How is it nuttery to have suspicions about an oddly-timed death with a motive? It's nuttery to draw conclusions I suppose, but not to have suspicions. The hastings case was fairly obvious, I mean, they wouldn't even let Mercedes examine the car...
Suspicious. The conspiracy theorist in me says that someone wanted to put the investigation to bed quickly and make it seem like the death of the founder puts an end to the allegations.
He was reportedly driving a 2013 Chevy Tahoe, which typically has OnStar. DARPA demonstrated the ability to hack GMC's OnStar system to remotely control brake and throttle about a year ago. Make of that what you will.
http://jalopnik.com/darpa-hacks-gms-onstar-to-remote-control...
Interesting, but an assertion of this type without evidence only expands the universe of possibilities rather than point to anything being the cause of it.
If it's a big SUV you can take write-offs. Here is some data from my accountant. "By way of example: $40k suv. $25k section 179. Then bonus is 50% of the $15k remaining $7500. Then a little bit of standard depreciation. So that vehicle would be a $32,500 deduction if new or $25,000 if used."
1. This is trivially disproved by observing people who have accumulated a lot of wealth. They spend it on dumb shit all the time.
2. Buying a Tahoe is not "spending much" if you are a billionaire.
3. Most wealthy people do not become wealthy by sticking to formulas in garbage self-help books: they inherit it, they become famous entertainers, they become successful professional athletes, they're former politicians who make insane amounts of money on speaking fees, books, and sweetheart access-based jobs. They're people who've created singular inventions or companies that produce dramatic payoffs. Sure, Warren Buffet (a wealthy, connected child who was able to access enough money to bother investing with thanks to birth advantages) had not plowed all of his earnings back into the fund, he'd be poor now. Good thing he drives shitty pickups. Bill Gates drove a Porsche when he was in his 20s. Larry Ellison owns most of the beach in Malibu and the biggest, tackiest, dumbest yacht the seas have ever had to bear. The Koch brothers are heirs. The Waltons are heirs. Michael Bloomberg has two jets and a double double townhouse in the most expensive part of Manhattan. Walton, Walton. Zuckerberg bought all the houses around his for extra privacy. Sheldon Adelson built a 50k square foot house in the wastes of Nevada. Larry Page and Sergey Brin built a fuck plane full of california king-equipped suites. I'm just going down the wikipedia list of wealthiest americans in order.
Good luck becoming a billionaire by skipping out on the guac at chipotle though boss.
Sigh the Millionaire Next Door doesn't mean what internet frugality zealots want it to mean.
The median salary out of college for a plain middle-class job is $45k. Two such earners, packing away 15% for retirement into index funds, mortgaging a $200k home, and not taking on credit card debt will reach $1m household net worth in middle age.
There is nothing special about the millionaire designation and it does not make them rich, just normal people (at least among the college-educated set) who were lucky enough to avoid layoffs/expensive medical conditions and followed ordinary financial planning advice (save 15%, buy a house, have an emergency fund, pay your credit card bill in full every month). Plenty of such people buy BMWs and do lots of expensive travel; it's still within their means.
If you want to understand the behavior of the truly rich business owner/capitalist/old money class, don't pollute your sample with families of teachers, accountants, middle managers, IT department workers, etc.
Also, a Tahoe is $46k. Yet I imagine you wouldn't be pointing to the frugality of the rich if he were driving a $46k BMW.
I've read the book and get your general point. However, having a hard time believing your math. Are you assuming 8% compounded annually? I have no idea how to do that.
Well, one of the most interesting features (in this case) of any Tahoe Aubrey McClendon would have been driving would be that it was very likely a CNG-converted Tahoe.
My only billionaire acquaintance/friend has about a dozen cars at any time including a McClaren and all sorts of other fancy cars, but his/their everyday cars are as normal as anyone else's. They don't want to attract attention all the time, and why would they?
I'm surprised to see a billionaire driving himself at all, excepting some sort of recreational driving. Are there examples of other billionaires doing this?
Driving a nice American truck could be a fairly economical way to cast a working-class identifiable public persona if that is something that he would have found valuable in his ventures.
The Tahoe is a $50-70k luxury SUV. You can get it's sister car, the Escalade for a few grand more, but the difference is mostly a half dozen screens for passengers.
It's hard to think of a way in which someone could die suddenly and tragically where you can't come up with a plausible message board conspiracy theory to "explain" it.
Reminds me of the oddly timed death of Ken Lay of Enron. Without a negative medical history he dies just after being convicted, but before being sentenced. Under the law, his assets would not be in jeopardy and could be passed on to his wife/family[1].
Where a person could not be convicted unless they placed themself under the authority of the court (by pleading either guilty or not guilty). By saying nothing the court could not penalize them (their family) financially, but could torture them even to death (which people preferred in order to help their family) in order to try to compel a plea.
PS. Writing that last sentence really brought home how reversed morals today are from then. There really is no such thing as absolute morality.
My friend grew up with this CEO's kids, and I can't believe this is being discussed here. For anyone that was aware of the situation when it was just an indictment it's one thing. But now with all the speculation after the death it is kinda creepy.
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[ 4.9 ms ] story [ 113 ms ] threadHe killed himself rather than face the music.
Sad, actually. He didn't need to kill himself. There is life after a conviction.
Basically, one of the traits of the kind of person who accumulates a lot of wealth, is that they don't tend to spend much of it.
1. This is trivially disproved by observing people who have accumulated a lot of wealth. They spend it on dumb shit all the time.
2. Buying a Tahoe is not "spending much" if you are a billionaire.
3. Most wealthy people do not become wealthy by sticking to formulas in garbage self-help books: they inherit it, they become famous entertainers, they become successful professional athletes, they're former politicians who make insane amounts of money on speaking fees, books, and sweetheart access-based jobs. They're people who've created singular inventions or companies that produce dramatic payoffs. Sure, Warren Buffet (a wealthy, connected child who was able to access enough money to bother investing with thanks to birth advantages) had not plowed all of his earnings back into the fund, he'd be poor now. Good thing he drives shitty pickups. Bill Gates drove a Porsche when he was in his 20s. Larry Ellison owns most of the beach in Malibu and the biggest, tackiest, dumbest yacht the seas have ever had to bear. The Koch brothers are heirs. The Waltons are heirs. Michael Bloomberg has two jets and a double double townhouse in the most expensive part of Manhattan. Walton, Walton. Zuckerberg bought all the houses around his for extra privacy. Sheldon Adelson built a 50k square foot house in the wastes of Nevada. Larry Page and Sergey Brin built a fuck plane full of california king-equipped suites. I'm just going down the wikipedia list of wealthiest americans in order.
Good luck becoming a billionaire by skipping out on the guac at chipotle though boss.
The median salary out of college for a plain middle-class job is $45k. Two such earners, packing away 15% for retirement into index funds, mortgaging a $200k home, and not taking on credit card debt will reach $1m household net worth in middle age.
There is nothing special about the millionaire designation and it does not make them rich, just normal people (at least among the college-educated set) who were lucky enough to avoid layoffs/expensive medical conditions and followed ordinary financial planning advice (save 15%, buy a house, have an emergency fund, pay your credit card bill in full every month). Plenty of such people buy BMWs and do lots of expensive travel; it's still within their means.
If you want to understand the behavior of the truly rich business owner/capitalist/old money class, don't pollute your sample with families of teachers, accountants, middle managers, IT department workers, etc.
Also, a Tahoe is $46k. Yet I imagine you wouldn't be pointing to the frugality of the rich if he were driving a $46k BMW.
Vanguard's Total Stock Market index fund [1] has seen an average annual return of 8.87% since inception in 1992.
[0] http://www.bankrate.com/calculators/retirement/retirement-pl...
[1] https://personal.vanguard.com/us/funds/snapshot?FundId=0085&...
Even regular pickup trucks are expensive these days. They're luxury vehicles.
[1] http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2006...
If it was a random death, then yeah... it is odd.
That reminds me of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peine_forte_et_dure
Where a person could not be convicted unless they placed themself under the authority of the court (by pleading either guilty or not guilty). By saying nothing the court could not penalize them (their family) financially, but could torture them even to death (which people preferred in order to help their family) in order to try to compel a plea.
PS. Writing that last sentence really brought home how reversed morals today are from then. There really is no such thing as absolute morality.