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The Ethics Cloud Over Ballmer's $2 Billion B-Ball Buy
theodp (442580) writes '"It is hard to imagine any more heinous way of earning money than by benefiting from racism," writes Rick Cohen, who argues that Donald Sterling and the NBA owners are being unjustly enriched by Sterling's racism, which led to the $2 billion sale of the L.A. Clippers to ex-Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, a record-high sum for an NBA team. "Indeed, the only losers in the Sterling affair are the players," adds the NY Times. "What held promise as a possible D-Day in the N.B.A., a day when N.B.A. owners stood up to be counted and voted Donald Sterling out of the league, instead turned into a great day for the status quo." Forbes contributor Robert Wood speculates that if he plays his cards right, Sterling's windfall could be tax-free.'
Ethics? Ethics in the corporate world is what gets you the most cash. The corporate assholes live in a scruple-free culture.
Is it that he's being paid a market price for his team? How could it have been otherwise?
Here's Slashdot cheering the thought police. The man was baited into saying something in a private phone call. Where are our privacy champions now? What a bunch of frauds. We cheer Snowden because the media tells us to, but then champion spying on someone because the media tells us to.
What an incredibly stupid thing to post on Slashdot. the ONLY link to technology is Ballmer's name.
that no matter what, ** SOMEONE ** is gonna bitch about ** SOMETHING ** no matter what happened. Can't please all the people all the time.
Sterling never did anything illegal, he was just an old biggoted man. There exists no punishment society can inflict on him beyond personal actions like boycotting or just not liking him... So what gives? Why do people think that he can be robbed of an asset for being a biggot?
He has first amendment protections to be as big of a douchebag as he wants. His privacy was violated by his mistress and he was doing nothing illegal. The NBA has no grounds to force him out or deny him profit from the sale of an asset he shouldn't be forced to sell.
I'm pretty sick and tired of this crusade against capitalism all over the world, where anyone who makes a lot of money is either evil, unethical, or oppressive to his employees.
And I'm sick of how statistically speaking, anyone who makes a lot of money is either evil, unethical, or oppressive to his employees.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
We ought to outlaw selfishness. Everyone should always work towards the common good.
How inappropriate to call this planet Earth, when clearly it is Ocean.
More like "Ignore my checkbox to Disable Advertising". I'm still seeing banners at the top of the content and at the top of the right column.
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'"It is hard to imagine any more heinous way of earning money than by benefiting from racism," ... Well, lets think, you could run a child prostitution ring, child slavery, people trafficking, run a pharmacutical firm/country that denies poorer people medicine or be a banker. Not hard to imagine at all. (not sure what the rest of the summary was about as I did not read it.
For the hundredth time, vulcan, we're not joining any goddamn federation of planets!
SJW's don't eliminate discrimination. They just expropriate it for themselves.
> I'm pretty sick and tired
Have a lie down. And then see a doctor. And try and think of a reason other than sympathy towards your sorry plight for others to be interested in your opinions.
Sure. In your dystopic society where people can only think what you want them to think that is how things work. Fortunately in the real world things are not that bad, yet...
Not any more than you are, my friend, but it is easier to see the bad side of others whilst ignoring your own. I am pretty sure you wouldn't be able to satisfy the standards you want to enforce to the people you envy.
bear in mind this man is guilty of nothing more than saying something politically incorrect within the privacy of his own house.
What happened here? 1984 much?
Flappinbooger isn't my real name
Crony capitalism only exists when there is a big government to buy. Even more, the bigger and stronger the government is the "cronier" capitalism becomes. The only real way to fight crony capitalism is by decreasing government size and scope.
He spent 2.2 Billion just to have the opportunity to throw chairs in public again?
There are many things you can buy for 2.2 Billion. This is one of them.
Rich people are not "harming" anybody. Much on the contrary. Someone with employees is providing the employees jobs that otherwise wouldn't exist. He can "screw them over" and they can decide to go elsewhere. That is how a free society works.
On the other hand if you increase government powers, those same employees can be "screwed over" without any chance to defend themselves under the threat of force. And even worse this force can be bought by those rich guys.
So if you want to prevent damage from being done you should defend that governments should be as small as possible and that violence and coercion, which are the tools of any government, should be kept at a minimum.
Rich people are not "harming" anybody. Much on the contrary. Someone with employees is providing the employees jobs that otherwise wouldn't exist.
[citation needed]
On the other hand if you increase government powers
It's not the other hand. It's the same hand, because business runs government.
So if you want to prevent damage from being done you should defend that governments should be as small as possible
Corporations are running government, so your solution is less government, so that corporations can run everything without government.
My solution is less centralized government, so that people have control over their own destinies, but so that they still have control.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
I just RTFA. Even though some of the techniques the author speculates go beyond questionable into the realm of "no fucking way could he get away with that" (claiming a forced sale, claiming a loss), NONE of them actually eliminates taxes on his gain. They change the amount; they shuffle the timing around; but again NONE of them results in a "tax-free" windfall.
Mobile Safari gets banners at the top and obnoxious floaters at the bottom. On iPhone the floater often goes off the side and doesn't zoom right, making the dumb "hide" button hard/impossible to get at.
It's better than Beta, but not much.
But Sterling got rich as a personal injury lawyer, and then mega-rich as a slum lord. He's the one man in America *everybody* can despise. Ballmer has actually found a situation where he can step in and people will heave a sign of relief.
Well played, sir. Well played.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
Let's not forget that Sterling has been a Grade A fuckwad for decades before this. He has been sued multiple times for his racist housing discrimination practices. He lost one case outright. The terms of the other were confidential, but he had to pay millions in attorney fees, so let's guess how that one ended.
http://www.latimes.com/local/l...
That's just the tip of his douchebag iceberg. He should have been run out long ago, but the league is a bunch of cowards. Fortunately, the players forced their hands by pretty much promising that no one would play for him again after this season.
'"It is hard to imagine any more heinous way of earning money than by benefiting from racism," writes Rick Cohen
I guess Rick Cohen has never been to or heard of a donkey show.
If you prefer to live in a state that requires two-party consent to record, be my guest.
Just don't ever complain if a police officer ever takes away your camera as they're beating you senseless. (In other words, when an injustice is being committed, you cannot expect the unjust to permit their acts to be made public. One-party consent states doesn't have this issue.)
The NBA is a private association with it's own governing charter. It's a billionaires club. If all of the other members of the club hate you because you have a LONG HISTORY of being a total racist, cheapskate, and litigious dick, it is within their right to throw you out. Additionally, his wife had him declared incompetent, so legality is even less of an issue. As for the "baiting", even if we ignore his long history of bad behavior, he insulted Magic Johnson - one of the greatest players of all time, and the guy who's statue he walks by every time he enters the Staples Center - IN HIS APOLOGY. Yes, he said he was a bad influence him for HAVING HIV. Yes he said he could be "doing more" for the community - the guy who opened hundreds of new businesses in black neighborhoods across LA. Oh, and that apology took him a week, and in the meantime, he said he should have just "paid her off". Also, BOTH teams (including his own) were going to refuse to play (in the playoffs) if the commissioner didn't act. NO ONE liked him, not even those who worked for him. If you want to talk about freedom, how about the freedom to not have to deal with this jerk? I believe they always had the legal authority to kick him out, but his history of litigious dickishness would have cost them billions in legal fees and bad PR. Carpe Diem. And Ballmer (not famous for his likability) will be a HUGE upgrade.
Remember racism is not illegal. Discrimination based on race in the workplace is.
Thoughtcrime is currently not illegal, but they (the media + the powers that be) are trying their damned hardest to make it so.
Remember that guy, Harvard University President or something, he was caught saying "maybe we shouldn't be so obsessed with pushing more women into math/science, after all women on average show less aptitude in those fields". He was vilified in the media as being worse than the Devil and Hitler combined. He was fired like the next day. All for saying what pretty much every average Joe knows already.
I swear, I'm all for high tech and scientific research, except when it comes to mental technology. Because if they ever make a thought detector, you just KNOW they're gonna use it to sniff out people with impure thoughts and round them up. They're trying to do it right now even though they don't have a mental detector.