52]

Except he has an agenda too.

Gates is a rich scumbag who buys doctors just as the government buys research.

Musk has an agenda, Gates has an agenda, Bezos had an agenda. Money buys access to agendas.

Btw, nice comment shitting on “patriots”. I guess it would be too hard just to say “sellers”.

Any idea how hard it is to be a farmer or rancher in the modern world? I guess shitting on Blue Collar is fashionable in your neck of the woods.

Spare me your BS virtue signalling, and your BS class signaling. You know zip about me, so shut it. I do have a dislike of hypocrites. And as it turns out, looking at the thread below, you didn't have any idea what you're going on about and apparently neither did I. But I'll admit it.

 

[K.E. Powell]

I’m more concerned with Bill Gates and his purchases than Elon Musk and his Fritter

I'm not crazy about Bill Gates either, but it is possible to be concerned about more than two things at the same time. In the case of both, they enjoy a extreme laissez-faire capitalist system that provides them immense advantages and essentially insulates them, and others like them, from either total failure or accountability to the public. That is bad, especially for smaller farmers and ranchers that you mentioned.

I know, I know; rain is wet and the rich dirtbags rig the system. But it's weird that you've come into this thread a handful of times to admonish people for caring too much about the topic at hand, i.e., Elon Musk and his handling of one of the largest social media networks in the world (to say nothing of his other business ventures), and then do a whataboutism about Bill Gates, who is bad because he has an agenda just like Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos. Like, if you wanted people to talk about that, why not just start a thread about it instead of browbeating people for talking about something you repeatedly stated that you don't care about?

 

[ashdigger]

I'm not crazy about Bill Gates either, but it is possible to be concerned about more than two things at the same time. In the case of both, they enjoy a extreme laissez-faire capitalist system that provides them immense advantages and essentially insulates them, and others like them, from either total failure or accountability to the public. That is bad, especially for smaller farmers and ranchers that you mentioned.

I know, I know; rain is wet and the rich dirtbags rig the system. But it's weird that you've come into this thread a handful of times to admonish people for caring too much about the topic at hand, i.e., Elon Musk and his handling of one of the largest social media networks in the world (to say nothing of his other business ventures), and then do a whataboutism about Bill Gates, who is bad because he has an agenda just like Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos. Like, if you wanted people to talk about that, why not just start a thread about it instead of browbeating people for talking about something you repeatedly stated that you don't care about?

I’m sorry I forgot to ask your permission to make a post.

 

[K.E. Powell]

I’m sorry I forgot to ask your permission to make a post.

My bad, man. I wasn't trying to be rude. Just confused by input was all. I apologize.

 

[Briar Tuck]

I'm not crazy about Bill Gates either, but it is possible to be concerned about more than two things at the same time. In the case of both, they enjoy a extreme laissez-faire capitalist system that provides them immense advantages and essentially insulates them, and others like them, from either total failure or accountability to the public.

It's not laissez-faire capitalism. We haven't had anything resembling such since before either of us were born. What we have currently is crony capitalism, government sanctioned and approved. Both Musk and Gates have benefitted from this system, by necessity, because that's the system we have in place.

 

[Briar Lee]

NPR

Billionaire Elon Musk says he will step down as chief executive of Twitter as soon as he finds someone "foolish enough" to succeed him.

In a tweet on Tuesday, Musk confirmed that he is searching for his replacement, but he gave no timeline for the process.

Musk's tweet comes two days after he launched a poll on the social network. The majority of respondents voted for his ouster.

Even when Musk find a new person to head Twitter, he will still be the owner and ultimate decision-maker at the company.

Musk indicated as much in his tweet, saying he would "just run the software & servers teams." Last month, he told Twitter employees that Twitter would become "a software and servers company" under his ownership.

—

When you think about it, Musk is basically setting up Twitter to be like a small town beer joint, minus a bouncer.

You’ll know it’s a rough place, with loud mouthed drunks and cackling old barflies who have seen their younger days, but it should appeal to the same sort of folks who like David Allan Coe.

The Twitter saga is going to be interesting to follow, you know?

 

[karam]

Gates turned into the biggest and arguably greatest philanthropist in living memory. The things the B&M Gates Foundation do for development of the third world, public health, sanitation, energy are spectacular. I remember hearing in an interview, the concept not who was on it, could’ve been Gates, that after WW2 the US leaders realised there is much to be had for having strong and rich Japan and Germany as allies, for both the US’s and the rest of the world’s benefit, hence the massive help given towards rebuilding. I feel Gates’s foundation is aiming to do the same but for African countries.
For me Gates is on another level compared with other super-rich.