Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (NASDAQ:SPCX) and Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO Elon Musk has defended his trillionaire status after SpaceX stock surged earlier this week.
Elon Musk Slams Bernie Sanders
On Tuesday, user John Stossel defended Musk’s wealth, saying that SpaceX and Tesla were valuable because the companies were making products that people wanted, criticizing calls for the government to cap Musk’s wealth. “This is simply due to my ownership stakes in SpaceX and Tesla,” Musk said.
The trillionaire added that as both enterprises “build more and more,” there’s an increase in valuation which benefits all shareholders of the companies. “The takers of the world who have never built anything, like Bernie, do as they always do and take from the makers,” he said.
Musk, in December last year, defended his trillion-dollar fortune against similar criticism, saying that his wealth was tied to the growth of SpaceX and Tesla and that a “taker like the Bernie Sanders type politicians of the world” cannot or will not make anything.
In the past month, SpaceX stock has recorded a 16.20% growth, with SPCX shares trading at $169.64 during overnight trading on Tuesday. On the other hand, Tesla has grown 7.51% in the last month, with TSLA shares trading at $378.54 on the NASDAQ during the overnight trading session.
According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index on Tuesday, Musk is the richest person on the planet with a net worth of $1.05 trillion, followed by Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) (NASDAQ:GOOG) co-founder Larry Page and Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) founder Jeff Bezos.
The Wealth Tax Debate
Democratic Party leaders like Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) have locked horns with Musk and other tech CEOs over a one-time wealth tax on society’s wealthiest members, with the Vermont Independent criticizing Musk’s fortune, as well as goals to have a universal high income.
Late last month, Sanders backed California’s proposed one-time 5% tax on billionaires, saying that the tax would be able to fund healthcare for 3 million working-class residents ahead of a decision on November 3.
Several tech leaders and billionaires have moved out of California to states like Texas following talks of the billionaire tax. Notably, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) has opposed the wealth tax, which has also seen support from other Democratic Party leaders like Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA).
Check out more of Benzinga’s Future Of Mobility coverage by following this link.
Photo courtesy: Shutterstock
Login to comment