Delaware
If Elon Musk and his buddies think Delaware is too strict, we've got a problem
Mother Jones illustration; Patrick Pleul/Pool/AP; Getty
There’s a piece in today’s Wall Street Journal about how billionaires like Elon Musk are now whining about Delaware—which literally has more corporations than people—because it imposes too many rules. Musk is fretting because a Delaware business court ruled that his $50 billion-plus Tesla compensation package, which was approved by a loyalist board, was excessive and therefore unfair to shareholders who had sued to stop it.
As the New York Times reported, the judge deemed the approval process “deeply flawed” and voided Musk’s contract, calling it “the largest potential compensation plan in the history of public markets.”
The Times noted in a follow-up piece that Musk owns about 411 million Tesla shares, worth around $78 billion, and that he’d pledged 238 million shares for personal loans. Borrowing against their vast portfolios, as ProPublica has detailed, is how Musk, Jeff Bezos, Michael Bloomberg, Warren Buffett, and other ludicrously wealthy Americans have managed to legally avoid the lion’s share of income taxes.
Musk publicly lamented the Delaware decision that would dislodge him from the “world’s richest man” perch. He says he’ll seek to reincorporate in Texas, where Space X is headquartered, and where, as my colleague Abby Vesoulis reports, Musk has been flexing his plutocratic power at the expense of longtime residents.
Never incorporate your company in the state of Delaware
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 30, 2024
The Journal points out that Musk isn’t the only major shareholder chafing at Delaware’s rules, noting that Texas is among the newbies vying to attract more corporate registrations and that another contender, Nevada, offers “broad protections for directors and officers in many cases that Delaware wouldn’t, including involving improper personal gain.”
A state going out of its way to protect corporate crooks may shock you—or should—but Musk’s hissy fit is merely the latest skirmish in the race to the bottom for state corporate oversight. Both Vesoulis and Casey Michel, author of the book American Kleptocracy, detailed in our American Oligarchy package how competition between states to attract companies—which tend to overpromise and under-deliver on jobs and economic development—has resulted in a downward spiral that gives unelected billionaires power over local affairs and has made the United States the go-to destination for illicit wealth, foreign and domestic.
Need a tax haven? A place to hide and launder stolen cash? Why bother with the Caymans or the Bahamas when you can get those services in South Dakota—and you don’t even have to relocate there. If you’re looking for other options, check out Alaska, Illinois, Florida, Ohio, Missouri, Nevada, Florida, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Wyoming, and the original culprit: Delaware.
During the 1910s, Michel writes:
Not only did Delaware’s legislature up the ante on enticements—exempting corporations from taxes and reimbursing their directors for damages incurred by litigious shareholders—but its Chancery Court began producing the most pro-corporate rulings in the country. For good measure, the state also granted anonymity to anyone who wanted to register a company there.
By 1929, 42 percent of state income came from corporate registration fees and taxes. With a population of a tad more than 1 million, Delaware is now home to 1.9 million corporations, including more than 300,000 registered in 2022 alone. Each year, it rakes in some $2 billion in corporate taxes and fees, far more than any other state. The constituents of Delaware lawmakers, “in a very real sense, are companies,” as the University of Cambridge’s Jason Sharman, an expert on money laundering and corporate regulation, has noted.
Now Texas is in the running too? All I can say is, when a few overpaid moguls can move the impunity needle by griping that Delaware isn’t permissive enough, we’ve got a problem.
The Delaware Police Officer Standards and Training Commission recently announced that the Dewey Beach Police Department and Rehoboth Beach Police Department have both earned state accreditation from the Delaware Police Accreditation Commission.
As part of the rigorous process, a team of DPAC assessors ensured all accreditation standards were met by completing comprehensive, on-site inspections of each agency, reviewing their policies and procedures for compliance, and conducting interviews with department members.
“This milestone represents a significant step forward for public safety in Delaware. The initial state accreditation of these police agencies reflects a strong commitment to professionalism, accountability and excellence in law enforcement. I commend each department for their dedication to serving their communities with integrity and for upholding the highest standards,” said Joshua Bushweller, Department of Safety and Homeland Security secretary and DPAC chair.
Dover, Del. – Three farms, one from each of Delaware’s counties, were inducted into the Century Farm Program by the state Department of Agriculture on Thursday at the Delaware Agricultural Museum.
Each of the family farms has been owned and operated for at least a century. Each received a sign for their farms, an engraved plate and legislative tributes.
In addition to Secretary of Agriculture, Don Clifton, and Deputy Secretary Jimmy Kroon, state Senators David Wilson (R – District 18) and Kyra Hoffner (D – District 14) were also in attendance.
Wright Family Farms are located in Harrington in Kent County. In 1919, the farm was purchased by William Wright. Over a century later, William’s grandson, Ronald, is the owner and his great-grandson, Greg, said he hopes to continue the family legacy by buying the farm from his father.
Although the event celebrated each family for their hard work and resilience, it also highlighted the challenges farmers have to surmount to stay in business today, let alone for a hundred years.
“The price of equipment, the price of fertilizer, the price of seed, everything is just gone up,” Greg said. “So, you know, everything’s going up that we gotta purchase just to stay in business.”
Clifton, Kroon and Wilson also echoed difficulties in balancing the need to preserve agricultural land with the need to develop housing and sustainable energy projects like solar power.
“I know housing is very important, and we want people to always have good housing, but at some point, I think you’re going to saturate the area with more houses than you have food to feed these people,” Wilson said.
Kroon also said there are difficulties in keeping future generations motivated to stay in farming.
“When you think about it in the context of multi-generational farm families, there’s a real long-term challenge where a new generation may think twice about whether they want to keep farming if it’s always a struggle,” he said.
Clifton said farming has always been a challenging way of life, but it has been so since time immemorial.
“These families, their experience shows that they have an appreciation for the way of life and perseverance and that’s to be honored and emulated to the greatest extent possible,” he said.
Greg said he hopes to pass down the way of life so that his family legacy can live on for another hundred years, as well as for other families.
“A hundred years as the same family tilling the land, that’s, you know, that’s an honor right there,” Greg said. “And I hope that more farmers who are close to 100 years old will be doing the same thing. You know, keep it in the family.”
An investigation is underway after police said a man’s body was pulled from the Delaware River in South Philadelphia.
According to police, around 9 a.m. on Friday, April 17, 2026, emergency responders pulled an unidentified man from the Delaware River, near the Navy Yard. Medic’s pronounced the man dead at 9:11 a.m.
Léelo en español aquí.
SkyForce10 flew above as police and other first responders were on the scene.
NBC10
NBC10
Police are working to determine the circumstances of the incident and identify the man.
This is a developing story; check back here for updates.
-
Florida5 minutes agoSNAP benefits will be changing in Florida starting Monday
-
Georgia11 minutes agoGeorgia on nobody’s mind: The Dawgs are under the radar, and that’s a compliment
-
Hawaii17 minutes agoLarge section of Aloha Stadium demolished as project proceeds – West Hawaii Today
-
Idaho23 minutes ago
Idaho Lottery results: See winning numbers for Powerball, Pick 3 on April 18, 2026
-
Illinois29 minutes ago5 tornadoes confirmed in Illinois from Friday’s storms
-
Indiana35 minutes agoAn Indiana district turned to voters to fund more preschool seats. Here’s what happened next.
-
Iowa41 minutes agoVote: Who Should be Iowa’s High School Athlete of the Week? (4/19/2026)
-
Kansas47 minutes agoKansas Losing Momentum With Key Transfer Target After New Visits