DL Open Thread: Sunday, March 10, 2024

Elon Musk’s Largest (Only?) Charitable Beneficiary?  You have to ask?:

At the same time, (Musk) runs a charity with billions of dollars, the kind of resources that could make a global impact. But unlike Bill Gates, who has deployed his fortune in an effort to improve health care across Africa, or Walmart’s Walton family, which has spurred change in the American education system, Mr. Musk’s philanthropy has been haphazard and largely self-serving — making him eligible for enormous tax breaks and helping his businesses.

Since 2020, he has seeded his charity with tax-deductible donations of stock worth more than $7 billion at the time, making it one of the largest in the country.

The foundation that houses the money has failed in recent years to give away the bare minimum required by law to justify the tax break, exposing it to the risk of having to pay the government a substantial financial penalty.

Mr. Musk has not hired any staff for his foundation, tax filings show. Its billions are handled by a board that consists of himself and two volunteers, one of whom reports putting in so little time that it averages out to six minutes per week.

In 2022, the last year for which records are available, they gave away $160 million, which was $234 million less than the law required — the fourth-largest shortfall of any foundation in the country.

Trader Joe’s, WTF?  I get why Amazon, Elon Musk and other corporate deplorables want to get rid of the government’s labor watchdog, but Trader Joe’s?  My post-career gig was with Trader Joe’s, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  One of the company’s stated values was ‘no bureaucratic interference’.  We were treated well, trained well, paid well.  You couldn’t ask for a friendlier workplace–both for the staff and for customers.  Now?:

Upset by the surge in union drives, several of the best-known corporations in the US are seeking to cripple the country’s top labor watchdog, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), by having it declared unconstitutional. Some labor experts warn that if those efforts succeed, US labor relations might return to “the law of the jungle”.

In recent weeks, Elon Musk’s SpaceX as well as Amazon, Starbucks and Trader Joe’s have filed legal papers that advance novel arguments aimed at hobbling and perhaps shutting down the NLRB – the federal agency that enforces labor rights and oversees unionization efforts. Those companies are eager to thwart the NLRB after it accused Amazon, Starbucks and Trader Joe’s of breaking the law in battling against unionization and accused SpaceX of illegally firing eight workers for criticizing Musk.

It’s not just the lawsuits–Trader Joe’s has rolled back employee benefits, and required employees to work longer hours to earn benefits.  I’ve been told that most of its efforts to strangle any move toward unionization are centered on the east coast and that similar moves don’t extend to the west coast, which is TJ’s home.  Yes, I still shop there–my peeps work there, and those who have started after I left are in the tradition of the peeps who were there when I retired (my hip and the concrete floor proved incompatible).  But a company that has built itself on the pillars of friendly service, a great quirky product mix, and a happy workforce would do well to reconsider its efforts to stifle employees.  Otherwise, there might just be a Costco membership in my future.

Hey, some days, not that much interests me.  Blame it on losing that key hour of sleep.

What do you want to talk about?