Elon Musk Utterly Wrecks Socialist Bernie Sanders With One Simple Question: ‘Want Me To Sell More Stock, Bernie? Just Say the Word’

By
David Rufful
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OPINION | This article contains commentary that reflects the author's opinion.

Socialist Bernie Sanders suddenly appeared on Twitter to remind everyone of his radical agenda for America.

“We must demand that the extremely wealthy pay their fair share. Period,” he wrote to the platform.

Billionaire Elon Musk, who is often listed as the world’s richest person, responded, “I keep forgetting that you’re still alive.”

“Want me to sell more stock, Bernie?” Musk asked. “Just say the word.”

Musk’s comment underscores the fact that much of his wealth isn’t held in cash, but rather as shares of stock in his publicly traded companies.

Many Democrats, such as Sanders, speak as if billionaires are sitting on piles of cash when, in reality, much of their wealth is currently invested in the stock market as their companies attempt to expand and grow.

As Musk’s companies succeed, this has a major impact on the world economy, employment, the global environment, and much more.

“My plan,” Musk recently about his fortune, “is to use the money to get humanity to Mars and preserve the light of consciousness.”

More from CBS News:

The snarky responses from Musk come amid an ongoing debate over tax rates and the soaring wealth of the nation’s richest citizens. Democrats had considered a new tax on billionaires that would help fund President Joe Biden’s proposed $3.2 trillion social spending package, which has since been pared down to $1.75 billion. Although it’s considered unlikely that the billionaires tax would move forward, it would only impact about 700 people, including Elon Musk.

The collective net worth of America’s billionaires has surged by $2 trillion during the pandemic, bolstered by a surge in stock prices and other assets, according to Americans for Tax Fairness, a left-leaning advocacy group. The assets of the bottom 20% of households has grown by just 1% during the health crisis, according to a new analysis from Oxford Economics.

Musk recently sold more than $5 billion worth of Tesla stock, amounting to about 3% of his stake in the company. About $1.1 billion will go toward paying tax obligations for stock options granted to the entrepreneur in September. After the transactions, Musk still owns about 167 million Tesla shares.

At that valuation, Musk’s wealth was greater than the annual GDP of nations such as Finland, Chile and Vietnam, and also exceeded the market value of Netflix and PayPal, a company he co-founded.

Under the Democrats’ billionaires tax plan, Musk would be liable for perhaps a one-time $50 billion tax hit under the Democratic proposal. He voiced his displeasure with the proposed tax last month, noting that he had other plans for his money.