[wonderwonder]

This article is pretty shallow and sounds a lot like the people on Reddit calling for the removal of billionaires and how its the fault of the rich that they are struggling without acknowledging the amount of work it takes to become rich. The same people that minimize what people like Musk have accomplished.

If I get paid more, I work harder. There is obviously a realistic limit on how hard I can work. The longer I stay at a company though the more knowledge I have and the more effectively I can utilize my time to accomplish my goals and those of the business.

If I can get a 20% raise somewhere else and do the same amount of work, I will do so. In order to keep me, my company just has to match my new salary offer. Something that they are free to do or reject based on their valuation of what I bring to the table.

A million dollars is a lot of money, but its significantly less if I need to buy a house in California vs Wyoming. The free market does a relatively good job of assigning capital, lets not make up arbitrary caps based on make believe morality.

[bobsomers]

> The same people that minimize what people like Musk have accomplished.

Oof, I agree in general with what you're saying but Musk is a bad example. His companies have been successful in spite of him, rather than because of him.

[wonderwonder]

come on friend. I can understand someone getting lucky, happening to hire the exact right person and the company succeeding due to the hard work of someone else. Once. But this guy is so lucky that he managed to do it in: SpaceX, Paypal, Tesla, Neuralink, and The Boring Company.

Even if Neuralink and Boring company are not profitable, the sheer scale and potential of the ideas are incredible. I understand why people don't like Musks opinion on many things but to infer that he has somehow become the richest man in the world by accident is disingenuous.

I thoroughly dislike Trump as a person and know that much of what he accomplished was given to him. Even with that said, the guy is successful and became the 45th president of the United States and has a cult like following in a good portion of the US. I have no issue acknowledging his success despite my personal objection to him in general.

[manuelabeledo]

> But this guy is so lucky that he managed to do it in: SpaceX, Paypal, Tesla, Neuralink, and The Boring Company.

Not so great examples.

The Boring Company only real customer is the city of Las Vegas. Nothing much to show apart from that.

Neuralink is barely a R&D project, and still not making any money.

PayPal wasn't a Musk's venture, x.com was. x.com lasted for a couple years. Musk was the CEO for maybe a year. Essentially, he cashed out on the success of Thiel as CEO after PayPal went public and was sold to eBay.

SpaceX is very much still losing money.

> I understand why people don't like Musks opinion on many things but to infer that he has somehow become the richest man in the world by accident is disingenuous.

Not by accident, and richest only on paper.

But he was indeed incredibly fortunate and somewhat lucky. The fact that he is successful doesn't change that.

[manuelabeledo]

> ... without acknowledging the amount of work it takes to become rich

Being rich has more to do with background, than work.

> The same people that minimize what people like Musk have accomplished.

The son of a property developer and part owner of an emerald mine, and a top model, no less.

What I'm trying to say is that getting a jumpstart, while not guaranteeing a path to success, does provide a massive advantage over those from poorer backgrounds.

[wonderwonder]

Lets say I agree with you and Musk was given a large amount of startup capital (he wasn't). If I gave you say 10 million, could you turn it into 300 billion? 10 billion? 1 billion?

[manuelabeledo]

> Lets say I agree with you and Musk was given a large amount of startup capital (he wasn't).

That's relative and debatable.

Musk was born to a wealthy family, and had the opportunity early in life to move to California.

He founded his first venture the same year he arrived, in 1995. It was initially backed by angel investors, and then received a $3M investment just one year after. That's $6M adjusted for inflation.

Only an unfathomable small minority of the world's population, with both the money and the connections, are able to afford this.

> If I gave you say 10 million, could you turn it into 300 billion? 10 billion? 1 billion?

Maybe. We will never know, because I wasn't given the opportunities Musk had since childhood.

I have yet to encounter a rich guy whose parents weren't, at the very least, well off enough so he could go to good schools and live a relatively comfortable life. Most rich people I have spoken to are, in fact, quite disconnected from the struggles of being poor. Many would claim that they are either self made, or come from a lower middle class background, yet haven't gone hungry for a single day in their lives.