'A ridiculous amount of money pledged to someone who already was absurdly rich'

'That judge is right. Elon Musk isn't worth what Tesla pays him.'

Timothy Noah at The New Republic

A Delaware judge's rejection of Tesla CEO Elon Musk's $55.8 billion pay package was "an unexpected triumph for anyone who aspires to save capitalism from itself," says Timothy Noah at The New Republic. Fortune's annual chief executives survey has ranked Musk the nation's most overrated CEO twice straight. The magazine points to the electric vehicle maker's rising competition, "notably slower" growth, and multiple price cuts. Musk's "ridiculous" pay would be impossible without a board under his "Svengali-like control." 

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'The dawn of a new era of oppression'

Charles M. Blow in The New York Times

America has entered the kind of "backlash" we always experience after "surges of Black progress," writes Charles M. Blow in The New York Times. It happened when the end of Reconstruction reversed strides made after the Civil War. Now we're seeing "the dismantling of affirmative action, governmental attacks on the teaching of Black history and the full-court press on the political right to get rid of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives." The damage "could linger for decades."

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'A libertarian president!'

John Stossel at Hot Air

Voters in Argentina were so fed up with 200% inflation they "actually elected a libertarian president," writes John Stossel at Hot Air. Their leader, Javier Milei, even campaigned on a promise to end subsidies. He's an economist and "understands that government can't create wealth." He knows nations only need "free markets plus rule of law. When people have those things, prosperity happens." It's encouraging to see a country putting its faith in that formula.

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'Good news about taxes! (Yes, really.)'

Adam Chodorow at Slate

"Doing your taxes will never be fun, but it could be cheaper and easier," says Adam Chodorow at Slate. The Internal Revenue Service has launched a 2024 pilot program in a dozen states "that would allow a large number of taxpayers to file directly," for free. Predictably, tax prep companies are trying "to undermine the effort." But this pilot project offers "an opportunity to help government work better for all of us." Don't "pass it up."

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