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> It really looks like more "green washing" purely to the benefit of the "Bloomberg" brand. I have no doubt that Bloomberg is doing this, at least in part, to

> It really looks like more "green washing" purely to the benefit of the "Bloomberg" brand. I have no doubt that Bloomberg is doing this, at least in part, to get credit for giving $500m away to help decarbonize the economy. And yet if that was his goal he could have accomplished this in many ways. You seem to be going further and accusing him of giving $500m away in a manner that’s explicitly designed to be ineffective. That doesn’t make a ton of sense to me.

Clubber 3y ago
I'm sure he's getting something out of it. Perhaps it's really more lobbying for Bloomberg. Perhaps it's tax related. Perhaps it's just a "pledge," which is non-binding.
- Dylan16807 3y ago
  > Perhaps it's tax related. Like a deduction? I don't know why people talk about tax deductions so weirdly. If you give away a dollar, and through deductions avoid paying 25 cents of tax on the dollar, you still gave away that money. It's not some clever scheme to benefit you. At most you get to brag about a moderately higher number. If you meant something else, I'm very curious.
  - Clubber 3y ago
    I don't know all the tax loopholes billionaires use, I'm not an accountant. He's probably not giving $500M in cash or all cash, it could be old equipment valued higher, buildings, etc. If I donated an old beat up Chevy pickup, I could say it was worth $10,000 when it was really worth $200 in scrap, maybe. Do that with a fleet of 100 trucks and that's a million right there. You just pay an expert to value it higher if you need to, but you probably don't even need to do that. The IRS isn't in the business of valuing things, and it's hard to prove what the value of something is at any given time. He could be donating it to another company he owns, who knows. If there's one thing I know, billionaires don't pay much tax. You know how the art trick works for deductions?
ars 3y ago
I wouldn't go so far as to say "explicitly designed", but he is in fact spending the money in a way that's ineffective. His motivations I don't know. But the results can be seen - this is a waste of money.

Clubber 3y ago

I'm sure he's getting something out of it. Perhaps it's really more lobbying for Bloomberg. Perhaps it's tax related. Perhaps it's just a "pledge," which is non-binding.

Dylan16807 3y ago
> Perhaps it's tax related. Like a deduction? I don't know why people talk about tax deductions so weirdly. If you give away a dollar, and through deductions avoid paying 25 cents of tax on the dollar, you still gave away that money. It's not some clever scheme to benefit you. At most you get to brag about a moderately higher number. If you meant something else, I'm very curious.
- Clubber 3y ago
  I don't know all the tax loopholes billionaires use, I'm not an accountant. He's probably not giving $500M in cash or all cash, it could be old equipment valued higher, buildings, etc. If I donated an old beat up Chevy pickup, I could say it was worth $10,000 when it was really worth $200 in scrap, maybe. Do that with a fleet of 100 trucks and that's a million right there. You just pay an expert to value it higher if you need to, but you probably don't even need to do that. The IRS isn't in the business of valuing things, and it's hard to prove what the value of something is at any given time. He could be donating it to another company he owns, who knows. If there's one thing I know, billionaires don't pay much tax. You know how the art trick works for deductions?

ars 3y ago

I wouldn't go so far as to say "explicitly designed", but he is in fact spending the money in a way that's ineffective. His motivations I don't know. But the results can be seen - this is a waste of money.