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[–] 20 points 5 months ago (5 children)

Why can't we, as a society, just take Musk's money and redistribute it? It is absolutely stupid that we allow someone to have more money than he can use while so many people can't afford to live

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  • [–] 10 points 5 months ago (1 child)

    Most of those trillions are unrealized gains based on completely unrealistic valuation in "trust me bro" style

    Like Tesla being worth more than all the western car manufacturers combined or xai being "worth" billions even if it's losing billions every year.

    The second he dumps those stocks, the house of cards would crash almost immediately

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  • [–] 2 points 5 months ago

    I swear people think billionaires have a giant vault of money like Scrooge McDuck. I have had to explain this to people so many times. His wealth is almost entered imaginary and based on the speculative possible future profits of his companies. If he ever tried to convert it into cash the value would go to zero.

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  • Realistically it's not liquid assets like it is for you and me. They purchase items that "appreciate" like land and art, then take loans out using them as collateral to then get them appraised higher to take out another loan to pay off the other one then use the extra for living on. They don't live on dividends or income, it's a game of loans that they have a small army of accountants running. That doesn't mean we shouldn't take those assets. Just that it doesn't translate into immediate cash flows for people.

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