Why We Don't Need Billionaires

Resource hoarders are dangerous for society in a myriad of ways

If the 2024 election taught me anything it’s that one man having access to essentially unlimited capital is not great for the long-term stability of our Democracy.

Elon Musk is $70 billion richer today than he was on November 4th due to the surge in Tesla’s stock price.

Created with TradingView

Whenever I try to conceptualize how much money a billion dollars is, I think of this post from what we affectionately call “the bad place”:

For comparison, 32 x 70 = 2,240

Therefore, to equal just how much money Elon has made since the election from his Tesla stock, you’d need to earn $1 every second for 2,240 years, and that doesn’t even include the nearly $200 billion he was already worth beforehand.

The wealth of the world’s billionaires has ballooned to unprecedented levels. Capitalism allows people to work hard and create better lives for themselves and their families, something I like about it.

The issue is when wealth inequality manifests as social instability.