As nearly a million Americans died of COVID during the pandemic, Elon Musk’s wealth skyrocketed — opening the door for him to be able to make offers like buying Twitter for $43 billion, as he did on Thursday.
Americans for Tax Fairness documented on Thursday, Musk’s wealth has shot up by a whopping 1,080 percent during the pandemic. On March 18, 2020, Musk was worth an already towering $24.6 billion; now, he’s worth $290 billion. He has accumulated more than $265 billion in just two years, most of it tax-free.
This is a ridiculous amount of money, and unfathomable even for the Tesla and SpaceX owners. His net worth is currently approximately 1.2 percent of the total U.S. Gross Domestic Product of $24 trillion. This is more money than a single person could spend in a lifetime — unless they wanted to buy Twitter, one of the world’s most heavily visited websites, at far over its current valuation nearly 7 times over.
Musk was indeed a step in the right direction. buying Twitter on ThursdayIts current share price is $54.20 per unit, which is higher than the current price of roughly $45.50. This would bring the total to $43 billion, which Musk called his “best and final offer.”
The pandemic was devastating for millions in America and around the globe, but it was a huge blessing to Musk, the richest man on Earth. If he wanted to buy Twitter before the pandemic at this price, he would have had to sell all of his assets — and even then, he would have come up short by about $18.4 billion.
“Workers pay tax on their income all year, every year. Simple justice demands that billionaires do the same,” Frank Clemente, executive director of Americans for Tax Fairness, said in a statement provided to Truthout. “Instead, our current system allows billionaires like Musk to accumulate vast amounts of wealth without ever contributing a fair share into the tax system like working families do.”
BREAKING: America’s billionaires have officially gotten $2 TRILLION richer during the pandemic, largely tax-free
Elon Musk’s wealth alone shot up by 1,080%
This Tax Day, tax day is for workers who can’t afford to buy gas, groceries or healthcare. Billionaires should do the same. pic.twitter.com/LxjlezphpM
— Americans For Tax Fairness (@4TaxFairness) April 14, 2022
Musk purchased a 9 per cent stake in Twitter last week, making him the largest shareholder of the company. The company offered to make Musk a member of its board, subject to a background check. he refused.
In his filing this week he said that simply being a board member wouldn’t have given him enough power over the company. “I don’t have confidence in management,” he said, citing the website’s “potential.”
It’s unclear what Musk wants to change about the site, but he has a reputation for firingTesla employees who disagree. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), also disciplined him and Tesla. illegally firing a union organizerand posting anti-union tweets in 2018.
He has also been in legal hot waterFor his tweets. In 2018, he tweeted that it was something he was thinking about making. the company private, a “joke” that earned him a lawsuit from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and a $20 million fine. Stocks can be rocked when Musk tweets about his financial moves. Last year, for example, he tweeted a poll on whether or not to sell 10% of Tesla stock. Shares plummeted. In 2020, for no apparent reason, he tweeted that Tesla share prices were “too high,” also causing the price to drop.
Media experts are concerned about the implications for Twitter and the internet if Musk purchases the website. Despite his history of censoring his workers, Musk recently described himself as a “free speech absolutist” after saying that he refused to block Russian news sources from accessing SpaceX’s satellite communication system, Starlink; it’s unclear how these principles would extend to Twitter.
“Regardless of Musk’s dubious principles, any move to relax content moderation standards warrants legitimate concern,” wrote University of Pennsylvania media policy professor Victor Pickard for The Nation. “For example, changing the policies by which Twitter restricts or suspends accounts that cause social harm could yield more harassment, hate speech, incitement to violence, and dangerous misinformation about voting and vaccines.”
“Twitter’s uneven adherence to its own rules has been rightly criticized, but having no rules would be a troll’s paradise,” Pickard continued, “a Hobbesian hellscape of all against all, with the most vulnerable having the most to lose.”
Musk is currently facing several scandals relating to his finances and businesses. Musk is expected to be indicted on charges related to his businesses and finances. made his hugeHe purchased Twitter stock, and he filed the disclosure 11-days late, netting him an additional $156million.
Musk appears to have reached a 5 per cent stake on March 14. This is required by the SEC. He continued to buy stock at around $39 per shares until he reached 9.2 percentage in secret. After that announcement, shares rose by about 30% to more than $50 per share.
Investors have sued over Musk’s late disclosure, saying that they may have missed out on gains because of this move.
Musk’s companies are also facing scrutinyFrom three different government agencies, which include over Allegations that management at Tesla’s manufacturing plant in California have segregated the shop floor by race, and that Black employees suffer rampant racism. One worker said that they heard racial slurs 50 to 100 times per day, and saw graffiti in the work bathroom.
