No. I am not a shallow American. Although I am an American and I love the spirit of independence.
I don't think that the disproportionate level of wealth held by OLD money families being multiplied through industry and technology is the irefutable be all and end all of existence on this planet.
I don't think suspicion of the obscenely wealthy has anything to do with 'communism' or 'totalitarianism'
I think that too many americans are shallow people who worship the very rich and are awful to the struggling.
I don't believe it is a reflection of good nature or work ethic to have too much money. I think it is a reflection of greed and superficial values that are ruining the United States as we speak.
I think the values and spirit of the slave driving confederacy are alive and well everytime someone in the USA convinces you to do your part to give someone else too much money and power.
I think it's time we started looking at billionares as level to us, not 'the hardest working people in the world'
First one: “I think that too many Americans are shallow people who worship the very rich and are awful to the struggling.” I’m not sure what you meant by the last part “are awful to the struggling” but the rest of it is quite accurate. People in this country on the whole are shallow and care only for base things. The desire for wealth and fame and power over other persuits…like being a decent human being.
“I don’t believe it is a reflection of good nature or work ethic to have too much money.” Often quite right. Many wealthy people are not self made. More importantly being wealthy is not an indicator of being good natured. Many whom are very wealthy have bad natures. They often exploit and take advantage of people and situations. Please understand. I am not condemning the wealthy. I am not saying they are all penny pinching misers. I’m am not saying they owe me one cent. I have no disdain for them for being financially successful. I do not believe they owe me so much as one cent or a living in any capacity. However I am saying many wealthy got to be that way by doing questionable if not outright wrong moral things to gain that wealth. Not all did but some. I’m no communist or socialist. I am conservative. I do favor capitalism in opposition to those economic systems. I’m just saying a good enough amount of wealthy people got their money, keep some of it, and gain more of it though questionable moral means that may not be or most cases are not illegal though.
You also mentioned Americans being greedy and superficial. We are. We are the most superficial nation on earth. I love my country but at this time I despise our culture.
I would add this. I look to the Bible for all answers. The Bible has plenty to say about this subject.
The first thing it would say is that we are all responsible for how we live our lives and we are all responsible for ourselves and our behavior. Anyone claiming the rich owe them something simply because they have and the poor do not is guilty of entitlement and jealousy. There is little doubt the wealthy influence politicians and the making of laws to benefit themselves. This is no conspiracy and has been the case from the beginning of time. No one owes anyone else a living.
That said, everyone will give an account of their life on the other side of the grave. Scripture says this about the wealthy:
“Riches do not profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death.” Proverbs 11:4
Money won’t buy anyone salvation or out of condemnation.
“And Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly, I say to you, only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”” Matthew 19:23-24 ESV
There is one God and he demands sole worship. Many of the rich worship in their heart wealth and the pleasure their wealth brings. This would be called idolatry. Many spend their lives acquiring more and more as their primary function on earth as opposed to worshiping and serving God.
“And he answered them, “Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise.”” Luke 3:11 ESV
How many wealthy will have to give an account for having so much and doing so little for those who have not even the basics? Again, not that I want anything. I have more than I need and God has been good to me and richly provided for me.
I just wanted to mention these things as I was reminded of them by what you wrote.
He’s just manipulating stock markets. It’s not like it was an inconceivable thing. He had the influence and following to do it.
made an easy enough calculation that he’d be successful in doing it.
and the markets were ripe for the picking.
im more interested in knowing what he plans on doing with his money. Will he continue to pursue all his talk of space colonization.
even if it’s an impossibility. In my opinion. I still find it interesting that he wants to pursue something grandiose.
he’s at least sure to make some kind of history by doing so. IF he follows through.
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Anonymous
(25-29)
+1 y
He is making money by avoiding paying his fair in taxes. In the words of AOC, "'No one ever makes a billion dollars. You take a billion dollars". People applauded him for donating a few million to Khan academy. If these people were properly taxed then many of these charities wouldn't need to exist because we could properly fund education, housing, food banks, etc. Although, It is kind to donate. It always feels like a PR move to me. Look he's not that bad, he donates to charities. Meanwhile, wealthy individuals like himself fight legislation that would take a fair share and give back to the society that fostered their success. If his net worth is around 185 billion (I know that most of this is not liquid). Then 5 million is around 0.0025% of his wealth. If the average wage in the U. S is 56K, 0.0025% is equivalent to around $1.4. So he gave around the equivalent of $1.4 to Khan academy and people idolize him for it. He also is just a general dick so I don't like him much anyone regardless of his billionaire status.
I don't presume he laid on his back and earned the money he has. He's a business man. He has staff he employed, had an idea and endeavour to watch that or many succeed. He may have stepped on some toes, he may even have had to make some cut throat decisions along the way but he got there through persistence, connections and a successful team.
So although he himself is worth shed loads he's helped many people put food on the table, clothes on their backs and maintain a roof over their heads.
You can't really begrudge him for whatever he has.
I'm not really sure if you realise, but that "worth" is not cash in the bank.. I'm assuming what you mean is his net worth is more than some gdp of countries but gdp is annualised, he's not "worth" more than countries. Secondly, most presidents don't seem to earn much from a buisness or financial perspective.
He's a sleazy con-man who is very good at promoting ideas that actually will not work (like going to Mars), and getting others who already have a lot of money to fund these hair-brained schemes (like the government). No, I'm not happy for him. He doesn't deserve all that loot, it was achieved at great cost to others (like his Tesla auto-plant workers), and is basically stolen money.
I watched a netflix docu-something where he was the main narrator and talked about how we can build out industry to fund it. That's when I realized that he's pretty much a vulture capitalist.. and it was clearly a propaganda film. He's smart, but he's also insatiably greedy. Most of the 1% are.
Why should I be happy for him. it's not like he's going to spend it in trips around the world. The poor guy, is very committed to moral outcomes. Gets involved in huge responsibility. I am happy for Tesla, happy for Space X, Neurolink, Starlink. happy for those.
It’s the first successful electric car launch in the 50 years it’s been tried. He has literally been the only person to successfully do this without getting destroyed by major oil companies and existing automobile manufacturers. $200 Billion is what the market has his worth currently but he may surpass Bezos before long.
I don't agree with how much wealth is in the hands of so few people, but Elon Musk is the least offensive billionaire out there. He's at least working toward sustainability and looking further ahead than the next election cycle.
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Anonymous
(25-29)
+1 y
Yes I am happy for his success and his achievements are impressive and useful to humanity but once you reach a few billion that extra money is meaningless. He won’t notice a difference between 50 bil, 100 and so on It’s far too much money for one person to use. I personally think once you get to a certain level of wealth you should donate or use most of it for the greater good.
Bill Gates still cares about others while Elon Musk treats his opposition like trash. He accused a war hero of pedophilia for criticizing Elon Musks decision on a problem he was attempting to solve.
I don't have any feelings about that. He is a successful businessman and creative engineer, he deserves that money. However I've read few social media comments of his wife and I don't think he made a good choice with her.
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Anonymous
(30-35)
+1 y
What did he do? It’s not like he cured cancer or stopped world hunger. People are giving money to the wrong people.
Leading humanity's transition from gasoline to electric vehicles is objectively more important than either of those. It won't matter if we cured cancer or fed people if our grandchildren don't inherit a habitable planet.
I just hope he and his technology can save the world. If he and Kurzweil and others like him cannot figure out how to feed the world soon, society will collapse.
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