Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, could afford to really help hurricane victims. Plenty of those further down on the wealth scale are. Reuters reports that Taylor Swift donated $5 million to the Feeding America charity. Dolly Parton and her businesses donated $1 million each to a Tennessee nonprofit. Musicians Luke Combs, Eric Church, Keith Urban James Taylor, Sheryl Crow and other musicians will do a benefit concert for victims in the Carolinas region.
But Musk? He’s trying to con people who are already suffering.
From The Independent:
Musk said on Wednesday that the rollout of Space X’s Starlink services – which claim to enable anyone impacted by a natural disaster to access internet connectivity – has been “accelerated” for people in areas affected by the hurricanes.
“This is being provided free of charge by SpaceX and TMobile to help those in need,” Musk said.
However, the billionaire failed to mention that victims of the disasters would need to purchase a Starlink starter kit for almost $400, The Register first reported.
Not only that, after 30 days, the “free service” automatically turns into a $120-per-month subscription. So, if you’re too busy putting your life and livelihood back together for several weeks and forget to cancel, you’ll wind up paying another $120 or more.
As The Register noted, “Read further into the details on Starlink’s help page for Hurricane Helene, and one might think it’s a ploy to bag new customers in far-flung places.” You don’t say!
But you know where Musk has spent plenty of big money lately? To Donald Trump’s election efforts and that of other Republicans. Oh, and to a Chechen warlord.
Trump and Musk are two peas in a selfish, grifter, fascist pod.