Posted on 10/16/2024 2:51:05 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Billionaires who have grown disgusted by disruptive anti-Israel protests across US college campuses are abandoning their elite alma maters — and instead backing a new, “anti-woke” university in Texas that has just 92 students, according to a report.
Wall Street trader Jeff Yass, real-estate tycoon Harlan Crow and investor Len Blavatnik are just a few of the deep-pocketed donors flooding the University of Austin, or UATX, with about $200 million so far, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Yass alone has given $35 million to the tiny school – which is currently housed in a former department store, the Journal said.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Unless you count Elon Musk and Donald Trump.
No billionaire should be woke commie anti_American or whatnot, but yes a number are. it is insane
anyway, I’ve been watching this fledgling new university for some time and it does appear that it is going to be successful
maybe not quite a carbon copy of Hillsdale College but rather a valuable addition ?
the amount of commie/nazi/leftist/woke/anti-American/anti-Christian/anti-jewish bullkrap on many university campuses nowadays is disgusting .... I sure wouldn’t recommend students even consider some of these colleges...they won’t get good educations, they’ll get their brains scrambled like eggs all piled on the extreme left side of their plates, and frankly they’ll be unemployable when they graduate
plus with the pro-terrorist demonstrations/mob scenes on some campuses they’re simply NOT SAFE anymore
(There are a good number of reasonable college alternatives, thank Heaven...)
An unaccredited school that had to gift full scholarships to the 100 students attending this year.
The degrees will truly be worthless without regional accreditation, and none of the directors or trustees left their positions at established universities to join the faculty of Austin.
It’s already being compared by many in Texas to Trump University.
Many get rich from government corruption and contacts.
Walmart heirs are massive democrats. Because Walmart’s main source of profit is welfare payments spent at its store. And it gets cheap products made by illegals or in China. And staffs its stores with illegals.
Such was the same in Russia. The truly rich became the head of the communist party.
That’s two out of 735, and even for them it’s just judging them by one moment in time, not their whole lifespan.
Pretty close to 99% are.
I wouldn’t put it in Austin. It’s like building an elementary school among pedophiles.
understood
thanks
seems so yes
understood
perhaps they will get their permanent campus site some miles removed from the Bezerkeley of Texas (Austin)
Austin looks like a nice city other than its concentration of political crazies. maybe a site in the foothill country or towards San Antonio or ?
quite possible
This is the University that Joe Lonsdale has founded. I very much admire him. He’s on the right path and we are fortunate to have younger people like him. I would encourage people to read/follow his American Optimist site, read his pieces and listen to his interviews. I’m also a huge fan of Palantir, it’s founders and those the run and work at this company. This University will follow in a path like Hillsdale. I wish them well.
“Because Walmart’s main source of profit is welfare payments spent at its store”
Walmart actually gets about 8% of its revenue from EBT.
Done correctly, with valid testing and academic rigor, that could offer relatively cheap college credits and certifications of knowledge and readiness for employment or for admission to a traditional university or college. The new school could gradually add residential campuses and affiliations with congenial traditional colleges and universities.
thanks, some good thoughts there
(tho, it is a whole lot harder, takes a great deal more time, remote teaching....still, there are some excellent profs who will do it)
Profit and revenue are not the same thing.
Also direct EBT payments are a fraction of total welfare spending.
“Profit and revenue are not the same thing”
No, they aren’t but you can’t get the profit unless you get the revenue first. Profit attributable to a particular set of revenue will always be much smaller then the revenue itself, in the case of grocery stores about 95% smaller.
“Also direct EBT payments are a fraction of total welfare spending”
We are talking about Walmart. Other than EBT — TANF and SNAP, and WIC, what other “welfare money” does Walmart receive?
“We are talking about Walmart. Other than EBT — TANF and SNAP, and WIC, what other “welfare money” does Walmart receive?”
Assuming it works like retail convenience stores I have owned, there is a payment made to stores for processing EBT that is split between the credit card processor and the store to incentivize the store into taking EBT. This is paid to Experian (or whomever) and then Experian pays half to the store.
(Or, more often, the processing fee normally paid by the store is decreased by said amount because that is not “revenue” but rather a discount on expenses paid.)
This is typically 1.5% of the total EBT-eligible purchase. It does not count as “EBT”, but rather “processing fees”. With us, it basically made normal credit card use free.
There is also a maximum margin charged on certain fungible EBT eligible items. This was set by statute (or maybe regulation) decades ago.
They have also decided that this is the minimum margin that can be charged. Why, I don’t know. I think to keep Walmart from squeezing out mom and pops. Regardless, the EBT margin is now generally higher than a normal retail stores margin. (So, if you look at the price sticker, you will often see a marginally higher price for items if purchased by EBT.)
Or, at our store, where we cranked up things like a can of Chef Boyardi 350% for potheads eating at 3:00 am, we labeled them “not EBT eligible” due to our margin, when it would have otherwise been eligible if priced like a non-convenience store.
EBT purchases are also not eligible for “loyalty discounts” or whatever. (It’s considered a kickback.) These eat into the margin a tad more.
And finally EBT items are generally higher margin items, overall, than items that make up the bulk of sales. For us, most of our gross revenue was gasoline and beer, both extremely low margin. Neither EBT eligible.
Ironically, we could sell fountain drinks but not canned or bottled soda on EBT. Fountain drinks were fine and not subject to margin limits because they are “prepared food”. The margin on a fountain drink is insane.
Thanks for the first-hand info.
MWT: I didn’t know the specific but I knew there was some sort of payment made so stores accepted EBT that is quite significant. I don’t know if what I am aware of or what you posted about are the same thing.
S86: there are all sorts of other welfare payments made besides direct EBT.
The one I know about is subsidizing income of employees that would have to be paid more of the government didn’t give the employee welfare. There are also various grants made to employers to employ questionable people. I deal with both of those all the time.
There are also indirect payments made, like subsidizing rent for people. This results in more money to spend — which is overwhelming spent at Walmart and other like places. This is huge and easily outstrips direct EBT payments. I’m on my phone and don’t have a link handy, but this “indirect EBT” is the difference between Walmart being profitable and losing money.
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