Socialist Dems (a redundant expression, I admit) are infamous for their divisive politics of envy and class warfare. To them, being a billionaire is a policy mistake. That means there are at least 1,135 “policy mistakes” in the US as of 2024. There are a bunch of mistakes roaming the wide world, too.
Extrapolating from this, a majority of the country’s consumers are also “mistakes” because they collectively reward the entrepreneurs by availing themselves of their life-improving products and services. Indeed, it’s noteworthy that most billionaires are self-made; they did not inherit the preponderance of their wealth, but created it. And consumers are happily complicit and compliant.
Image created using AI.
If, in Dems’ evilly envious eyes, billionaires are a mistake, what about being a trillionaire?
That’s about what a proposed pay package from Tesla’s board will make Elon Musk over the course of the next decade. To earn the generous compensation (which will require shareholder approval), Musk must achieve some very ambitious goals. These include Tesla hitting a certain market cap (the final benchmark is $8.5 trillion), and operational milestones including 20 million Tesla vehicles delivered, 10 million full self-driving subscriptions (think robo-taxi), and 1 million Optimus robots delivered (Musk predicts that 80% of Tesla’s value will come from the amazingly dexterous robots).
The upshot is that reaching those milestones will benefit numerous company shareholders, numerous retirement plans, and consumers in general. After all, entrepreneurs’ fortunes are linked to productive assets that benefit society as a whole. In short, they create more wealth for society than they consume as individuals. Then again, the milestones could prove to be a millstone around Musk’s neck if he overpromises and under-delivers.
Being a socialist is worse than being a “policy mistake”—it’s an ideological mistake. Everything derived from the soul-destroying orthodoxy is doomed to failure because it doesn’t comport with human nature. That includes our inherent desire to improve our lot in life, and the market-determined rewards for the fruits of our labor (not some central-planning, unaccountable bureaucrat). Simply put, they are against freedom, even though we are endowed by our creator with free will (with some parameters). It’s not for an insular socialist who never had to meet payroll (like Obama) to determine that “…at a certain point you’ve made enough money.” Not in the Golden Age of America, at least.
Irrespective of whether or not Musk’s proposed pay package appears exorbitant, it still needs to be approved by the shareholders, who are mostly motivated by self-interest. If Tesla flounders in the free-ish market (getting fewer subsidies, now), then the milestones will become burdensome millstones. However, if he (and his dedicated teams) succeed, he will be a trillionaire policy success, and we will all benefit, even if indirectly.