News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Fri. Dec. 4, 2015: This week’s episode is about President Obama by association.
His association with multi-billionaire Mark Zuckerberg, who you can be sure President Obama refers to as a “friend.” They have been together numerous times. Zuckerberg gets to make personal phone calls to Obama. The Zuckerbergs have received a coveted invitation to a White House State dinner, and just last month Obama made a promo for Facebook with Mark.
And if you want to make a very, very safe bet, expect either Barack or Michelle or maybe both to be named to the Facebook board of directors once they exit The White House next year. In the very, very fine print no one gets to see, you are likely to find they have been given Facebook ‘options’ that when exercised quietly later, will bring the Obama’s tens of millions of $$$$.
I did not say it is certain; just a very safe bet to make.
That is how ex-Presidents are taken care of by their very rich “friends.”
President Obama and Mark Zuckerberg were linked again this week in Paris at the Global Climate Summit, and it is this week that Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan decided to make their special announcement back in California following the birth of their daughter Max.
If you have not heard – (if that is possible) – Mark and Priscilla announced this week in a letter to their new daughter and to the world they are going to donate 99% of Mark’s Facebook stock today worth $46 Billion and probably much more in the future – virtually ALL of it to charity. WOW!!!!
Be sure if he hasn’t already, President Obama’s flying back to the U.S. on Air Force One and will be calling the Happy Couple to congratulate them on their new daughter and their incredible generosity beyond any ever seen before.
YIKES! Will they even be Billionaires after giving it all away?
Much more likely Barack will call to congratulate them on their Con Game.
This is also a story about the Stupid Media including huge stories in The New York Times and Wall Street Journal. Sorry partners. Suckers!
Here is the opening paragraph in the front page story in The New York Times, Wednesday, December 2, 2015, titled ….
Facebook Chief Vows To Donate 99% Of His Shares To Charity.
That is crystal clear no ambiguity at all just like the first paragraph …
“Mark Zuckerberg, the co-founder and chief executive of Facebook, announced on Tuesday that he and his wife would give 99 percent of their Facebook shares “during our lives” — holdings currently worth more than $45 billion — to charitable purposes.”
There is no room to be Cynical here – Mark and Priscilla are Saints!
Or how about this from Obama’s America other most frequent ‘partner’ The Wall Street Journal even better … their headline Wednesday …
ZUCKERBERG TO GIVE AWAY FORTUNE
There is NO way to misinterpret that declarative headline, followed by their opening paragraph …
“Facebook Inc. Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, said Tuesday that over the course of their lives they would give away 99% of their Facebook shares, now valued at $45 billion, in what would be one of the world’s largest philanthropic gifts.”
EXCEPT it is a Big Lie!
Mark and Priscilla Zuckerberg are a couple of Con Artists successfully playing almost everyone and especially the media for SUCKERS.
This is a lesson in how the REAL World works and how Zuckerberg and others like his buddy Barack Obama feed the rest of us lots of nonsense.
Let’s unpackage this mess. It is not difficult.
Mark Zuckerberg is giving away nothing at all.
How can that be? Their statement and the media reporting is so specific?
Is it? Here is what Zuckerberg is really doing …
He is NOT setting up a charity or foundation or anything like it.
If he even keeps his so called promise, what he and is wife say they are going to do over the next 30 to 40 years is slowly transfer the ownership of their huge holdings in Facebook stock to another for profit company – the Chan Zuckerberg, Initiative LLC., which they will fully control and has no legal obligation to make any charitable donations to anyone but will make investments they say in socially useful companies and will lobby for good causes that they define as useful and make political contributions.
Sure they will make investments in solar energy, in third world countries, in all kinds of things many socially responsible money making companies do.
Some Giving Pledge. Giving to themselves more power and influence!
All this is, is a non-binding promise to transfer their wealth from one company to another and giving up nothing and keeping control of Facebook with Mark Zuckerberg retaining controlling ownership of Facebook stock.
It gets even worse once you read the one objective article published in Pro Publica titled: “ How Mark Zuckerberg’s Altruism Helps Himself” …
“Zuckerberg and Chan did not set up a charitable foundation, which has non-profit status. He created a limited liability company, one that has already reaped enormous benefits as public relations coup for himself. His PR return-on-investment dwarfs that of his Facebook stock. Zuckerberg was depicted in breathless, glowing terms for having, in essence, moved money from one pocket to the other.”
ENCORE!!!
“ Zuckerberg was depicted in breathless, glowing terms for having, in essence, moved money from one pocket to the other.”
ANOTHER ENCORE …
“Zuckerberg was depicted in breathless, glowing terms for having, in essence, moved money from one pocket to the other.”
Here is more…
“An LLC can invest in for-profit companies (perhaps these will be characterized as socially responsible companies, but lots of companies claim the mantle of societal responsibility). An LLC can make political donations. It can lobby for changes in the law. He remains completely free to do as he wishes with his money. That’s what America is all about. But as a society, we don’t generally call these types of activities “charity.”
“What’s more, a charitable foundation is subject to rules and oversight. It has to allocate a certain percentage of its assets every year. The new Zuckerberg LLC won’t be subject to those rules and won’t have any transparency requirements.”
“So what are the tax implications? They are quite generous to Zuckerberg. I asked Victor Fleischer, a law professor and tax specialist at the University of San Diego School of Law, as well as a contributor to DealBook. He explained that if the LLC sold stock, Zuckerberg would pay a hefty capital gains tax, particularly if Facebook stock kept climbing.”
“If the LLC donated to a charity, he would get a deduction like anyone else.. But the LLC probably won’t do that because it can do better. The savvier move, Professor Fleischer explained, would be to have the LLC donate the appreciated shares to charity, which would generate a deduction at fair market value of the stock without triggering any tax.”
This entire deal by Zuckerberg and his wife is a Classic Con and it worked beautifully except in Pro Publica and Obama’s America.
No one should be surprised. Zuckerberg is a Master of the Con. How did he become so rich in ten years? He allegedly stole the idea for Facebook from two brothers at Harvard who hired him to develop the concept for them.
Why isn’t America and the world a better place for most of us because the Super Rich get to jerk us around as much as they like whenever they want?
That has not changed at all with Barack Obama as President. And the Silicon Valley Zillionaires are more than a match for the Robber Barons of old.
The Obamas’ will benefit royally from friends like Mark Zuckerberg.
Barack don’t forget to call Mark and congratulate him!
Don’t worry, I am sure he will not forget.
And neither will Mark Zuckerberg!
