NOVEMBER 20, 2024 – I’m pretty sure that Elon Musk’s name was not on the ballot earlier this month. But as it turns out, his influence was—next to Trump’s name. The owner of X contributed over $118 million toward the effort to elect (“re-elect”?) Trump, and more than ever in American democracy, money buys influence, which increases the money, which achieves more influence in a corrupt circle.
Depending on whose analysis you follow—from CNBC to Forbes—since the election, Musk’s net worth has risen by $50 billion to $70 billion to a current figure of $300 billion. When simple math is applied to these figures, Musk’s ROI (“return on investment”) in less than a month was somewhere between 42,372% and 59,332%. Granted, this is a simplistic conclusion; a case of “association,” not direct cause-and-effect. What’s impossible to prove is that Trump would not have been elected had it not been for the South African immigrant’s whoppingly out-sized super-PAC and direct campaign contributions or that the price of Tesla stock wouldn’t have taken off like a SpaceX rocket if Harris had won. Nevertheless, the eye-popping magnitude of raw figures—the $50 billion to $70 billion increase in wealth in just three weeks compared to the measly yet obscenely staggering $118 million in campaign contributions; the unfathomable $300 billion net worth—combined with Musk’s 24/7 hip-joinder with the president-elect of the United States makes a complete mockery of a cornerstone of American democracy: one person, one vote.
To hammer the point home . . . For all of Trump’s populism and appeal to the many struggling Americans for whom “the economy” eclipsed other issues and concerns, we reside in a bona fide plutocracy. To varying degrees, this has always been the case, but with the world’s richest man having ingratiated himself with the president-elect, whose estimated net worth (according to Forbes) is a mere $5.5 billion, we are breaking new ground. One can stay far to the right of a Marxist analysis and still conclude that unchecked, our plutocratic direction will break the foundation of a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.
I, for one, am singularly unimpressed when a billionaire 300 times over wags his finger at hoi polloi and tells them that they must “endure some temporary hardship to ensure long-term prosperity.” Did I say “unimpressed”? I meant deeply offended. Musk’s contribution of $118 million was not a charitable donation. Nor was it inspired by some version of altruistic patriotism. From government contracts with SpaceX to relaxed regulations for self-driving vehicles developed by Tesla to tax cuts for the wealthy, Musk stands to benefit handsomely from a Trump regime. But quite apart from how he could profit—mightily—under Trump, Musk’s unimaginable wealth makes him the world’s poorest spokesman for the necessity of belt-tightening on the part of Everyman.
Then there’s the second-fiddle billionaire, Vivek Ramaswamy, whose unfathomable ego led him to think he was qualified to be president. This unlikable scold and sycophant has no credible standing to tell the rest of us that we must sacrifice.
The rich get richer. The poor, meanwhile, thought that burning the place down would reduce the weekly grocery bill and monthly rent. Instead, two billionaires will be put in charge of an attempt to slash $2 trillion from the federal budget. The only way this can be done will be to cut into the flesh and bones of programs that will have a potentially cataclysmic effect on the very people for whom “the economy” was the most important election issue.
Irony.
Speaking of “long-term prosperity,” a plutocracy of the extreme that is now shaping up isn’t conducive to the enduring health of a strong, stable society, which is the leading prerequisite for a prosperous economy. While the billionaires leverage their outsized financial influence to further their own advantage, the people worried about putting food on the table and affording a home they can call their own will see the proverbial American dream disappear altogether. Before long, America will be unrecognizable; a place of highly concentrated wealth and political power and vast deserts of dashed hopes and broken aspirations; a place where people are free to scratch and struggle to survive but hardly a place where they will be free to dream big dreams. All the seats at the table will be taken, occupied by plutocrats feasting on their power and wealth, while the rest of the country feeds on the scraps. Some of the “scrappers” will fare better than others, but danger will stalk everyone—scrappers and plutocrats alike.
In short, see the French and Russian Revolutions, and study the same to help alter the course we’ve chosen.
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© 2024 by Eric Nilsson
