One day, you'll bury your dad, and that's the day you'll realize you lost the only man who genuinely wanted you to do better than him.
Take care of him if he's alive.
No, you don't get it.
He does not have $1 trillion sitting in cash, it is 99% stock in his companies.
To make that wealth liquid would mean selling all that stock which would swiftly destroy *both* the companies (Tesla, SpaceX, others) and the wealth. If he sold it all, he'd end up with maybe $100b max, several hundred thousand people would be out of work, the companies ruined and many of their suppliers also ruined.
Okay, but now Elon has $100b in cash, and can "solve the world's problems".
$100b divided by the world's 8 billion people is $12
If you were in charge, several of the most innovative industrial companies in the world would be destroyed, hundreds of thousands out of work, and space would again close to human civilization for another generation.
But everyone on earth could have one nice meal and you could revel in your altruism.
Ok here goes:
I was a full time Public Defender for over 6 years. I have been in private practice now (for the second time) for 16 years. I still take public defender cases on a contract basis and those cases make up about 15% of my practice.
So since 2004 I have literally represented thousands of homeless clients and I can say the pathetic stories you have been told by the media, by TV & movies, and by those organizations that “help” the homeless is 100% BS.
Let’s start:
Claim 1) “You’re just one paycheck away from being homeless.”
None, NONE, of the people chronically on the street were working and then were on the street after losing a good job. Less than 5% of the people who become homeless are there because of some personal tragedy like losing a job, a natural disaster, or a death in the family. Those that are homeless due to such an event do not stay homeless for long. They avail themselves of the MANY available services, both public and private, and are back on their feet within short order.
These people help themselves and I know of no person who objects to assisting these folks as they help themselves and are just trying to get from point A to point B and then get back to supporting themselves.
BUT, if you listen to the media, entertainment, and the homeless assistance grifters, this 5% represents ALL chronically homeless families folks. It’s a lie.
Claim 2) “If you give the homeless free or subsidized housing they will soon be supporting themselves as responsible citizens”
Absolute BS. 100 % of the chronically (not temporarily) homeless fall into 2 categories:
A) those that are severely mentally ill &/or drug addicted
B) People that just do not want to work, pay rent, or live as responsible human beings.
I have a LOT of personal experience with both groups but let me begin with Group B. I have seen hundreds of these types and no matter what assistance is offered them, they only avail themselves of any help long enough to get some money and a warm bed for a bit, and then are back to “flying a sign” at an intersection.
They don’t WANT to work a steady job. They don’t WANT to be responsible for paying rent or a mortgage or bills. They don’t WANT to live like normal folks.
They want to get money by begging and then go buy booze or drugs and party at the homeless encampment at night. They literally live like perpetual hippies. Many of them can stand in the hot sun for 8 hours at a time taking money for suckers so they have the ability to work for a living BUT THEY DON’T WANT TO!
They even work out shifts at the street corners with their buddies. One dude is there till lunch, one dude works the afternoon.
“Flying a sign” is the grift.
“Homeless vet”
“Down and out”
“Got laid off”
You’ve all seen them.
It’s. A. Grift.
You are being conned.
Big cities shuffle these guys to other cities by giving them free bus trips. Hundreds of homeless in southwest Missouri are shipped here every month from cities like Chicago and Memphis.
They move from town to town and get free meals, clothes, bus passes, and other goodies and find a new intersection and a new camp and restart the grift over and over.
To get transitional housing they would need to keep a regular job and not drink and not do drugs.
They don’t want that.
These folks are not alcoholics or addicts in the clinical sense, they just want to live off the charity of others and party at night. They are like perpetual teenagers and they never grow beyond that mentally as long as there are enough suckers to subsidize their lifestyle.
The organizations that help the homeless, even religious ones, exist for federal & state grant money. They get more funding for every homeless person they “help.” They have zero incentive to make their “assistance” dependent upon a homeless person making any responsible changes. Thus the more homeless assistance organizations you have in your town, the more homeless people you will have. The cycle never ends
Continued