How about that Elon Musk?

 

How about that Elon Musk?

America is once again number one. We have as a citizen the first person on Earth with a net worth of over one trillion dollars. I guess we can claim him even though he is an immigrant by way of Canada. Born in Pretoria, South Africa in 1971, he left while the getting was good before Apartheid came to a close in his native land. With Apartheid white citizens were favored and advantaged over non-whites. He chose America where the extreme wealthy (the Epstein class) are favored and advantaged over the wealthy and below (obviously wealthy non-whites would also be included in this lower class).

Being a person of much lower wealth, at about one hundred thousand (depending on the value given to my home) I have a hard time visualizing what it would be like to have a net worth of over a trillion dollars, but I am going to attempt it in this blog.

I will start with one hundred dollars, With this amount of money my wife and I can go out and have a nice steak dinner. It won't buy desert and drinks but we are well satisfied. It also could buy me a nice warm coat that would last for years.

For a thousand dollars, ten times the hundred, I can buy a dining room table and chairs. For several thousand dollars I can buy a used ski boat. The problem with that is the cost of gasoline. For a hundred thousand I could buy the car or truck of my dreams (same problem with the cost of gas).

Let's jump to a million dollars (a thousand thousands). With one of these I could buy a beautiful home overlooking the sea in Oregon. In California you couldn't buy a dumpster overlooking the sea. For several million I can buy a pristine mansion with fifty acres, overlooking the sea in Northern Ireland.

Now the challenge is a billion dollars. A thousand million. I can't comprehend this quantity of wealth. What could one desire for this amount? With this amount I have my yacht with a ski boat for a life boat, docked by my mansion by the sea, located on fifty acres of grass land (for my brother-in-law to mow) and multi-millions still in the bank.

So, what the hell is a trillion dollars? It is a thousand billion! To me, that approaches infinity, Elon doesn't have just a trillion. He has one and a tenth trillion (Forbes estimate in June of 2026). Why mention the one tenth of a trillion? Because it is one hundred billion. From the above you can see that one tenth of a trillion is real money.

Musk has a ten year contract with Tesla that “earns” him a hundred billion annually (another trillion). I'm sure that he will invest the money wisely. So ten years from now he could be the first multi-trillion dollar man. Won't that be nice?

The US Supreme Court (with its legal secret unlimited political pack donations, Citizens United) had a major roll in enabling Elon Musk to help put a man found guilty of sexual assault and an ego maniac into the office of President of The United States. It has been revealed that Musk donated two hundred and fifty million dollars to Trump's recent campaign for President. Political wizards estimate that it requires a thousand dollars in campaign funds to change a single vote in a presidential election. So a $250,000,000 donation could result in two hundred and fifty thousand votes turned. Thanks to the US Supreme Court, one man, Elon Musk, accounted for more than 10% of Trump's win of 2,284,967. After this donation is Musk left in a weakened financial position? No, he only used 4.4% of his wealth and has more than regained his donation with awards of no-bid government contracts.

What would help save this nation from billionaire elites? Some tax legislation might help. In the 1940s the tax rate on every dollar earned over $250,000 was over 90%. With inflation it should be moved to each dollar over $500,000 (anyone could live comfortably on that figure). The maximum rate presently is 34%. Changing it back to 90% could fund USAID (the richest nation in the world helping the poorest nations), public education, universal healthcare and public transportation. We could make America of the people, by the people and for the people. With this suggested income tax in place Musk would have never moved down from Canada and we wouldn't have had a monkey with a chainsaw on the floor of the Republican Convention.

Can a wealthy white migrant still find power in today's America? Yes he can. The dream is still alive.

Cheers, Old Buz           6/15/26

“A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always count on the support of Paul.”
- George Bernard Shaw

"Border Crisis"

   What is presently called a border crisis is actually a crisis in problem solving.  It is not an immigration problem.  It is actually a problem of economics south of that border.  Thousands of people are not walking a thousand miles with their families to live in The United States.  They are enduring this hardship in hope of improving the living conditions of their families.  They are in search of food and shelter (economic opportunities).  Survival!

   Today’s "border crisis" is an effect, not a cause.  If one attempts to cure an effect, rather than the cause, at best you have a short term solution.  We all know that, but pay little attention.  The people of Mexico, Central or South America would rather stay where they are than walk to The United States.  Their first language is the language of their homeland.  The weather is fine, unless challenged by flooding and Global Warming.  Move to the US and your language becomes the language of an economic underclass.  You or I would walk too if it were a matter of survival for you and your family.

   China built a wall to keep the world out centuries ago.  We have a political party led by a madman seeing this as today’s answer to a problem.  The other party is going along with them with a border security scheme.  The better answer is: cure the cause.  Build a strong economic engine in all of the land south of our border.  All of the resources are there.  All but for adequate capital and a real desire to improve living conditions for all.  The Maquiladora Program failed because it stood for US investment in cheap Mexican labor and profits taken back to the US.  A successful program would benefit the Mexican Nation and its people, driven by a reasonable return on investment.

  Here is my simple solution to the “crisis.”  Convince the two most famous idiot savants in the world (Elon Musk & Jeff Bezos) to combine their net worth of $294 billion (37^th annual Forbes list for 2023) and give birth to The Great American (both continents) Economy.  I refer to them as idiot savants because as wealth producers they are both genius, but for having any empathy for humanity, idiots.

   These two bozos could make the world a better place rather than participating in the childish competition to reach close to space (a competition that the US and the USSR entered into and completed over a half century ago).   When two financial monsters such as Musk & Bezos enter into such a contest, no one benefits. If instead they financed The Great American Economy, south of the border, they would forever have a place in history as great men.  They would be curing the cause of a problem not trying to lessen an effect.  If they continue on their present trajectory they will have the momentary fame of two wealthy dingbats.  If you are reading this Jeff and Elon … REPENT!  (and help good people stay home).

   The economic engine described could be powered solely by Solar Energy, Musk’s field.  The distribution of goods & services produced would be the Bezos expertise.  Solar powered American Continents would reverse climate change (with the aid of solar desalinization watered forests).  Simple.

Cheers, Old Buz          03/21/2024

 

The Solutions:

“There are no perfect solutions to the problems of our imperfect world.”

(But, it is nice to keep searching.) – Old Buz