Anyone who knows me will understand this subject is sarcasm. Since I’m no longer on IG/Threads (anything Meta), I was sent the following (it was actually posted last weekend) because one of the tech bros that I despise the most, happens to own a large compound of property on Kauai while another whose company I almost ended up working for in the 90’s, owns the entire island of Lanai).
Then there is the guy who owns Lanai (technically 98% of it); his company Oracle just laid off 18% of its 162,000 person workforce which amounts to around 29,000 people today as a cost cutting measure in order to advance their AI datacenter efforts. Wall Street viewed that as a positive (rallying the stock). These companies and their executives do not value their workforce (you are just expendable pawns). It’s one of many reasons why I put so much effort into leaving the workforce as early as possible (back in 2015). And that was the right bet to make.
Larry Ellison is no longer CEO, but he is still chairman of the board. He’s signed The Giving Pledge back in 2010; this is where wealthy individuals vow to give away at least 50% of their wealth (Ellison pledged to give away 95%). He could easily give any local organization $100 million for this disaster now, and it wouldn’t make a dent in his wealth (his net worth is over $235 billion… 1 billion is a million x 1000).
Sure, it’s an individual choice where no one is obligated to help if they don’t want to. But I see regular people trying to help including those who aren’t well off being far more generous on a percentage of their wealth basis. It speaks to the character level at a deeper level/why some of us will just call it out because bottomline, actions speak louder than words.
I despise labels like “virtue signaling”, but I’m not going to deny my skepticism about how some may sign up to just use this to generate positive PR about their philanthropy (to make up for the fact that they aren’t the best humans; like Mark Zuckerberg and disgraced “junk bond” felon Michael Milken is also on there). With regards to philanthropy, my take is that there is a certain point where there is no need to have those extra zeroes at the end of ones account balances.
There is also no need to make your name public. But extremely huge donations don’t go unnoticed because its good PR. The receiving organization will still highlight how an anonymous donor made a huge impact (none of the local organizations here have highlighted anything extraordinary either which is why a week out from the above, I concur with the sentiment about these wealthy individuals with properties and what not in this state, not stepping up in even a small way (just cementing the perception that all they do is take and not give back especially when they have the means to). And this is how we know they have little understanding about the culture of the islands (and why many refer to them as colonizers in a very derogatory way).
Those folks are billionaires for multiple reasons with one of the key ones being due to most of them, not parceling out their wealth unless it somehow provides a benefit to them (in the form of a tax write off, in the form of something being named after them, getting good PR out of it while they try and guilt regular everyday people to do the heavy lifting, etc). It’s how these folks stay rich. In the case of Oprah Winfrey, she’s been generous (which made for good PR/image building), but has also focused on the wrong things (past and present) while bringing relevance to morons like Dr Phil and Dr Oz.
The excessively wealthy (in terms of money) are part of why many actual residents with island roots have been priced out of the islands. While my family has roots in the islands, I still don’t consider myself as being originally from here where you grow up with that island culture early on (I grew up in California where not even the trips back during the summer can leave that deep cultural impact). But I’ve definitely been absorbing all of it now for several years. I’m also not saying past speculators in real estate haven’t been responsible either for inflating real property values (that’s another matter not unique to Hawai’i, but is more pronounced here because it is a land locked place).
The fact that the world even needs to have this thing called “food banks” while the top 1% (aka billionaire class) hoards up all of this wealth which they could never completely use themselves over a life time (nor those who end up inheriting it in the form of generational wealth), is what is wrong in general. I could go on an unending rant about the illusion of money which is the basis for creating inequalities, for being leveraged for economic power/influence, for being the thing that prevents this class of people from doing actual meaningful good that could solve many of the worlds problems at their root, but that is another subject which could fill up a book.
I’m also not a proponent of just simply handing out huge sums of money like it was candy (where it is just like an ATM pushing out cash and can lead to an attitude of entitlement) versus that money going into programs that can be educational and/or to serve as a resource where the end goal is being able to better the lives of others (it’s a balancing act). In the case of disaster relief though, the purpose of donating is pretty straightforward (so those organizations that are trying to lend this helping hand, have the resources to provide immediate assistance). And there, I’m picky (because some organizations do siphon off a disproportionate amount for compensating the people running it, as well as for incessant marketing – you know them; the ones that end up spam mailing and filling up physical mailboxes with pleas for even more). Tangent (aka rant) time on this fundraising spam from charities (skip to the “end tangent” part if you want to skip this…
I had to deal with that charity spam insanity for my father (as his memory began to erode from age/initially mild dementia which is now towards moderate stage) because he ended up on mailing lists sold by these same charities which most of us have long considered worthwhile of donating to. And I am naming names; the American Heart Association, American Red Cross, Greenpeace (their level of mailing was obnoxious), Nature Conservancy, St Jude, March of Dimes, Susan G. Komen (Breast Cancer), Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, SmileTrain (every week), Special Olympics, a whole bunch of native American charities with St Joseph and St. Labre Indian School being the most egregious offenders with multiple mailings every week, and numerous veterans charities which exploded when he simply donated to the Vietnam Memorial and Wounded Warrior Project). Then you have pieces of work like The National Wildlife Federation that makes their mailing at the start of the year, look like an important tax document (just to get the recipient to pay more attention and open it).
I would say at least 85% were legitimate and worthwhile causes (tainted by the veracity of their postal mail campaigns). All of the political pieces of mail, I straight up consider garbage to begin with (doesn’t matter what party, it is ALL obnoxious). The problem I ended up having to deal with this for at least 3 years (after returning to the U.S.), is how shameless many of these charities go about monetizing these mailing list databases (selling off your personal information) where you would end up on even more mailing lists (increasing the volume of spam postal mailings). Their volume is based on selfish thinking like they are the only one sending these out. Try being on the receiving end of having well over a hundred organizations mailing this garbage out, and you have what my father (and countless others) ended up being deluged with.
This is known as taking advantage of the goodwill of people (especially this generation of seniors who aren’t as savvy) when it is not opt-out by default/difficult for most to find that opt-out section on their website (or on the form in the mailing). And the rate at which many of these charities sent out fundraising mails was beyond reasonable levels where each week, his postal mail would be deluged with a stack of charity mailing (at one point, it was over a hundred pieces of mail each week). It takes time going through that to shred the personal info.
It ended up taking at least 3 years to get that volume down; part of that included having him pull back greatly on donating and using a curated list I created of charities that respected their donators (which unfortunately is a very small number). It takes a long time for them to purge non-respondents from those databases I reached a point with those spamming charities that included a postage paid envelop, where I sent it back empty because that is when the postal service charges them. This entire experience is why I am extremely picky with charities I support (if there is no easy way to opt out from selling your address/personal info, it’s already a red flag). And that sucks because I know many of their actual mission is a valid one. But they need to give those donating to them at least respect (respecting their personal data and time by not wasting it); many of these causes aren’t doing that. Their actions is why I went on this long side tangent because they deserve to be called out for literally not giving a shit with their approach to how they fundraise. But I digress. End tangent.
Reflecting in general, one of the greatest gifts I’ve had was not being born into generational wealth because it taught me to appreciate what we did have and to not take things for granted. I make mistakes and fall into traps like anyone else (it’s called being an imperfect human) but the valuable lesson I learned is to learn from those mistakes and try to come out better than before. Our life is also our personal journey (do what you need to do and not live someone elses dogma or idea of how that life ought to be lived). I know that is easier said than done for many.
I’ve met so many smart and wise people who worked in low wage jobs because the system of what most know today, has long been rigged against them (where it takes luck to sometimes get passed that) by those who figured out how to create a system of inequalities (the haves and the have nots). I told some of them they could be running some of these businesses (even better and with actual compassion for the workers who do the heavy lifting). It’s why I make it clear that I’m no genius when it came to how certain decisions ended up working out over time. I know that was luck, being in the right place at the right time, having other circumstances play out the way they did. I also didn’t grow up with a silver spoon in my mouth.
There was a time when there was this pure and idealistic notion that technology would improve the lives of most people. Then the greedy SOB’s said nope because they need that control/power over everyone else in order to ensure their place in the hierarchy. That is how they choose to live their equally limited time on this planet; lording and ruling over others in this sociopathic way. If anyone needs an example of how this is ingrained in the human psyche, try a “fresh start” in an MMORPG (leveling up, attaining character power, attaining gold, organizing with other players in a guild, attaining conquest of land/property if that game is designed around that premise, wielding that over other players by being toxic mouth breathing assholes, etc).
Social media is an outcome of extending human relationships into the online world of platforms. That too originally had idealistic intentions of being this positively connecting force. Instead, companies sell users on it being free (while they actively harvest everything they can in order to monetize your personal info and usage patterns because there is a paid demand by advertisers and now, governments that want to surveil their citizens) while the algorithms prey on human psychologically in the worst ways possible (dopamine hits to endlessly doom scroll a feed which may have some form of advertisement embedded in them) <- this is why some of us consciously got off that treadmill/hamster wheel. My choice was to extricate myself as much as possible. For others, so long as they acknowledge what they are signed up for, using those platforms in moderation is fine. Setting boundaries and unplugging occasionally is a healthy way to keeping it all in check. Bottomline, it is still a personal decision.
Which leads me back to these billionaires. I always come back to something simple; actions speaking louder than words. The key is also understanding that not all actions are altruistic. Like Marc Benioff (chairman and CEO of Salesforce) has donated to many organizations including medical centers. In exchange Benioff’s name has been attached to some of those places. I’ve made certain donations of this sort (ones that they are willing to name something after you) but made it clear I want no buildings with my actual personal name on it (I did jokingly consider some of the nicknames I used in gaming though which were often times nonsensical combinations that I put together like Yubin Daimyo which was a play on mailer daemon).
As for the storm damage assessment, that is still an ongoing process (the flooding on the north shore was just one of the more visible ones). The city and state are getting more resources into the area but UNSURPRISINGLY, the earlier offers the governor received from his contacts with Federal government partners, is still one that is awaiting official approval (an actual disaster declaration); only some FEMA assets; the folks who do damage assessments are on the ground.
Under normal past presidents, this emergency declaration would’ve been addressed. The regime AFAIK, didn’t even acknowledge this disaster when it was happening which is all that you need to know (same with the billionaires who have properties in the islands). At least Walmart (who I am no fan of) via their Walmart Foundation stepped up with $250,000 for relief efforts (sure, it’s also a drop in the bucket for them and could be just a PR move as well, BUT they are still stepping up and doing something where it is needed; relief efforts).
P.S. Charity Navigator has created a separate section for this flood disaster and relief organizations. I’m very partial to the Hawai’i Food Bank and All Hands and Hearts (I have ongoing fundraisers for both; the food bank drive is active on my test Twitch channel (which I am probably going to close at some point in the near future) since that is one of the easier ways since 100% goes through PayPal Giving where I will match up to the first $2,500 raised by the 31st); the latter, I volunteered with them in Japan after they received approval for being able to get in areas hit by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in northeast Japan.
