wrt Harden Hakeem hasn't publicly announced donations, either, right? The likely reason is you actually are not supposed to announce your good deeds, alms givings or penance. It's taught in both The Bible and the Quran. I'm not saying it is wrong to make any good deeds public (because is promotes more giving for sure), nor saying Harden is a man of Faith on the level of Hakeem, but Harden does seem to be pretty private, and doesn't care what ppl think of him on the surface. Out of all the top money athletes in Houston, if any of them were to donate and not tell, it would be Harden.
I'm not a fan of this witch hunt to force celebrities to donate. I get Osteen, he runs the largest church that preaches charity to those less fortunate and it looks hypocritical to not help those in need. DFWRocket posted in the D&D thread that the roads to access Lakewood were flooded, rendering the church as a shelter inoperable. But once the roads became accessible, preparations began. Not much is reported on that, but is that time line accurate? But geez, it is like we're pressuring celebrities one by one down a list. Who do we collect from next?
I was by that area Monday it was fine. You could have got there. Its not like all the roads there were flooded. I was by there yesterday to donate some stuff and they have a ton of stuff there. Joel Osteen is full of ****. If he didn't want to open his church fine, but don't try to make a bunch excuses to why he didn't.
I agree, and charity should never turn into that, especially when the best charity is done behind closed doors without the public eye. Osteen case is different since he pockets every week from the concept of charity--and even then it's not something he's obligated to do, I'll defend him to that end. But from a PR standpoint yea you're right...it does look bad, but who knows...maybe he did donate something privately? Not for us to judge.
Wasn't that 4 million dollar donation a Rockets organization donation? There could have been coaches, brass, ball boys, you name it, that all came together and donated as one. Harden could have been involved in that and we didn't even know it. Harden doesn't profit off of Houston, the Rockets do. So it makes sense to make that the entity. I'm surprised people aren't going after corporations that benefit off the labor of Houstonians. Seems like a waste to blast Harden when he may have already donated. Companies don't need to follow these Christian/Islamic/etc mantras about keeping your donations private. They can donate large sums, look good doing it, feel good about the contributions, and probably eventually make all their money back off the positive publicity. Example: Hey, those guys that spilled the oil all over the gulf.. British Petroleum, they donated 75 million to Houston. We should let them drill again! [Please don't use your selective inagination to ruin my dreams about BP and the oil industry saving Houston. I'm hoping they don't TWD mercy kill the homeless houstonians and make me want to tear up like I teared up when they mercy killed the porpoises and hammerhead sharks during cleanup.] (*this won't make sense unless you're HP)
I bet people forget that Harden pays taxes on his 200+ million dollar contract with the team and with adidas. It's not like he's got 50 million sitting around. Maybe if he never spent a dime, he might have that kind of dough, but I'm sure he spends. What is the tax rate when you make over 300K in a year? About 40%??
You're forgetting how/why celebrities have money to began with. Without "fans" and consumers in general who consume their music, movies, entertainment, etc... they would have nothing. They are different than say companies who produce products consumers consume. There is no real tangible product besides their entertainment. So for that reason, if I was a celebrity I would make sure to maintain goodwill with my consumers.
I'd assume that $4 then $10 million was all Les. Also I don't think BP is an acronym anymore; it doesn't stand for British Petroleum.
He did want to open it. His stipulation, though, was that he was limiting it to 2 of each animal species.
Everyone gets taxed and every living person spends money. What does tax rate have anything to do with this? Are you implying that since he makes so much money and gets taxed at the highest level that leaves him nothing to donate? And I bet he's got more than $50 million in his accounts. Cash not assets. If he doesn't he needs a new financial advisor. With all that being said it's his money and his decision on where it goes and we don't have a right to judge or say. Like @heypartner said maybe he did it in private... I'd like to think he donated and donated a substantial amount considering how outspoken he's been about his love for the City of Houston calling it his forever home and having the means to make a large impact.
My point was that he's been taxed at 40% so his money he's made is all starting out as 40% less than the figure that's publicly announced. James has made about 88 million in contracts thus far. But he only takes home 60% of that. So he's started at like 52 million as take home pay. Let's say he's spent some of that money, bought mom and sister houses.. there goes 1 million. He's bought himself 10 cars, there's 2 million. Clubbing for the last 8 years, let's call that 3 million or whatever with parties. He straight up bought Montrezl a 20K gold chain like it was nothing. Just did it because they're friends. That's the only story we know about, but he's probably done a lot of that. So now his 52 million is more like 45 million. But he's purchased a house that's worth 6 million so now he just has 39 million. So people want him to make a donation. We don't know what he has in the bank, but he'd be lucky if he's got 39 million lets say. But what do you bet he has made some investments, right? Suddenly his 39 million is more like 15 million in the bank. And what's in the bank is what you make your donation off of. So he writes a big check out of the kindness of his heart for 2 million. That 2 million may not seem like a big percentage of that 200 million dollar contract he just got, but what if that big donation is like more than 10% of what's in his bank account. Would you give 10% of your bank account to one charity? If you did, don't you think other charities would come asking for something? Would you want that pressure to give 10% again? At what point do you come out and say no? I don't know the dude's finances, but you have to assume that all his assets aren't liquid. That's my point. But thanks for calling me out. You took, what? Five seconds to come up with your 50 million in the bank idea? Turns out you didn't actually think about this like I did. That's why I said he should keep his stuff private. I said it before HeyP. Because I know rich people get hounded by donation groups and I know what liquid assets vs assets vs spending means. I know that a future 200 million dollar contract doesn't mean he has 200 million right now. Adidas may have given him 200 million, but we don't know how they pay that. Maybe it's over 30 years like a mortgage. We don't know what Harden keeps liquid. We're not his financial advisors. But if he gave a million, people might think he's a cheapskate while his financial advisor is telling him not to donate 25% of what's in his account. So that's why I said keep it private. We don't know. It's rude to get into other people's accounts when you're not their accountant. 50 million... where did you even come up with that number?
An individual doesn't have to donate a lot of money to make an impact. JJ Watt donated $100k and has used that to raise $15 million and counting. It's more about being visible and using the bully pulpit to have an effect. That said, he's under no obligation to do it - but him lacking cash is not really an issue if he wants to be a part of the rebuilding.
You also are assuming that his money is just sitting somewhere in a bank, that he didn't 401k some of the money. That he didn't choose to take it in installments over greater years. That he has made no investments with it. Zach Randolph is still being paid by the blazers to this day believe it or not.
All this hate towards this man saddens me. Some of you already have your mind made up about him and nothing I nor anybody else says is going to change it. I see a man who has been a beacon of hope for people all around the world for years. Especially in the city of Houston. He's been there time and time again for people in trials. In my opinion this man has shown what his heart is all about. To those of you who want to believe he didn't want to open his church all I can say is believe what you want to believe. To those same people who sit in judgment of this man: Matthew 7:1-5 "Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brothers eye".
I'm not sure how much more people want this man to do. Maybe he didn't open right away, and that was a mistake, but he's one of the few national icons Houston has (Harden, Dream, Watt, Parsons being others). What's with all the hate?
I've said it before, but it's worth repeating. I don't think anyone really cares about his behavior during the hurricane. It's just an excuse for some (including some Christians) to bash what they see as a con man who lives very lavishly while soliciting donations from people who have less than he does. Some Christians see Prosperity Gospel approaches as a damned shame, and I'd count myself as one of those Christians. I'm less judgmental about it than I am saddened by it. I guess what "his heart is all about" seems to be, for some of us, to look a lot like dollar signs. But again, none of that is relevant to current events. People are just using the flood as an excuse to attack a guy they didn't like anyway. It's really not news worthy. I wish we could just praise mattress mac and forget about Osteen. The internet is just *obsessed* with shaming instead of praising though. It's disgusting.
