Elon Musk pledges to fix any home in Flint, Michigan that has contaminated water - Sensationalist Headlines

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1017149641991680002?s=19 https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1017157155638525952?s=19 https://twitter.com/LittleMissFlint/status/1017417066742210560?s=19 https://earther.com/heres-what-flints-mayor-wants-elon-musk-to-do-1827572019 “This would be the first time for someone at [Musk’s] level to have taken interest in Flint and say, ‘I want to help,’” Mayor Karen Weaver told Earther.

I believe he genuinely cares about the world, the people living in it and advancement of technology. He is not in it for just the money.

is this the society that libertarians have wet dreams about the government doesn't do shit and all problems that get fixed are done so by random billionaires on twitter

Better idea, buy Detroit in full and build a manufacturing plant for human augmentation.

Billionaire is used to denigrate and slander hard work and sincere attempts at doing good because "well you're a billionaire so you're automatically out of touch/don't really care/just doing it for PR and or money."

Also misused by people who don't understand what it means and think you're literally just sitting on a bank account with a billion dollars in it doing nothing, fueling said missguided resentment of said billionaire. Not understanding that it's based on wealth not money and in order to make use of that wealth as money the person would have to liquidate most of their assets, which would almost certainly instantly lose their value thus no longer being worth a billion anymore.

Yeah, there are definitely some people who look at things that some billionaires do and just waffle about it being all PR and useless, regardless of the context. Like when one of them does something to the specifications and suggestions of a group they are trying to help, and the only reason it wasn't used is because the timeline for events got rushed forward as an emergency.

Probably because 99 out of 100 times that's completely true and I'm not entirely convinced Elon is the 1. Bill Gates is probably the only billionaire I'm aware of that I actually believe has truly good intents (post-Microsoft).

Not sure you'll ever be convinced. This is a zealous hatred.

So then yes, in Elon's specific cause it's being applied to him in a way ment to delegate. Because it is often true but not in this case.

I’ll believe it when I see it.

Its a dog whistle term. You're not saying it to describe his wealth. You're saying it to call him a shitty phony person virtue signalling.

Aren't there still thousands of towns with water just as bad if not worse than Flint?

He's a billionaire but people use the word to describe his character and not strictly speaking the value of his assets. This is also swaying slightly off topic

There is a lot worse in the world in general than Flint's water problems but that is relative privation and not actually a good argument.

I don't even hate Elon but thanks for projecting. SpaceX and Tesla have pretty damn bad work conditions but the only time I see Elon do anything about it is when people finally get brave enough to start a lawsuit. Seriously, please explain to me why his workers shouldn't be allowed to unionize. There are multiple documented cases of bad work conditions there; they stand to legitimately benefit from a union. You're all way too willing to give Elon brownie points when he comes up with a glorified underwater tube or starts selling stupid shit like a glorified gardening flamethrower in a fancy case.

Nice.

I have really mixed feelings about Elon Musk, but you need to have some sort of irrational hatred for him if you think that this is not a good thing.

If he actually goes through with it, then good on him even if it might be a PR move.

Because unionizing isn't all it's cracked up to be and a cure all for worker problems. Further, they're as prohibited as any other group was historically. The problem is that a large portion of the workers don't want to be unionized. See, a union derives it's strength from the impact it can have on a business if it leverages the workforce against the business. But this means that there has to be a significant enough portion of the workforce involved in the union that it can hurt the business. There isn't a big enough group that wants to join a union so it has no strength. They're not ununionized because Elon Musk is out on the factory floor with a shotgun, it's because they're not interested in forming a union. Because if they organized together and shut down the Tesla plant, it would wreck the company overnight, Tesla would have to capitulate quickly to save themselves. So if they unionized it wouldn't matter if they're told they can't, they'd have the power to force it to be accepted. Funny enough I've seen some stories of automotive union reps getting in to fights with Tesla workers because they don't want to unionize.

If his workers really wanted a union, there's literally nothing Elon Musk could do about it.

It's a good thing but the precident it sets isn't a good thing. To preface, I'm glad he's doing it and I'd definitely welcome more action. However, people shouldn't need to look to Musk for solutions and basic utilities such as running water should not have to be the concern of private companies and their PR managers. It sets the precedent that this isn't a huge governmental failure and pushes people to shift their demands away from those who are accountable and responsible for the issue in the first place - a profit-driven lacklustre government that isn't solving the problems that it is responsible for. I'd perhaps have my qualms sufficed if he was simultaneously putting pressure on the government to do something as well, but the cynical part of me feels he's more concerned about PR.

That's not how that works.

If there was a serious desire to unionize at any of Elon's factories I would encourage them to strike or demonstrate enmasse but as of yet there have not been large portions of the some ~50,000 people Tesla and SpaceX employee. While there have been perhaps smaller demonstrations or perhaps incidents where people were fired who also happened to want unionization, I don't personally believe that the majority of workers really want it there. I don't think Elon is actively stifling their ability to unionize, and I think there's a lot of press that is less than honest about it coming from pro-UAW camps. The UAW having been under corruption investigation in the past, I have little reason to believe hiring instigators to infiltrate Tesla is beyond them. Since the 30,000 odd workers there represent a lot of lost money in the union bosses pockets. https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2017/11/02/fbi-uaw-investigation-gm-ford/826258001/ Former UAW official charged in expanding corruption probe | Reut.. I don't trust the UAW to have the workers best interest at heart. When they have been caught red-handed funneling money from workers and taking bribes from companies to line their pockets. I have no reason not to believe all they want is the cash cow Elon's businesses represent. I'm not saying all unions are corrupt. I'm saying the UAW specifically is corrupt.

Elon Musk’s daylong Twitter rant on unions and US history — Quar.. Musk has been in an ongoing battle over unionization at Tesla’s 10,000-worker Fremont, California factory. Employees have been unable to muster enough signatures to unionize the plant (once operated jointly by General Motors and Toyota), and a few workers have lodged complaints about intimidation and safety. An April investigation by Reveal, part of the Center for Investigative Reporting, alleged that Tesla had failed to report serious injuries as required by law.Tesla is scheduled to appear at a National Labor Relations Board hearing next month on a UAW complaint alleging union supporters were threatened. Yuh-huh, I'm sure it's just because people don't want to unionize, and not at all because of the underhanded tactics corporations use to stop people from trying to unionize in the first place. Walmart workers must really love their job too!!

It's the failure of the government to give a damn about these people, and actively working to stop them from getting compensation.

Ohh yeah, this too. A lot of people forget how corrupt and money driven unions can be too. Remember that organized crime and worker unions have a storied history in which organized crime groups would infiltrate or even start unions for the purposes of extortion. https://www.justice.gov/criminal-ocgs/infiltrated-labor-unions

They should take it to an unannounced, anonymous, company wide vote and be done with it.

The corruption of unions is a valid topic, but the point remains that conditions in Elon's workplaces are bad enough where workers could hugely benefit from unionization, and instead of addressing this by improving his workplaces he instead goes on Twitter to shit on unions instead. Edit: And that stops the workers from unionizing how? Intimidating workers by making them worry that they'll face reprecussions if they try to unionize? Turning employees against each other by questioning the loyalty of those who want to unionize to the company? Sowing seeds of distrust in unions among your workplace not for their benefit, but for the benefit of your corporation? Aka every classic method of trying to dissuade unionization? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONKkoiszVSs&app=desktop "How does this stop workers from unionizing?" Come on now.