“Should radicalize 99% of us”: Elon Musk on track to be world’s first trillionaire, triggering internet’s collective rage

News that Elon Musk reached new heights of obscene wealth and could become the first trillionaire has folks in guillotine mode this week. Users flooded a viral X post on the subject with condemnations of the very idea of a trillionaire, which represents a number far outside of human capacity to perceive.

Elon Musk, potential future trillionaire

On Sunday, the X account Globe Eye News posted Musk’s current net worth, reaching $405.6 billion in spite of his struggling image and Tesla’s woes. As of Monday, the Forbes Real-Time Billionaires List estimates his worth at $412.8 billion.

The post also mentioned that experts predict Musk will be the world’s first trillionaire by 2027. In a world of increasing income inequality where average people are struggling more by the day to afford the basics, this news was not taken well, especially by those who already hated him.

The news that Musk could reach trillionaire status actually broke in September 2024. Informa Connect Academy predicted this based on the fact that his wealth has been growing by 110 percent each year. His companies may have had their ups and downs, but his line just keeps going up.

Just 10 months ago, Musk was worth $251 billion.

“This should radicalize 99% of us”

Many on the political left have long criticized the very concept of a billionaire. A trillionaire is that times a thousand, and putting that number into alternative terms really shows how vast that amount of wealth is.

“To fully grasp how big a trillion actually is,” X user @BringBackBanjoK offered,

“A million seconds is 11 days.
A billion seconds is 31 years.
A trillion seconds is 31709 years.”

“There’s something deeply evil about the idea of a trillionaire actually existing.”

Thousands more who responded to the Globe Eye News tweet agreed.

“Something deeply evil about a society that creates a trillionaire before it solves homelessness or hunger,” wrote @TheRealJChubby.

“Could save the world but would rather be weird online,” @ChaseMit said of Elon Musk.

“This should radicalise 99% of us,” wrote @ellkay_.

“Capitalism is better than socialism because one man gets to be a trillionaire instead of everyone having healthcare,” joked @RickyHale_.

That time Elon Musk didn’t end world hunger

Others pointed out the fact that Musk could personally solve the world’s most serious poverty-related issues if he wanted.

User @angel_0f_deathx declared that it’s “crazy how he could solve hunger and homelessness and still be richer than any human could ever need to be but just doesn’t wanna.”

“Remember that time he said he was willing to solve world hunger and then when the United Nations World Food Programme gave him the fiscal breakdown of how much it would cost ($6.6 billion which would feed 42 MILLION people for a year in 43 countries), he ignored them?” asked @GeauxGabrielle.

It’s true. In 2021, Musk told the U.N. agency that if they could give him a plan, he would provide the cash.

“If WFP can describe on this Twitter thread exactly how $6B will solve world hunger, I will sell Tesla stock right now and do it,” he wrote on what was then called Twitter.

They provided him with a plan to avert famine in 43 nations for $6.6 billion, a fraction of what Musk has been earning each year. The program got crickets, and Musk bought Twitter instead.

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