Recently, CEO Elon Musk responded to Senator Bernie Sanders’ criticism about his massive fortune. Musk said he plans to use the money to help humanity.
“I’m accumulating resources from many sources to help create an interplanetary life and expand our understanding to the stars,” Musk replied on Twitter. According to Bloomberg, Elon Musk currently holds $170 billion, making him the second richest person in the world after Jeff Bezos.
Musk has become the richest person alongside Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. Lawmakers from the Liberal Party have been calling for higher taxes on billionaires.
“We are at a historic moment in America where two men, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, own more wealth than the bottom 40% of the country,” Senator Bernie Sanders said on Twitter.
He added, “The level of greed and inequality is not only immoral but also indefensible.”
An article on Clean Technica called Sanders’ comments “truly hilarious.” Musk responded to the article, saying he plans to use his money to build an interplanetary future.
Last year, Musk announced plans to send 1 million people to Mars by 2050, creating many jobs on the Red Planet. He said he is “highly confident” that SpaceX’s first Starship rocket could land on Mars by 2026. However, many aerospace experts remain skeptical about this timeline.
Musk has even publicly expressed his desire to settle on Mars. In late May last year, he declared plans to sell “most” of his possessions and “own no house.” Since then, he has listed many homes from his nearly $100 million real estate portfolio for sale.
In 2020, Musk also sold several high-value properties, including three homes in Los Angeles and a property once owned by actor Gene Wilder.
Musk may also part ways with his California properties as he moves to Texas, which has no personal income tax. The billionaire says he’s working to accumulate wealth to ultimately support Mars colonization.
“I think it’s important for humanity to become a spacefaring civilization, or a multi-planet species. Building a city on Mars requires vast resources, and I want to contribute as much as possible to that effort.” Recently, Musk and Bezos have traded places as the richest people on Earth. When Musk’s net worth hit $188 billion in January, he officially surpassed Bezos, who had held the title since 2017.
At that time, Musk commented on becoming the richest person in the world with, “How strange.”
Last week, Sanders questioned Bezos’ wealth through a series of tweets, then mentioned both Musk and Bezos during a congressional hearing on Wednesday morning.
“Bezos and Musk now own more wealth than the bottom 40% of Americans. Meanwhile, we are seeing more hunger in America than at any other time,” he said.
