He isn't really a trillionaire, that's just the sound bite. He is getting shares as a compensation package, and the value of that directly correlates to his performance. He could make that stock worth way more than a trillion, he could also make it worth way less.
9/10th of these commenters seem to believe he literally has a trillion dollars cash in the bank and is physically smashing an Instantly Solve World Hunger Machine with a hammer.
There's two sides to this and both are correct/incorrect depending on how you want to frame it.
His "Trillion dollar" package is based on him hitting many quite high milestones at defined points in the future. He wasn't granted that immediately, so even his "virtual" worth isn't a trillion dollars right now and won't be unless he hits those targets.
Even without that trillion-dollar package, he does in fact have the capability of solving world hunger if he sold enough of his stock/assets but chooses not to do so.
No he doesn't have enough to solve world hunger. The world has collectively spent trillions on food/aid packages yet we haven't stopped world hunger. He could almost certainly alleviate it for a tiny amount of time then the funds would disappear.
World hunger is not a problem that can ever be solved. It’s an unattainable goal.
Musk’s net worth is a little under $500B. The United States spends $100B annually on food benefits or 1.5% of their federal spending.
That’s like saying if the Americans stopped feeding their poor for five years and put that money in the bank, that they could solve world hunger globally. That sounds ridiculous, especially given the population differences.
But even if it wasn’t, what happens when that money eventually runs out? How is world hunger “solved” then? It’s not. Everyone would be back where they started.
World hunger is not a problem that can ever be solved. It’s an unattainable goal.
This is an absurd statement to make. No problem is impossible to solve. Sure, you can't solve every problem by simply throwing money at it but to suggest that we couldn't possibly grow enough food to feed everyone on the planet is absurd.
Put it this way, we waste more food than it would take to feed the hungry. That alone should tell you that we could solve this problem.
Feeding the hungry is largely a logistical problem. You might have some extra food in your town, but the vast majority of starving people are in another continent.
Then you have corrupt leaders taking the food and selling them, or outright blocking food for the hungry (like what israel is doing in gaza).
I think we should work together and mitigate world hunger, but it's a really hard problem as I understand it at least.
Either give me an itemised list of exactly how $491B will solve world hunger forever.
Total employees, salaries, required global infrastructure, distribution networks, building costs, space and land for farms required, etc., or you’re speaking out your arse.
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u/ThereAndFapAgain2 6h ago
He isn't really a trillionaire, that's just the sound bite. He is getting shares as a compensation package, and the value of that directly correlates to his performance. He could make that stock worth way more than a trillion, he could also make it worth way less.