Elon Musk's current worth...

[MsAmerica]

is now $400,000,000,000.

Now, that's disgusting.

It would be disgusting anywhere, but far more so in America, where there is pretense/delusion of equality, as opposed to, say, Saudi Arabia.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/phoebeliu/2024/12/11/elon-musk-now-worth-more-than-400-billion-worlds-richest-person/

https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2024/12/11/elon-musk-net-worth/76932036007/

Agree.

Becoming a billionaire is a moral failing.

in America, where there is pretense/delusion of equality

Is there? I would never associate America with equality. Such vast chasms between rich and poor.

I agree it's a disgusting amount for one person to have amassed in a world where he could solve so many global issues and still be stonkingly rich.

There's this cultural idea in America that people have 'equality of opportunity' and people are all at the starting line together.
Nonsense obviously.

Totally nonsense, I agree. It's always seemed bizarre to me that it is held up as such a great country when so many people have such miserable lives there.

You're taking about financial worth, his moral worth is the same as a dog poo bag washed into the gutter.

He's made his money in massively socially-positive ways:

• pioneering internet payments, which most of us use daily,
• driving forward development of electric vehicles and battery tech, and driving down costs, which are real, tangible steps towards addressing the climate crisis
• making spacecraft reusable not disposable (and saving the US taxpayer a lot of money on launches).
• democratizing access to telecoms in remote/poor/disrupted areas via StarLink
• jury's still out on whether advanced AI is a net positive or not, but it's a massive technological leap and his role was to try to make that work non-profit and safety-first (outwitted by Sam Altman).
• views will differ on X (and he has certainly not made money on it), but I view enlarging the space for free expression and diverse views on social media to be a good thing too.

I'm sure he's not a nice guy, and it's fair to believe no-one should have $400bn, but it's hard to argue that how he made his money has been anything other than a big positive for humanity (unless you think climate change is a trivial threat, which I don't. That alone would make him hugely positive).

I also don't see America as standing for equality of outcome (pretty much the opposite in fact). His story is pretty American-dream-ish: arrived as an immigrant (comfortable but not ultra-rich), and built massive wealth and success through his own ambition and talents. If you disagree with the American Dream that's fair enough, but he's not exposing any hypocrisy in what America is taken to stand for.

A foundational dream of America was the hope of a classless society of equals. And in certain respects that was true, that someone on the bottom rung could rise faster than in other countries. Also, although the U.S. is in a period of great financial chasms, as you say, this one is fairly recent. At some point in mid-century (1950s? 1960s?) the gap was much less.

I love "stonkingly."

I know that's the theory @MsAmerica but how realistic is it now? Theoretically anyone born in America could be president, but realistically how would that happen without them having millions of dollars behind them? How do people get out of poverty? I think it's a pipe dream in America, one of those things Americans love to tell themselves to reinforce their belief that they're the greatest country on earth.

I've been to some countries where there is much less disparity and much more hope. Countries where the population is generally happier.

How realistic now? Now, not at all for the presidency, and harder even at a more mundane level. I think it's perfectly possible to pull oneself up out of poverty, but there's a huge burden of effort and luck involved, probably much more than in the past.

And I totally agree that Americans spin wild fantasies about how how great they and their country are, and its mostly wildly untrue.

There will never be inequality because people are not equal. There should always be room and incentive for people with amazing ideas to florish. Lets face it, the vast majority of people have mediocre lives and minds, and leave no real impression on the world. I agree that it seems insane for one person to have so much, I agree with equality of opportunity for all, in an ideal world. Equality of outcome though, is a race to bottom. Humans are not equal, we are not all a Shakespeare or Newton.

I can’t even read/understand what that figure is - I simply don’t understand what it says as that many zeros is so alien to me 😂 you’ll have to write it in words!

I think you mean there will never be equality.

Of course people are all different and not everyone is a genius. However it's not just genius alone that gets people anywhere. It's also having the opportunity and also often the money and connections.

Shakespeare and Newton will have had people in their generation who could have gone on to do great things but never had the chance.

I think America is great for the people who get the right chances. Not so much for some of the population who could be amazing but are stuck in poverty without the same opportunity.

However it's not just genius alone that gets people anywhere

That is manifestly true. It almost seems the stupider the better, in many cases.