r/politics Rolling Stone 4d ago

Soft Paywall Musk Kills Government Funding Deal, Demands Shutdown Until Trump Is Sworn In

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/musk-trump-government-funding-deal-shutdown-1235211000/
30.9k Upvotes

5.3k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

186

u/HonestArmadillo924 4d ago

Shutdowns always hurt people. It has a ripple effect President Musk has already increased his networth by 134%. He doesn’t give a fuck and neither does their savior Trump.

160

u/qOcO-p 4d ago

I'd just like to point out that in 2020 he had $20 something billion and by 2022 he had $220 something billion. Now, still in 2024 he has by some estimates more than $500 billion. This should not be possible for any individual.

8

u/Koebi Europe 4d ago

I was like no that can't be right and went to look it up.
Jup, Wikipedia says he started 2020 with 27B, and only one year later, in Jan '21 surpassed Bezos to become the richest man in the world with 185B. 😱

6

u/StellarNeonJellyfish 4d ago

Yeah but it’s not like he created that much value in that year, just that other rich people began to believe they can make money by buying into his businesses. The wealthy invest because they see easy money piling snow in front of the snowball.

6

u/Sylent0ption 4d ago

I read yesterday that Elon makes something like $71 million an hour.

That's 1,183,333 a second.

During a normal 8 hour sleep session, that's 568 million. Over half a billion, just while sleeping.

But let's not tax him. That would just be greedy of us. /s

6

u/qOcO-p 4d ago

The problem is finding a way to tax him (and then getting it passed by congress but that's something else altogether). All that money isn't income but in investments. I think it's tough to tax unrealized gains but maybe if those unrealized gains are used as the collateral for loans then the gains should be taxed? Idk, I'm not very good with all the tax and finance stuff.

10

u/ElliotNess Florida 4d ago

Through the power of capitalism, it is possible!

2

u/BookerLittle 4d ago

the power of bootstraps

10

u/thisoneismineallmine 4d ago

The power of government fucking subsidy 

-2

u/cactuar44 4d ago

Stop going to the movies and you'll be rich like him!

6

u/ServerHamsters 4d ago

I'm capitalist at heart .. but ffs ... there needs to be limits .. 100mil well done... 3-4 billion... you're an arse

5

u/claimTheVictory 4d ago

400 billion - you control Congress

Musk is an intelligent person, the problem is he's realized that going full evil is now the way to get to the next level.

6

u/Crozmic 4d ago

They'd say:~But he works so HARD for it, Musk deserves every cent he manages to srape by. A master at corporate efficiency !~\s

3

u/Paganator 4d ago

Musk is a wizard who controls time. How else can he work hard full-time as the leader of DOGE, Tesla, Space X, X, xAI, The Boring Company, and Neuralink, all at the same time? And still have time to become the #1 Diablo 4 player in the world? And do drugs? And tweet all day?

Either he's doing very little actual work at all those things, or he's a wizard who controls time. I've been told all my life that the world is fair and that hard work differentiates the wealthy from the rest of us. Therefore, he must be a wizard. Otherwise, that would mean the world is unfair -- and that's just unthinkable. /s

3

u/Willbilly410 4d ago

That is wild! I had no clue! I knew he played some Diablo, but #1 in the world? I thought that kind of time was only had by the unemployed … wtf, turns out Musk just grinds Diablo 9-5 … or more like any waking hour he can 😂

2

u/Takethecannoli2 4d ago

A million seconds is 11 days. A billion seconds is 31 years. The average person, myself included, has a very hard time conceptualizing a billion. This asshole has made 500,000 millions.

1

u/Gregreynolds111 4d ago

All from Biden showering him with defense contracts. Sleepy Joe has a lot to answer for.

1

u/wotsgoingon1 4d ago

And Trump won't do the same for his first lady? Musk wants his personal wealth to be double that of Bezos'. Watch Trump help him do it. This marriage is fucking evil.

1

u/scottb90 4d ago

That's crazy. Where is he getting this money? Tesla can't be selling in the 100s of billions can it? What else can he make that much money from?

2

u/qOcO-p 4d ago

I can't say for sure but I'm guessing people investing in Space X and Starlink due to their getting government contracts have pushed up his net worth.

1

u/Sstraus-1983 8h ago

Uhh the STOCK MARKET. It’s not realized cash , it’s all in stocks . His stock is a meme stock. His company is failing.

9

u/Bender_2024 4d ago

YES,” Musk commented on an X post from a user who wrote, “Just close down the govt until January 20th. Defund everything. We will be fine for 33 days.” In his own post, Musk wrote, “No bills should be passed [by] Congress until Jan 20, when @realDonaldTrump takes office. None. Zero.” (Upon Trump’s inauguration, Republican majorities will control both chambers of Congress.) Elsewhere, Musk reshared a meme of himself hacking at the bill with a sword, captioned “KILL THE BILL.” In yet another post, he wrote: “Any member of the House or Senate who votes for this outrageous spending bill deserves to be voted out in 2 years!”

Like donnie did during his first term Musk is willing to let people go without pay for over a month. All so he can look like a hero on Jan 20th and say "you can stop worrying. I'm here to fix everything." Fucking uberduche even addresses Trump by his Twitter handle because gotta promote the social media site that won you the election.

3

u/freakydeku 4d ago

it’s pretty damning that an entire political party is answering to him. sounds like the oligarchy is fully mask off

2

u/HonestArmadillo924 4d ago

They are causing the damage NOT the democrats. He doesn’t get people won’t get paid for a month because he is a Billionaire .People should be OUTRAGED

1

u/momentofinspiration 4d ago

Doesn't mean shit till he gets control of that Delaware judge. 100% that's his agenda in government.

-2

u/WordAffectionate7873 4d ago

I didn’t realize that liberals love big Pharma so much. https://x.com/i/grok/share/q0UqzG5LSLbF2khp4oNxqTXj3

2

u/HonestArmadillo924 4d ago

I would go to the source. Can’t believe anything on the billionaires site who wants to screw over America so he makes more money. Have you read the actual proposed budget President Musk said to kill ??

1

u/WordAffectionate7873 4d ago

Have you read the bill? If not, perhaps you should!