We all love a plucky underdog, don’t we? It’s the typical rags to riches story. Elon Musk, born into massive wealth and supported by an estimated $38 billion of the US Government’s money, has defied the odds to officially become a trillionaire this week – thanks to the SpaceX IPO.
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‘Dark day for democracy’, as Elon Musk becomes a trillionaire
Still no mates, mind. But, nonetheless, he’s reached a level of wealth that no other person in recorded history has ever come close to. For him, it’s the crowning achievement of his lifetime’s work. For the rest of us, it’s probably not so great.
Nabil Ahmed is the Senior Director of Economic Justice at Oxfam America. In a scathing statement this week, Ahmed and the charity marked Elon Musk’s trillionaire status as ‘a dark day for democracy’, lashing out at a rigged system which has allowed his wealth to grow exponentially.
“Elon Musk’s rise to trillionaire status marks a new pinnacle of oligarchy and a dark day for democracy. He is a government-backed trillionaire whose fortune was fuelled by regressive public policy choices, and decisions rigged by a tiny few to fuel their own fortunes.”
“A trillion dollars in the hands of one man is incompatible not only with an affordable economy, but also with a healthy democracy. Economic inequality begets political inequality, and ordinary people bear the brunt while billionaires continue to write the rules for their own benefit.” | Nabil Ahmed
Elon Musk made ‘$1 million a minute’ last year
Where do you even start? It is a comic book villain level of wealth we’re talking about here. As per data supplied by World Bank, Forbes, and Oxfam themselves, Musk will now be richer than 46% of the world’s poorest citizens combined – amounting to around four billion people.
His sudden rise from multi-billionaire to first-ever trillion has been propelled by an increase of $550 billion in the last 12 months. Meaning that he has essentially made more than $1 million a minute – a grotesque figure for someone who spends most of his time sat on Twitter (b*llocks to your ‘X’).
If Elon was to spend $1 million a day, it would take him almost 2,750 years to spend his estimated net worth. Not only that, but if he handed every single person on the planet a $100 dollar bill, he’d remain as one of the top 10 billionaires, keeping $184 billion in the bank.
What can you do with $1 trillion?
And, here’s the real kicker. According to these latest figures, the cost of ending extreme poverty for a year comes in at about $96 billion. That means Mr. Musk could, if he was that way inclined, use his means to end the scourge of extreme poverty ‘ten times over’.
And, truth be told, the proposed 10% tax on his wealth floated by Oxfam doesn’t sound like a terrible idea…
“Our calculations show… that the cost of ending extreme poverty for a year is $96.2 billion. Just 10% of Elon Musk wealth is enough to end extreme poverty in the world. Therefore, A 10% tax on Musk’s fortune… could lift over 800 million people above the extreme poverty line.” | Oxfam