Cash Flow

 I'll be honest: Part of the reason for me to slag Elon Musk is jealousy. My vision of the world is limited by my perception of it, and that is the world of an urban elementary school teacher. After twenty-five years I am making what can be described as a living wage. I have a mortgage and I own my own car. My family and I go out to dinner occasionally, and when there isn't a global pandemic going on we take a trip each year. 

Meanwhile, the refrigerator continues to make that clunking sound when the compressor stops. I learned that comes from the springs that hold the compressor in place wearing out. Not a reason to replace a major appliance, but it's a daily reminder of just how old our refrigerator is. We continue to look for deals. When I buy running shoes, I go with last year's model because it's always forty dollars cheaper. 

I continue to pick up change from the sidewalk when I see it. 

I don't suppose that Mister Musk has stooped to snag a dime off the curb anytime recently. He just spent forty-five billion dollars to buy Twitter. He could have bought the world a Coke five times over for that and had billions left over. If we could get folks to in groups of four or five, he could pay to teach the world to sing. In sweet harmony. He could buy billions of apple trees and honey bees, and turtle doves. All for the cost of a company that traffics in random opinions and thoughts about breakfast cereal. 

And as far as buying the world a home and furnishing it with love, he's continued to avoid any attempt at philanthropy. In a battle of obscenely wealthy individuals, Bill Gates challenged his fellow oligarch to throw some of that money at saving the world. To which Musky replied,  "Sorry, but I cannot take your philanthropy on climate change seriously when you have a massive short position against Tesla, the company doing the most to solve climate change." Nothing personal there Bill. It's just business. 

Elon's daddy, creatively named Errol to save on vowels, once described his family's life as the owners of an emerald mine: "We had so much money at times we couldn't even close our safe." From such humble beginnings, who would have expected anything but Elon in his current configuration? He claims that he will be paying eleven billion dollars in taxes this year. His company, the "company doing the most to solve climate change" is expected to (shuffles papers, checks adding machine tape) pay nothing. 

The enlightened mind might care to take on the position that you wouldn't want the rich man's troubles. Like finding a safe big enough to hold all your money. But who knows if this Twitter thing will really pan out. Thank goodness he's got all those vowels to spare, after naming his son X Æ A-12. If you've got any ideas about how to spend Elon's money, hit him up on Twitter. You know he'll be receptive.