Steve Ballmer to invest 100 million dollars into Inglewood as part of arena deal (affordable housing etc)

[OkcSinceSGA]

Philanthropy, the biggest hoax we have going in America. It's nothing but tax breaks and political power plays. Look like a hero and help yourself at the same time. Doubtful this helps anyone but Ballmer himself.

nothing is more comical than those billionaires who call themselves 'philanthropists' while they hoard the vast majority of the wealth, move jobs abroad, kill the middle class and undermine our 'meritocracy' with their nepotism.

but hey, he bought apartment buildings!

What has Ballmer done in the past that leads you to believe he will do this? If there is one thing about him that differs its that he's genuine. His wife and him are part of the pledge to donated half of their wealth. Also right offs for donations via tax are greatly diminished under Trump's new plan. I highly doubt this is about profit for a guy worth 52 billion who doesn't have a track record of this. Also the article says he's investing the money and giving to the city, not privately owning the things he's giving money for.

I get the general premise but Ballmer is FAR from your usual billionaire.

Sent from my LM-Q710(FGN) using RealGM mobile app

[clyde21]

Philanthropy, the biggest hoax we have going in America. It's nothing but tax breaks and political power plays. Look like a hero and help yourself at the same time. Doubtful this helps anyone but Ballmer himself.

nothing is more comical than those billionaires who call themselves 'philanthropists' while they hoard the vast majority of the wealth, move jobs abroad, kill the middle class and undermine our 'meritocracy' with their nepotism.

but hey, he bought apartment buildings!

What has Ballmer done in the past that leads you to believe he will do this? If there is one thing about him that differs its that he's genuine. His wife and him are part of the pledge to donated half of their wealth. Also right offs for donations via tax are greatly diminished under Trump's new plan. I highly doubt this is about profit for a guy worth 52 billion who doesn't have a track record of this. Also the article says he's investing the money and giving to the city, not privately owning the things he's giving money for.

I get the general premise but Ballmer is FAR from your usual billionaire.

Sent from my LM-Q710(FGN) using RealGM mobile app

what has he done to prove this otherwise? bilionaire 'philanthropy' is well documented to be a farce/sham. just a complete facade to try and justify the wealth they've hoarded.

take a look at Inglewood in 20 years like someone else said...I doubt even 30% of the families living there today will be living there then.

[fianchetto]

nothing is more comical than those billionaires who call themselves 'philanthropists' while they hoard the vast majority of the wealth, move jobs abroad, kill the middle class and undermine our 'meritocracy' with their nepotism.

but hey, he bought apartment buildings in inglewood that the people of inglewood won't be able to afford! what a guy.

you guys should hang out with Kyrie. Woke I tells ya. Philanthropy is a sham!

lol, you are such a useless caricature...the next time u have a contributing thought will be the first time.

Ad hominem Clyde, ad hominem. No need for personal insults. The problem is that your posts lack original thought and perpetuate ill-thought-out platitudes. And there’s about 50000 of them. It’s not that I pick on you, it’s that your **** posts are everywhere. It’s prbability.

[clyde21]

well technically how would you propose investing into properties and upgrade them but then charge people the same rent? sounds like a bad business plan.

My view is the following: we should have better and better places in the world.
Everytime a neighborhood is improved it is a victory, as you're not going to bomb another in the meantime.
Wealthy people might move there and leave their old places behind, that could be available for people who couldn't afford them.

lol...wealthy people don't just own 1 place. they own a handful. that's part of the problem.

[clyde21]

you guys should hang out with Kyrie. Woke I tells ya. Philanthropy is a sham!

lol, you are such a useless caricature...the next time u have a contributing thought will be the first time.

Ad hominem Clyde, ad hominem. No need for personal insults. The problem is that your posts lack original thought and perpetuate ill-thought-out platitudes. And there’s about 50000 of them. It’s not that I pick on you, it’s that your **** posts are everywhere. It’s prbability.

you've been baiting this entire thread with whack gifs and dumb not funny one-liners that no one gives a **** about, you haven't offered a single coherent thought here or anywhere else. laughable...go away

[macNcheese3]

Something tells me a construction company owned by Uncle Dennis will be getting a large chunk of those contracts.

Or a judge....

[Forte IV]

So no ones going to point out the fact that Inglewood properties are doubling (and more) in value? If in 20 years people arent living Inglewood it's because they sold their home for huge profit. Yes there's people renting, but there's also definitely poorer home owners out there that will truly benefit from all of this. Everyone in this thread is assuming things here.

Have you actually talked to an Inglewood resident? Or are you simply speaking for them without truly knowing what's going on there? I know for a fact there are a couple Inglewood residents on this forum that are loving the fact their homes are worth more now.

[fianchetto]

lol, you are such a useless caricature...the next time u have a contributing thought will be the first time.

Ad hominem Clyde, ad hominem. No need for personal insults. The problem is that your posts lack original thought and perpetuate ill-thought-out platitudes. And there’s about 50000 of them. It’s not that I pick on you, it’s that your **** posts are everywhere. It’s prbability.

you've been baiting this entire thread with whack gifs and dumb not funny one-liners that no one gives a **** about, you haven't offered a single coherent thought here or anywhere else. laughable...go away

I'll let you cool off clyde. The stage is yours. Make sure to hit your ppd quota.

[HotelVitale]

Philanthropy, the biggest hoax we have going in America. It's nothing but tax breaks and political power plays. Look like a hero and help yourself at the same time. Doubtful this helps anyone but Ballmer himself.

nothing is more comical than those billionaires who call themselves 'philanthropists' while they hoard the vast majority of the wealth, move jobs abroad, kill the middle class and undermine our 'meritocracy' with their nepotism. but hey, he bought apartment buildings in inglewood that the people of inglewood won't be able to afford! what a guy.

you guys should hang out with Kyrie. Woke I tells ya. Philanthropy is a sham!

Fianchetto, none of this is controversial. It's an undeniable fact that the wealthy have gotten MUCH wealthier at the expense of the middle class over the past 40 years; some of them feel guilty about that and some are opposed to it but the vast majority of the mega-wealthy want it to be that way and even believe that's for the good of the world. That's not to say that all philanthropy is fake and calculated, but most of it is leaving that larger structural inequality intact and usually supporting it, and many many large donations are for sort of vanity projects or things that sound like they're doing some good but are ultimately about ego or a personal interest of the person. Fwiw, I work in political advocacy and often have to deal with wealthy donors and their foundations to get community-based stuff funded; there are some rich folks who like to give money away and don't care how it turns out but more of them want control and want it to serve a vision they have.

In this case, Ballmer probably thinks this is doing some good but the project as a whole is about him wanting to make this Clippers arena and the area around it a happening spot, and he's giving the money to community stuff to sort of ease that transition and make everyone feel better about it. Not saying it doesn't come from a genuine place but it's not directly about trying to lift people out of poverty--which would require a much larger amount of time and money. (For example, with that money he could've found ways to return houses that had been foreclosed on by banks in the last decade to long-time homeowners, or he could've put money into acquiring property and landtrusting it so it remains for long-time residents in perpetuity, etc.)

[RoyceDa59]

Balmer's a fun guy

[DoItALL9]

What does James Dolan have to say about all of this?

Sent from my LM-G710 using RealGM mobile app

[fianchetto]

nothing is more comical than those billionaires who call themselves 'philanthropists' while they hoard the vast majority of the wealth, move jobs abroad, kill the middle class and undermine our 'meritocracy' with their nepotism. but hey, he bought apartment buildings in inglewood that the people of inglewood won't be able to afford! what a guy.

you guys should hang out with Kyrie. Woke I tells ya. Philanthropy is a sham!

Fianchetto, none of this is controversial. It's an undeniable fact that the wealthy have gotten MUCH wealthier at the expense of the middle class over the past 40 years; some of them feel guilty about that and some are opposed to it but the vast majority of the mega-wealthy want it to be that way and even believe that's for the good of the world. That's not to say that all philanthropy is fake and calculated, but most of it is leaving that larger structural inequality intact and usually supporting it, and many many large donations are for sort of vanity projects or things that sound like they're doing some good but are ultimately about ego or a personal interest of the person. Fwiw, I work in political advocacy and often have to deal with wealthy donors and their foundations to get community-based stuff funded; there are some rich folks who like to give money away and don't care how it turns out but more of them want control and want it to serve a vision they have.

In this case, Ballmer probably thinks this is doing some good but the project as a whole is about him wanting to make this Clippers arena and the area around it a happening spot, and he's giving the money to community stuff to sort of ease that transition and make everyone feel better about it. Not saying it doesn't come from a genuine place but it's not directly about trying to lift people out of poverty--which would require a much larger amount of time and money. (For example, with that money he could've found ways to return houses that had been foreclosed on by banks in the last decade to long-time homeowners, or he could've put money into acquiring property and landtrusting it so it remains for long-time residents in perpetuity, etc.)

I read things in your post like:

"some of them feel guilty about that and some are opposed to it"
"That's not to say that all philanthropy is fake and calculated"
"Ballmer probably thinks this is doing some good"

I agree. It's not black and white. But the lazy cynicism in our society is represented in this thread. Immediately, people are looking at the negatives and bashing the guy for being greedy, not knowing anything more than what the articles report.

It's easy to go on an anonymous board and blame the evil rich and completely ignore the good rich. And Ballmer, by all accounts, seems like a good guy.

Fact is, he could've taken that money and put it into better programs. Another fact? He could've put nothing into anything.

Too many people sit on their ass complaining about the status quo. Why don't they go out, work hard, make a million, make another million, and make a difference? Not all of these rich guys got rich due to nepotism -- that's a copout. And there are increasing self made billionaires who do real good in the world. But no, let's call Ballmer and ass and say "philanthropy is a hoax".

I enjoyed your post because it was rational and thought out. The other guys however, are part of the problem.

[clyde21]

you guys should hang out with Kyrie. Woke I tells ya. Philanthropy is a sham!

Fianchetto, none of this is controversial. It's an undeniable fact that the wealthy have gotten MUCH wealthier at the expense of the middle class over the past 40 years; some of them feel guilty about that and some are opposed to it but the vast majority of the mega-wealthy want it to be that way and even believe that's for the good of the world. That's not to say that all philanthropy is fake and calculated, but most of it is leaving that larger structural inequality intact and usually supporting it, and many many large donations are for sort of vanity projects or things that sound like they're doing some good but are ultimately about ego or a personal interest of the person. Fwiw, I work in political advocacy and often have to deal with wealthy donors and their foundations to get community-based stuff funded; there are some rich folks who like to give money away and don't care how it turns out but more of them want control and want it to serve a vision they have.

In this case, Ballmer probably thinks this is doing some good but the project as a whole is about him wanting to make this Clippers arena and the area around it a happening spot, and he's giving the money to community stuff to sort of ease that transition and make everyone feel better about it. Not saying it doesn't come from a genuine place but it's not directly about trying to lift people out of poverty--which would require a much larger amount of time and money. (For example, with that money he could've found ways to return houses that had been foreclosed on by banks in the last decade to long-time homeowners, or he could've put money into acquiring property and landtrusting it so it remains for long-time residents in perpetuity, etc.)

Fact is, he could've taken that money and put it into better programs. Another fact? He could've put nothing into anything.

what? how are you sitting here justifying gentrification? developing new apartment buildings does not help the poor communities of Inglewood AT ALL, and in many ways will end up actually driving them OUT of the area

this isn't a situation of 'hey, at least he did something'...no, i'd rather him not do anything at all instead of contributing to the gentrification of Inglewood.

again, this is about him making a profit more than anything...if he really wanted to help Inglewood there are infinitely more productive and better, long-lasting ways to do it (previous poster already mentioned a couple of ways).

but let's not act like this isn't just another billionaire using 'philanthropy' to 1) accumulate even more wealth and 2) use philanthropy as a facade to justify the absolutely insane amount of wealth they've hoarded.

[fianchetto]

Fianchetto, none of this is controversial. It's an undeniable fact that the wealthy have gotten MUCH wealthier at the expense of the middle class over the past 40 years; some of them feel guilty about that and some are opposed to it but the vast majority of the mega-wealthy want it to be that way and even believe that's for the good of the world. That's not to say that all philanthropy is fake and calculated, but most of it is leaving that larger structural inequality intact and usually supporting it, and many many large donations are for sort of vanity projects or things that sound like they're doing some good but are ultimately about ego or a personal interest of the person. Fwiw, I work in political advocacy and often have to deal with wealthy donors and their foundations to get community-based stuff funded; there are some rich folks who like to give money away and don't care how it turns out but more of them want control and want it to serve a vision they have.

In this case, Ballmer probably thinks this is doing some good but the project as a whole is about him wanting to make this Clippers arena and the area around it a happening spot, and he's giving the money to community stuff to sort of ease that transition and make everyone feel better about it. Not saying it doesn't come from a genuine place but it's not directly about trying to lift people out of poverty--which would require a much larger amount of time and money. (For example, with that money he could've found ways to return houses that had been foreclosed on by banks in the last decade to long-time homeowners, or he could've put money into acquiring property and landtrusting it so it remains for long-time residents in perpetuity, etc.)

Fact is, he could've taken that money and put it into better programs. Another fact? He could've put nothing into anything.

what? how are you sitting here justifying gentrification? developing new apartment buildings does not help the poor communities of Inglewood AT ALL, and in many ways will end up actually driving them OUT of the area

this isn't a situation of 'hey, at least he did something'...no, i'd rather him not do anything at all instead of contributing to the gentrification of Inglewood.

again, this is about him making a profit more than anything...if he really wanted to help Inglewood there are infinitely more productive and better, long-lasting ways to do it (previous poster already mentioned a couple of ways).

but let's not act like this isn't just another billionaire using 'philanthropy' to 1) accumulate even more wealth and 2) use philanthropy as a facade to justify the absolutely insane amount of wealth they've hoarded.

1) He put some money into education and youth programs, a fact that you keep on pretending didn't happen. Even if it was a PR stunt, you don't know the guy but are so quick to rip him apart categorically on your anonymous platform
2) You built up a strawman of me justifying gentrification
3) Gentrification isn't objectively bad. It's subjectively bad.

[Rockice_24]

Philanthropy, the biggest hoax we have going in America. It's nothing but tax breaks and political power plays. Look like a hero and help yourself at the same time. Doubtful this helps anyone but Ballmer himself.

nothing is more comical than those billionaires who call themselves 'philanthropists' while they hoard the vast majority of the wealth, move jobs abroad, kill the middle class and undermine our 'meritocracy' with their nepotism.

but hey, he bought apartment buildings in inglewood that the people of inglewood won't be able to afford! what a guy.

you guys should hang out with Kyrie. Woke I tells ya. Philanthropy is a sham!

Listen nobody is saying people who donate money for the right reasons are bad people. The problem is the majority of them do it for the wrong reasons. Mostly political power to further their own interests or get tax breaks by calling it a no profit. Pretty sure and correct me if I'm wrong someone but only 1% of non profits must be dolled out each year. READ THAT AGAIN 1% ONLY.

Zuckerberg donated 99% of his wealth to a non profit but do you think that 45B went to actual use. Pull your head out of the sand bro.

Educate yourself https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/may/24/the-trouble-with-charitable-billionaires-philanthrocapitalism

Long read but explains what is going on.

Again not every donation or person is like this but for the most part they are so stop pretending like every time you see some millionaire make a donation him/her are doing it for the right reasons.

[clyde21]

Fact is, he could've taken that money and put it into better programs. Another fact? He could've put nothing into anything.

what? how are you sitting here justifying gentrification? developing new apartment buildings does not help the poor communities of Inglewood AT ALL, and in many ways will end up actually driving them OUT of the area

this isn't a situation of 'hey, at least he did something'...no, i'd rather him not do anything at all instead of contributing to the gentrification of Inglewood.

again, this is about him making a profit more than anything...if he really wanted to help Inglewood there are infinitely more productive and better, long-lasting ways to do it (previous poster already mentioned a couple of ways).

but let's not act like this isn't just another billionaire using 'philanthropy' to 1) accumulate even more wealth and 2) use philanthropy as a facade to justify the absolutely insane amount of wealth they've hoarded.

1) He put some money into education and youth programs, a fact that you keep on pretending didn't happen. Even if it was a PR stunt, you don't know the guy but are so quick to rip him apart categorically on your anonymous platform
2) You built up a strawman of me justifying gentrification
3) Gentrification isn't objectively bad. It's subjectively bad.

i'm not ripping him, billionaires gonna billionaire, i'm disputing the earlier idea in the thread that this is somehow good for Inglewood and its population. this project is going to do more harm than good, that's is indisputable and backed up by evidence we've seen over and over and over again.

[clyde21]

nothing is more comical than those billionaires who call themselves 'philanthropists' while they hoard the vast majority of the wealth, move jobs abroad, kill the middle class and undermine our 'meritocracy' with their nepotism.

but hey, he bought apartment buildings in inglewood that the people of inglewood won't be able to afford! what a guy.

you guys should hang out with Kyrie. Woke I tells ya. Philanthropy is a sham!

Listen nobody is saying people who donate money for the right reasons are bad people. The problem is the majority of them do it for the wrong reasons. Mostly political power to further their own interests or get tax breaks by calling it a no profit. Pretty sure and correct me if I'm wrong someone but only 1% of non profits must be dolled out each year. READ THAT AGAIN 1% ONLY.

Zuckerberg donated 99% of his wealth to a non profit but do you think that 45B went to actual use. Pull your head out of the sand bro.

Educate yourself https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/may/24/the-trouble-with-charitable-billionaires-philanthrocapitalism

Long read but explains what is going on.

Again not every donation or person is like this but for the most part they are so stop pretending like every time you see some millionaire make a donation him/her are doing it for the right reasons.

it's a ploy...'hey, look, i'm doing good things with my money give me more!'

or maybe we should give more money to Bill and Melinda Gates to run more population control experiments in Africa while we're at it...yay!

[fianchetto]

nothing is more comical than those billionaires who call themselves 'philanthropists' while they hoard the vast majority of the wealth, move jobs abroad, kill the middle class and undermine our 'meritocracy' with their nepotism.

but hey, he bought apartment buildings in inglewood that the people of inglewood won't be able to afford! what a guy.

you guys should hang out with Kyrie. Woke I tells ya. Philanthropy is a sham!

Listen nobody is saying people who donate money for the right reasons are bad people. The problem is the majority of them do it for the wrong reasons. Mostly political power to further their own interests or get tax breaks by calling it a no profit. Pretty sure and correct me if I'm wrong someone but only 1% of non profits must be dolled out each year. READ THAT AGAIN 1% ONLY.

Zuckerberg donated 99% of his wealth to a non profit but do you think that 45B went to actual use. Pull your head out of the sand bro.

Educate yourself https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/may/24/the-trouble-with-charitable-billionaires-philanthrocapitalism

Long read but explains what is going on.

Again not every donation or person is like this but for the most part they are so stop pretending like every time you see some millionaire make a donation him/her are doing it for the right reasons.

People need to start seeing both sides of every story. That's what happens with flat-earthers, they only read flat earth stuff and disregard the other stuff. Again, I am not arguing that philanthropy is all good. I'm arguing about blanket statements like "philanthropy is a hoax".

Why do you conveniently bring up an anecdote about one billionaire that supports your point?

People need to think for themselves and stop categorical labeling.

The immediate reaction is always negative these days. Let's stop the lazy cynisism

[ckman]

NBA got owner who threaten to move if the city don't finance for new arena and yet people still find a way to criticize Ballmer who include a clause of investing 100m more to community so he can build an arena, seriously?

[Forte IV]

Love people ignoring what I posted while continuing to assume things without actually asking the people of Inglewood their thoughts.

The overall problem with low income housing increasing is not the fact housing prices go up. It's that salaries don't.