What it means to have a trillionaire
(Rough Draft 1. Written on Nov 9, 2025.)
When I watch coverage by MSNBC over Elon Musk’s “trillion dollar pay package” — it eerily reminds me of Atlas Shrug, which describes how the people who do actually provide the most value are cast as the villains of society.
As the segment starts “at a time when millions of people are struggling to put food on the table, Tesla is looking to make Elon Musk the world’s first trillionaire.” What is problematic about this line of thinking is that it is equating the struggles of society with the successes of another person. What Elon Musk is being awarded for is designing a system that creates far more value than it takes in. This is the law of economic thermodynamics — a business can only exist if it creates more value than it asks for — other wise market participants in a free and open market would never choose to part with their money.
Essentially, a thriving business is a successful source of social value. And so in this instance, the MSNBC commentator is focused solely on the fact that somebody has succeeded, rather than focusing on the true problem he claims to care about — which is that people are struggling to put food on the table.
The only logical solution to what the commentator is saying (under his own premise), is that “ownership” of a corporation like Tesla should not go to its founders or key leaders. Instead, I have no clue what this commentator is suggestion should happen to this organization known as Tesla. Instead of being owned by the people who created it, should it be owned by the “millions of people who struggle to put food on the table”? In fact, it is actually owned by all those people, with regards to the tax receipts they get from all the corporate tax, income tax, sales tax and so forth that the company generates for America.
It reminds me of a conversation I once had with an acquaintance, when I tried to explain this to her. I told her, if I am a painter, and I make a thousand paintings, and people want to buy them… who should the money from the sale of the paintings go to? Rather than approach the question directly, she changed tack and said “I don’t like the way you framed that.” She then went on to say, she hates people who try to look at reality, rather than what could be possible. It felt like a cringe-worthy dictatorial tendency on her part covered up in nice sounding words, rather than a sense of actual care for value and the people responsible for it.
The workers of Tesla, or the shop laborers, of course are entitled to the share of the profits, and that is known as “wages.” This too is then recast as “wage theft” — as if the hands that make a thing are the sole source of value of the thing in itself, rather than the ideas which are behind it. There is actually no ultimate material value that can be put on the person who originates the idea of a thing… this is where all the “wage theft” arguments fall short… For example, just because a cellist plays a Bach song… does she suddenly have equivalent value to Bach? Obviously not… any cellist could render the same song, but there is only one Bach. However, it may be the case a given cellist grows in renown, and is specifically identified on her own terms… in that sense, she is then recognized for her own genius.
Back to the MSNBC reporter… yes there are people who have material insecurity in the country, but they would benefit from strong corporations providing better jobs, higher tax receipts, better products — not just trying to rob the person who created a thing of their own claim to it. Often times, people are facing their own insecurity when they get mad at the success of others, and yet they parade around as if it is totally acceptable to be faced with envy rather than do something about the true issue. This MSNBC anchor is not willing to actually do anything to solve any problem, other than complain about somebody else who is actually succeeding in their life and on behalf of the world. A Tesla worth $8 trillion would be a Tesla that would have profoundly helped humanity forward in the civilization project — and its leader would be greatly responsible for that as chosen by the owners of the corporation itself.
There are times when I begin to feel that certain political opinions on the far left have some of the most toxic and self-absorbed realities hidden the guise of “being helpful for all.” If you truly want to be helpful… go and do something about it. If not, I guess just sit there and complain about some other person who is actually following their passion.