bilby
Fair dinkum thinkum
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Yes, he does.He is worth 250 billion, but he doesn't have that money unless he decides to sell his shares and leave the company.Sorry, but no.But that isn't actually real money. It's just a number on a computer. His company Tesla is valued at 1.2 trillion. It's just a number on a computer. If the company disappeared tomorrow, the 1.2 trillion number would become 0. Elon doesn't actually have 250 billion dollars. A number on a computer says he's worth 250 billion. It could become 0 tomorrow.I was going to post something similar to Canard DuJour but he beat me to it, so I just clicked Like instead.
OP is just standard boiler-plate for why "trickle-down" MIGHT work. Those arguments are all obvious. As Mr. DuJour points out, it's actual EVIDENCE that is relevant.
I just read that Elon Musk is worth 250 Big Ones. That's a Quarter-Trillion Dollars. With a T. Wasn't it just 2 or 3 years ago that the first individual joined the $100+ Billion club?
A man could have a painting worth 1 million in his basement. But it is worthless just sitting there. He doesn't actually have 1 million dollars.
He DOES actually have that money.
That it could disappear overnight is a characteristic of fiat money, and is equally true of all wealth; Wealth is a dimension, and is unit of measure is the dollar. It's not a commodity that sits around waiting to be counted or spent, it's a potential - the potential to command the resources of our society.
In every important way, Musk does have that money.
That you falsely imagine money to be sufficiently commodity-like as to render his wealth void because it is intangible is not a reason to deny that fact. It's just an error in your understanding of what wealth is.
If I have a painting in my basement worth a million dollars, then I can sell it for a million dollars. If I can't, then I don't have a painting worth a million dollars.
The argument that it's not worth anything is self refuting; We started by declaring its value.
If he has a painting worth $0, then he doesn't have a painting worth a million - which isn't an argument for anything other than that paintings don't all have the same value.
He commands that amount of the productivity of society
No shit.Tesla (like the painting) is valued at 1.2 trillion. This doesn't mean they have 1.2 trillion in cash.
Why do you imagine that they would need to have it in cash?
Cash is just a token. It's not in any important way different from the other assets he has, other than in being the most liquid - it's (slightly) easier to convert into goods and services quickly
OK, let's leave your abject failure to understand what taxes are and why they matter for another time; We still have a long way to go in explaining to you what money is.Also keep in mind that the top 1% pays 40% of federal taxes. The bottom 20% only pays 1% of federal taxes. We can conclude that if you are poor, you pay very little taxes. Trickle down.
Money isn't cash. Cash is a token that represents money in a high liquidity format.
Money is debt.
Debt is money.
When you say "Elon Musk has 250 Billion dollars", what you are saying is shorthand for "Our society currently agrees that it owes Elon Musk 250 Billion Dollars worth of its productivity".
That's it. That's all it means. Money is debt; Debt is money.