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Billionaire's Gain, Our Loss
by /u/LuckyBastard001 | 113 comments | 2026-06-13T21:52:29+00:00 Central
Comments
| /u/elch07 Too many people don't understand the staggering difference between a million dollars and a billion dollars, let alone a trillion dollars. |
| /u/NTMY I always liked the example of 1 million seconds (~11.5 days) vs 1 billion seconds (~31.5 years). I guess new we have to add 1 trillion seconds (~31,500 years) |
| /u/WoodsenMoosen My favorite is that the difference between 1 million and 1 billion is about 1 billion. |
| /u/pipkin42 A billion is one thousand million. |
| /u/biggestofbears *go become a millionaire a thousand times". Like how do people really think that's done? It's immoral, unethical, and should be illegal to be a billionaire. Eat the fuckin rich. |
| /u/-CODED- A thousand times just for ONE billion. These people have hundreds of billions. |
| /u/alwayssunnyinskyrim Now a thousand billion! |
| /u/kryonik Plenty of people don't have a net worth of a hundred thousand dollars. These people have a net worth of a hundred thousand million dollars. It's insane. |
| /u/rage-quit for Elon that is *Go become a millionaire one million times. He can treat $1,000,000 the same as someone with $1,000,000 can treat $1 |
| /u/Zukuto yeah but a billion minus a million is still near as makes no difference, a billion. |
| /u/pipkin42 Yes, I was just adding another one to the list. They're both effective ways of expressing the same idea. |
| /u/Feeling_Inside_1020 Make a million and it's in the bank? Cool! You're 0.1% on your way to become a billionaire! And .0001% on your way to a trillionaire! |
| /u/Caleb_Reynolds And the difference between a trillion and a billion is about a trillion. |
| /u/eugene20 I like that one but a lot of people that can't visualise a billion at all just don't understand it so I always go with the seconds, |
| /u/NRMusicProject I just saw it's the difference between someone with a thousand dollars giving up a dollar, vs. a millionaire giving up a thousand dollars, vs. a billionaire giving up a million dollars. It's the same exact percentage. Really puts shit into perspective. |
| /u/Junin-Toiro At 8% average growth (net of inflation, the historical return of sp500), a billionaire will make a new million every 4.5 days. |
| /u/RoadToHerald If you go back a million minutes, you're in 2024. If you go back a billion minutes you're in the Roman Empire. If you go back a trillion minutes you'd be living during a time that the first species recognised as human had appeared. |
| /u/MariaTPK How many seconds is a trillion? |
| /u/LamyT10 problem is: Lots of people cant even comprehend how long 31500 years are(I dont even know if I can). |
| /u/NTMY Sure, but comparing not even two weeks with almost half of most humans total life span? That should be something most people can comprehend. I just added the trillion seconds one, because they were not needed when I last saw someone use that example. |
| /u/SaucyStoveTop69 5 dollar a second since before recorded history |
| /u/Low_Swan2142 A million is life-changing for most people, a billion is system-changing, and a trillion is almost abstract. |
| /u/kaisadilla_ They are unreal. Spain's GDP is $2 trillion. This means that society has given Elon Musk control over a share of society's wealth equal to all the goods and services made by the entirety of Spain (pop. 50 million) in 6 months. At this scale, net worth does not express your ability to pay your bills; but rather how much of society's resources is controlled directly to you. I truly believe I don't need to explain why a single individual shouldn't have control over such a large share of society's resources. |
| /u/Donny-Moscow Yep. And that's not about being smart or stupid, it's just the way our brains work. I think it helps to reframe it in terms of time. One thousand seconds is 16 min 40 seconds. One million seconds is about 11.5 days. One billion seconds? Over 31 years. |
| /u/kaisadilla_ And one trillion seconds is 31,710 years which is insane. |
| /u/ConnectionOk8273 Heard someone say that if he was a country, he'd be #22 of richest countries in the world... |
| /u/ElkApprehensive1729 That's a good one, but the ones who need to hear this most won't read it that way. the ones who need to hear it are the Americans mostly, and they would still not grasp that. America thinks that everyone else except them lives in squalor lol. Even if they have it worse off. |
| /u/jlomski Most Americans hate this dude except for a very vocal minority |
| /u/ElkApprehensive1729 You're not wrong, but it still stands true. I have people even in the most blue states possible be shocked at some things in my country. Just saying "He'd be #22 of the richiest countries in the world" you're going to have vast majority of Americans really not grasp that. and thats not their fault, they were raised that way. I like the above guy who used seconds into years. Even some of the least brainwashed americans often think top #10 wealthiest countries have to shit in outhouses and have no public garbage pickup lol |
| /u/squngy This kind of thing is said often, but it is not correct. You are comparing yearly turn over to total wealth. This is a bit like saying you are as rich as your boss, because everything you own is worth as much as what he makes in a year. |
| /u/Inside-Example-7010 A million seconds is 11.5 days. A billion seconds is 31.5 years and a trillion seconds is 31500 years. |
| /u/jimbarino The year is 20,000 BC and the land is locked in ice. Ugg, an early human lost in the snow, finds a magical wishing rock. He wishes for eternal life and endless wealth. He is gifted immortality, and granted an endless stipend of $5000 an hour, 24 hours a day, for the rest of eternity. The year is 2026 AD. Ugg has seen glaciers sweep the land and then recede, seas fill and dry, civilizations rise and fall. Through all this, he has managed to save every last cent his $5000/hour magical wage has granted him. His net worth is still lower than that of Elon Musk. |
| /u/Dyolf_Knip He really should have been investing that in the rock market from the get-go. |
| /u/notsure500 Yep, you have to put it in terms of, the average person has to work 11 million years to earn that much money. Or 5 million of the average household net worth is same as just this 1 cunt. |
| /u/not_a_moogle At one dollar a day, if you went into the past your be past all of human civilization and into the mid Paleolithic era. Humans at that time were still just using fire and simple tools made from sharp edge rocks. Not counting commercial and million dollar properties, he could pay off probably all residential mortgages. You could give every working age american 5 grand. |
| /u/Recent_Show_3506 a billion sounds like just a bigger million until you realize it's a thousand millions then the scale gets ridiculous fast |
| /u/Dopplegangr1 Elon has enough wealth he could give every person in my state a million dollars and it wouldn't affect his life |
| /u/MechAegis Something I read on here one time about wealth. I can't remember it very well. Having millions of dollars is like being able to own a couple of houses/properties. Billions of dollars is like owning exotic yachts and mansions. Having a trillion of dollars is like being able to sway political opposition. |
| /u/sphericaltime The weird part of this is that swaying politics is cheap, usually in the tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars until the last few years. Even moderately low level millionaires could do it. Then Musk threw $250 million at politics last elections and the prices are going way up. |
| /u/Boring-Adeptness-711 And unfortunately thanks to Citizens United! |
| /u/annieselkie „If you wanna be a billionaire You gotta make a million every year Then do it for a thousand years without spending a dime And if you make a million every year For a hundred thousand years You'll still have less than the top five at this time" (Billionaire by Rocky Leon) |
| /u/Ryaniseplin imagine how much value a million millionaires would have on the world, it only elon wasnt hoarding |
| /u/Ok-Neighbor-1983 Too many people fail to understand that this surge of wealth is being taken directly from the American pension fund, and if space-x fails as a company the entire pension economy will collapse. |
| /u/ViaVitoV Oh so you mean a million million is a million million ? |
| /u/m3rcapto People don't understand basic economics. Profits are created from losses, if one company or person gains wealth, someone else loses it. You can't just create 800B out of thin air with an IPO, it is removed elsewhere. |
| /u/Boring-Adeptness-711 Just like all the earth resources he consumes |
| /u/magikot9 The difference between a billion dollars and a trillion dollars is about a trillion dollars. |
| /u/chankeypathak Spending $1,000 per day, it would take: about 2.7 years to spend $1 million, about 2,740 years to spend $1 billion, about 2.74 million years to spend $1 trillion. |
| /u/PreparedReckless Here is an absolutely perfect example by Tom Scott https://youtu.be/8YUWDrLazCg?is=3XsI1RrJTDAhgzwj |
| /u/Sedert1882 Him becoming a trillionaire has for many people firmly cemented their dislike/disgust at the ultra-rich class. He's shone a spotlight on them collectively, that many of them would want to avoid. |
| /u/Careful-Bet6197 At that point, it stops being admiration or envy and turns into how did we even get here? |
| /u/ElonsBreedingFetish Hopefully it turns into rage. Millions are suffering and dying because of them |
| /u/HowdyDiarrhea The whole system exists on an extremely fragile agreement, and they're vastly outnumbered |
| /u/PureReason1117 To them, the deaths are ok if only certain people are dying. |
| /u/Vivid_Anyth4 Im sure they taste pretty good. |
| /u/Sipikay They have 90% of the wealth. It's pathetic, beyond pathetic, when they pillage public coffers to pay for things. Literally a disease. A virus. A parasite. |
| /u/superpananation Also they are going to make money worthless. It's like ruining their own grift by getting too greedy. You can't be the richest man alive if the rest of the world has to make a new system or die. All of a sudden your riches are meaningless. |
| /u/Serial-Griller Quite the opposite, imo. Elon is a fantastic patsy. Just look how little the Walton's or the Sacklers have been a part of the public consciousness ever since Leon started dominating any headlines not already occupied by the orange one. |
| /u/rufusbot True. How many deaths are the Sacklers responsible for? |
| /u/Content-Sun2928 Make like the Mario Bros and stomp a turty |
| /u/ReachParticular5409 We're gonna have to move pretty far past 'disgust' if anything's going to get done |
| /u/SparksAndSpyro And beef costs are going to increase because he cut programs that controlled screwworm infestations. |
| /u/_strand_ fuck the price of beef getting expensive people in North America are going to get screwworm and die from it the first case of it in someone in US happened last August, because someone travelled to El Salvador, now the screwworm is here in the US, no need to fly anywhere to catch it |
| /u/HighlyOffensive10 Buy Ivermectin stock? |
| /u/Original-Rush139 Doge has probably killed a million of the world's poorest children. It's crazy that we won't care until the price of McDonald's goes up. |
| /u/atreeismissing Good on the beef pricing increasing. Bad on the screwworm infestations. We should, collectively, be eating less meat in the US (and other 'first world' countries) because we can afford to without sacrificing nutrition. |
| /u/shallah and human infants belly buttons and every other warm blooded creature with wounds, eyes nostrils etc. are potential hosts |
| /u/Gameboywarrior Do people not understand the relationship between the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer? |
| /u/HectorsMascara Too abstract a thought for many. |
| /u/Kindly-Guidance714 Divide and conquer made so incredibly simple you'd had thought they invented the concept yesterday. No wonder the parasite class laughs behind closed doors at us. |
| /u/Distinct-Pain4972 Insert idiocracy quote. |
| /u/pinupcthulhu It's not that abstract: "you know those taxes that come out of your paycheck? Well now instead of it going to fund stuff you use, it's going directly into his pockets." |
| /u/kaisadilla_ Yup. Society has normalized hearing both "this basic necessity cannot be provided anymore because there's no money!" and "this rich guy is now twice as rich, business is blooming!". |
| /u/Xaero_Hour They literally do not. It's been half a century, but trickle down/voodoo/rising tide economics is stronger than ever and is showing no signs of slowing down. |
| /u/tryingisbetter The average person barely understands anything. |
| /u/atreeismissing They don't, they also mostly don't care, they care about what they can personally afford at any given moment in time and what they feel they should be able to afford at any given moment in time. That's how most people make decisions. |
| /u/elch07 Americans aren't very good with math or numbers. |
| /u/sukhoi_bailout Only when they eventually find themselves in the poor category. |
| /u/shallah but the rich with all their media have told us it was the other (insert insult for religious sect, skin tone, etc) poor people doing it to us! it can't be the rich refusing to pay a living wage much wages that are equal to the contribution the worker makes to the corporation! |
| /u/SquidTheRidiculous There can only be so much money at a time. Having that much hoarded by one single individual is going to mean there's less left for those of us just trying to survive, not trying to "win" capitalism. People dunk on "just print more money!" Ideology but that's essentially what they're saying when they tell the dregs of society to just bootstrap themselves. |
| /u/Davoswannab When he spends life changing money to disaffect my vote and in turn this administration continually robs the people they're supposed to work for because of the money he spent. |
| /u/rndsepals The election interference and illegal vote buying were bad that led to worse administration and DOGE shenanigans. But I fear a racist trillionaire with a robot factory and spy/ wifi satellite contract with the US military will lead to worst outcomes. Why are Americans so down with war profiteering and the superrich exploiting their tax dollars? |
| /u/EidolonRook He the poster child for unloved rich kids everywhere desperate for validation he didn't get from his parents. Also; little fuckers made life much harder for everyone not him by being a bloodsucking "capitalist cosplayer, nepotistic socialism enjoyer" who raided programs that could have helped billions, all for the ego-driven goal of being the first trillionaire. He's like Trump, because they are enabled to do exactly as they want to because the system allows it and no one can stop them. Why? Protected by others in power. Instead of removing those people and forcing regulations, we're blocked by people preaching morality while playing politics. Because that always ended so very well. |
| /u/kaisadilla_ More realistically, he's the poster child for gaming the system. $1 million is $1 million; but $1 billion is power, and with that power you can get more billions which are more power. Musk got NASDAQ to change the rules to allow SpaceX to be listed the way it was - something that, for reasons too complicated to explain, forced a lot of entities to buy SpaceX stock, thus driving the price up and greatly increasing Musk's valuation with it. |
| /u/Reasonable-Job4205 Its like a tall ladder being supported by many people. At the top of the ladder is elon and the people supporting him are all stacked up in a pyramid to better support him. And their entire belief system is that someone should be up there...because it implies that someone would therefore be #2, #3, #4...etc... |
| /u/superbottom85 What he doesn't understand is that people pretend to like him and cater to his whim only because he has money. I despise him, but if he gives me million dollars, I would clap at every syllable he speaks. |
| /u/EidolonRook my guess is his move towards politics is to rectify that exact problem and solidify what control he can have over others. That seems to be the mindset of many of them. |
| /u/throwaway60221407e23 I personally know a brilliant Latina woman who was doing some incredibly interesting cancer research that had just gotten her very own lab for the first time. I helped her move the equipment in. Then she had to close down her lifelong dream because a large part of her funding came from grants that DOGE got rid of for being DEI-related. It was heart breaking. |
| /u/sharkt0pus Socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires. - John Steinbeck |
| /u/sumdeadguy THE SCREWWORM INFESTATION IS HERE THANK YOU ELON |
| /u/heimster88 Imagine defending a literal nazi. |
| /u/a_sentient_cicada Elon's DOGE kept him out of prison and took my job. |
| /u/Fabric_Flowers It makes it increasingly likely that my voice will not be heard equitably in my government. He uses his financial power to influence politics, and this only grows the more wealthy he becomes. It makes it increasingly likely that our financial systems will continue to privilege wealthy and support a K shaped economy because he is going to do everything he can to avoid any changes to that. So yeah, it definitely influences each and every one of us |
| /u/ViaVitoV The only way we are going to make it to Mars is if everyone sacrifices a little cancer for the cause. |
| /u/CreamFuture9475 Anyone, but Melonoma Musk |
| /u/KingfishingYoMama [ Removed by Reddit ] |
| /u/PapasauruaRex The corrupt rich may not have shot, stabbed or physically killed someone, but they do indeed have blood on their hands by making many people suffer and get killed due to the cost of living due to their greed. |
| /u/No-Performer-977 we need to shame every loser that defends that pos |
| /u/keithstonee Everything is worse because of Elon directly, like he did it. He made everything worse actually. |
| /u/unfairrobot Didn't DOGE also cut the Screw Worm monitoring and protection program? So there's also the potential decimation of the US livestock industry. |
| /u/inderbitably This dude just his money and the power it grants to interfere in a presidential election |
| /u/Bulky-Internal8579 When one person hoards that much wealth it means the rest of us all have less opportunity to obtain the resources we need to survive and prosper. There's no reason for anyone to have a trillion dollars - it hurts society, it holds back innovation and means more hungry children. And there's nothing a person with a trillion dollars can have that a person with $100 million dollars can't have. It's insane. It has to be addressed. |
| /u/Shoddy_Cookie6748 Elon is destroying the world. |
| /u/Curious-Basket-7934 Not "his wealth led". MUSK did it. He hired and made the DOGE Govt unit, which was just a huge lie meant to cover his tracks as he stole ALL of our data for AI and to sell it to the highesr bidder. |
| /u/glowingmushrooms He's considered a trillionare because of the current valuation of spacex stock. In the coming two weeks when spacex becomes available to index funds, most retirement/pension funds will inadvertently buy spacex at the ridiculous price its at, providing exit liquidity for the private capital investors who bought most likely at a fraction of what its today and musk himself. Spacex ipo is basically stealing money from pension funds of regular people into elon musks pocket, thats how he's a trillionare. Did I mention most indexes changed their rules in so that spacex stock would be included in them faster ? |
| /u/JOExHIGASHI he has more power to meddle in politics and society in general now |
| /u/Then_Worldliness2866 Same with a deadly storm rolling through your home with no warning due to NOAA cuts... |
| /u/baileybungee Stealing taxpayer money affects everybody. Right, left, conservative, liberal, rich, poor. Everybody. |
| /u/Aethermancer Elon's reckless actions have killed more innocent people than Jeffrey Dahmer. |
| /u/Icreatedthisforyou Ground beef is like $8.00/lb (generic Walmart 80/20) now with direct ties to his actions and he clearly is demonstrating that private sector wealth WILL NOT pick up the slack for socially beneficial actions. With the added benefit of we give him billions in our tax dollars. There is not a single more harmful individual in the country than Musk and it isn't even close. And to anyone that disagrees, I will direct you back to my first statement. Musk literally took $1-$2 out of your wallet any time you want something with ground beef. And because of that prices of pork and chicken are also already rising. Both are $1 more than a month ago where I am. So yeah turns out it takes selfishness and complete disregard of the well being of others to become a trillionaire, and I get to pay that price every time I want to eat meat because his actions. The sad thing is I have first world problems in that regard, his actions directly killed people in the same cuts. But hey at least he went from having more wealth than he could ever use in tens of thousands of life times, to having more wealth than he could ever use in hundreds of thousands of life times. |
| /u/Big-Snow-1937 Elon Musk is personally responsible for the illness and deaths of hundreds of thousands of people due to his sudden and severe USAID cuts. We're talking babies and pregnant women and people who are dying of AIDS or of malaria or of pregnancy issues or other treatable problems because they could no longer get treatment or nets or meds. Destroying public health leads to more poverty, instability, and violence, and drastically affects women and children, thus ruining any hope of a better future and economic advancement for entire regions of the world. Musk has brought a level of misery on humanity that probably pleases him but the rest of us will answer for it for generations. He's cruel and he's evil, and we Americans did nothing to stop him. |
| /u/Joe_Linton_125 This is such a retarded question. They're obviously looking for the answer to be "No effect" but even if that was the case, maybe ask yourself what effect confiscating all of his ill gotten* money and assets will have on your own life. *every single penny Elon had is ill gotten because his dad owns a slave emerald mine |
| /u/Current-Term9746 Funny how "trickle-down economics" always seems to end with the money pooling at the top and everyone else being told to wait a little longer. 🙃 |