Elon Musk made $36 billion last Monday.
It’s unfathomable. But in one day, Oct. 25, the richest man alive increased his net worth by roughly the GDP of Latvia. Repeat: In. One. Day. Wouldn’t it be hilarious if you were dining with Musk and then, when the bill came, he frantically patted his breast pocket, realizing he left his wallet on a rocket ship?
“Elon, relax, I got this,” you’d say, with a grimacing smile, hoping your Visa wasn’t declined because Richie Rich just polished off two bottles of Château Latour.
Food and money. That’s where we are after Musk catapulted back into the news this week. It was Halloween and the Tesla and SpaceX honcho was on Twitter, his natural habitat. In response to a CNN story — “2% of Elon Musk’s wealth could solve world hunger, says director of UN food scarcity organization” — he issued a startling challenge to the World Food Programme.
“If WFP can describe on this Twitter thread exactly how $6B will solve world hunger, I will sell Tesla stock right now and do it,” wrote Musk.
I can only imagine the reaction inside the WFP. It would be like having a bake sale in Grade 6 and then Betty Crocker strolls down the hall to cover the $500 fundraising goal.
It didn’t take long for David Beasley, the WFP’s executive director, to engage. As he tweeted: “@elonmusk! Headline not accurate. $6B will not solve world hunger, but it WILL prevent geopolitical instability, mass migration and save 42 million people on the brink of starvation …”
He added: “With your help we can bring hope, build stability and change the future … I can be on the next flight to you. Throw me out if you don’t like what you hear!”
This was potential great news. The WFP is about $6 billion short in its current mission to keep 42 million people from starving. This sum would not be a silver bullet to “end” or “solve” world hunger, as many media stories wrongly framed it this week.
It’s more of a desperate, stopgap measure to stave off a humanitarian crisis.
And now the world’s richest person had entered the fray.
But my guess is Musk already did not like what he was hearing.
As he coldly replied to Beasley: “Please publish your current & proposed spending in detail so people can see exactly where money goes. Sunlight is a wonderful thing.”
Yes, Elon. It is. And cynical fog is a terrible thing.
It’s not for me to lecture Mr. Musk on how to spend his vast fortune. But it literally took me five minutes to find a “Transparency and Accountability” portal on the WFP website that includes a decade’s worth of internal audits, independent evaluations and reports on performance management and accountability.
Or to use Musk’s word: sunlight.
So what exactly does he want the WFP to share on Twitter to his followers? What hoops must it jump through to get the $6 billion? Or did Musk never have any intention of donating and, on Sunday, he was just playing a stupid game of gotcha on Twitter?
Understand, I have great admiration for the man. I suspect he secretly developed a quantum machine that bends the space-time continuum so he can shoehorn 200 hours of work into one human day. His output is off the charts.
But forget the $6 billion. That’s a satchel of wooden nickels to Musk. He earned $6 billion last Monday between the hours of 8 a.m. and high noon. He could give the World Food Programme $100 billion and still never have to eat a mustard sandwich.
And that’s the thing: for all his material and intellectual achievements, the sad truth is Elon Musk also has the DNA of an internet troll. He can be petulant, as when he sent Jeff Bezos a silver medal after surpassing the Amazon founder to become No. 1 on the Forbes billionaire list. Often, it’s not clear if Musk is the smartest and richest person alive, or a douchey frat boy who loves to rile up the kegger with contrarian hot takes.
All I’m saying is hunger and famine are no time for stupid games of gotcha on Twitter. Elon, if you want to donate $6 billion, do it. We’ll give you a standing ovation. But if you never planned to, don’t create a headline-grabbing sideshow that casts aspersions on the very nature of philanthropy. David Beasley agreed to come to you, to itemize how your generous donation would be spent. Then, tellingly, you went radio silent.
The world has many problems. Food scarcity is just one. But what the world does not need now is grandstanding space cowboy billionaires who are keen to score terrestrial points with their Intellectual Dark Web pals by showing up international agencies that are trying, however imperfectly, to prevent suffering and catastrophe.
That said, if this is how Musk wants to play it, the WFP should assume the role of moving the goalposts. Challenge Musk to give $6 billion and say you’ll provide an ex post facto forensic accounting of every dollar. Then, if he has issues at the end, refund his $6 billion. (I’m sure Bezos would be happy to help with this repayment just for the PR.)
Elon Musk has the resources to change the world. Instead, he’s too busy trolling.
Millions are on the verge of starvation. And to them, this is not a game.
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