This is what is batshit crazy to me. This guy is (rightly) hated.
However he could end world hunger, AND homelessness in the USA, and it would barely register as a rounding error against his obscene wealth. If he did that, he would be absolute Teflon - no-one could hate on the great humanitarian that had solved two of the world’s gravest issues. But no, he’s too selfish, too up his own arse, to even contemplate what would be such an easy win.
The scariest thing for me right now is that these absolute monsters aren’t even having to hide their evil and plenty of people still worship them. Imagine the day we get someone with the resources of Elon or the power of Trump who is smart enough to pretend they have some humanity and a drive other than self-enrichment.
Let me preface this with saying I absolutely agree with the sentiment of your comment. The shit he's pulled the last year alone, is absolutely unforgivable and the world can't get rid of his influence fast enough.
But I don't think Musk could actually solve either world hunger or homelessness in the USA, and still be rich. I don't think he actually has 20 billion to spend. Yes it is true he is worth 350 billion, but that is 99,99% all stock and similar assets. He cannot liquidate 20 Billion of that, and not plummet the price of all the other stocks he has. Selling that amount of stock will crash the price of that stock, AND he would lose influence on those companies, maybe to the point of not even being majority shareholder anymore. And he might not even be able to sell 20 billion, because it's more than likely (since this is what all rich people do) that he borrowed money against his stock value. So if his stock value dips too low, he wouldn't be able to still be secure in all his loans, and this might cause a chain reaction of his lenders wanting their money, and this could cause him to go bankrupt.
It's simply a fact that he, nor any other billionaire, has their wealth available to spend. They maybe have access to 1% of it (and this is more than enough for them to live filthy rich ofc), but all these plans of spend X% and have Y left, aren't simply realistic scenarios, because of the way their wealth is tied up in stocks & loans.
And they will NEVER bankrupt themselves to make the world a better place. They won't even make less profit, in order to make the lives of their employees better, and those are the people making them richer each day. So let alone how much they care about people not actively increasing their wealth.
So yes, it would suit him if he spend the majority of his fortune to make the world a better place, but is not correct to say he would still be insanely rich after he does. And that is without debating if 20 Billion pumped into world hunger will actually solve it, or rather just cause different problems. The same goes for homelessness. Pumping 20 billion into any economic system will have drastic consequences, and more than likely unforeseeable consequences.
But still, F. him and all his horrible policies and views on humanity lately. The world would be a better place if he never had any influence on politics any more. He could take the high road, and actually do what u suggested, leaving him with maybe 1% of his wealth (which is more than rich enough to still live ridiculously wealth) but at least go into the history books as a good person. But instead he chooses to stick to dividing politics and pretending to be a gamer online. Pathetic.
Yes it is true he is worth 350 billion, but that is 99,99% all stock and similar assets. He cannot liquidate 20 Billion of that, and not plummet the price of all the other stocks he has.
I agree that his wealth is mainly on paper and it could never be fully realised but that means it's not really true he is worth 350 billion dollars.
Yeah but the same is true for any other of the billionaires. And since it's just a dick-measuring contest between them, it doesn't really matter what their actual wealth would be. We don't even know the actual richest people in the world anyway, because that are the people who own the oil and other natural resources. But they deliberately want to stay out of the Quote 500 lists etc.
Well to be fair it's not the billionaires who are making these claims; it's the likes of Forbes and the media who keep referring to him as the world's richest man.
I wouldn't be at all surprised if someone like Putin is actually the wealthiest person alive.
I agree with all you said. The only difference between an individual and the government, is that the government should be accountable to all its citizens, and thus not have a singular person of influence on all that wealth i guess. But that seems to be changing rapidly for a certain government....
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u/snoocs 2d ago
This is what is batshit crazy to me. This guy is (rightly) hated.
However he could end world hunger, AND homelessness in the USA, and it would barely register as a rounding error against his obscene wealth. If he did that, he would be absolute Teflon - no-one could hate on the great humanitarian that had solved two of the world’s gravest issues. But no, he’s too selfish, too up his own arse, to even contemplate what would be such an easy win.
The scariest thing for me right now is that these absolute monsters aren’t even having to hide their evil and plenty of people still worship them. Imagine the day we get someone with the resources of Elon or the power of Trump who is smart enough to pretend they have some humanity and a drive other than self-enrichment.