{"id":1772,"date":"2026-06-12T05:36:47","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T05:36:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?p=1772"},"modified":"2026-06-12T05:36:47","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T05:36:47","slug":"elon-musk-proof-the-american-dream-lives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?p=1772","title":{"rendered":"Elon Musk: Proof the American dream lives"},"content":{"rendered":"
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OPINION:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Through the SpaceX IPO, Elon Musk has become the first trillionaire in history.<\/p>\n

Before the offering, his net worth stood at roughly $820 billion. He has now crossed the $1 trillion threshold for the first time.<\/p>\n

Read more Rioting is never justified<\/a><\/p>\n

Whether this is good news or bad depends on whom you ask.<\/p>\n

First, some facts worth knowing. After the collapse of socialism in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe and the end of Maoist socialism in China, the number of billionaires rose dramatically. Around 2000, there were about 470 billionaires worldwide. Today, there are roughly 3,400, a more than sevenfold increase.<\/p>\n

In 2000, their combined wealth totaled $898 billion. Today, it stands at about $20 trillion. Adjusted for inflation, billionaire wealth has grown roughly twelvefold since the turn of the millennium.<\/p>\n

Anti-capitalists view this development with outrage. In a world still marked by poverty, they see it as a scandal. Yet over the same period, poverty has declined sharply. The share of people living in extreme poverty fell from 29.3% in 2000 to about 10% today (and would be only 6.5% under the World Bank\u2019s prior methodology).<\/p>\n

According to the zero-sum mindset embraced by anti-capitalists, this should not have happened. Yet where could the growing wealth of the superrich have come from if the number of extremely poor people declined so dramatically at the same time?<\/p>\n

The figures show that the fundamental assumption of anti-capitalists \u2014 that the rich became wealthy only at the expense of the poor \u2014 is false. The rise in the number of billionaires and the decline in extreme poverty have the same cause: economic growth.<\/p>\n

Mr. Musk\u2019s story shows that the American dream remains vibrantly alive. He arrived in Canada as an immigrant from South Africa and later moved to the United States, where he built Tesla and SpaceX into extraordinary successes. He is far from alone.<\/p>\n

Sergey Brin reached the U.S. as a child with his family from the Soviet Union and co-founded Google with Larry Page. Jensen Huang was born in Taiwan, immigrated here as a child and built Nvidia into one of the world\u2019s most valuable companies.<\/p>\n

Such stories also rebut the common claim that today\u2019s fortunes are mostly inherited. The opposite is true. In the U.S., the share of self-made billionaires is higher than ever. According to Forbes, about 73% of American billionaires built their wealth themselves, while only about 27% inherited most of it.<\/p>\n

Read more Rising sun: Japan signals stronger support for Taiwan\u2019s security<\/a><\/p>\n

What drives individuals like Mr. Musk? In a June 2016 conference appearance, he explained his motivation:<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are a lot of negative things in the world. There\u2019s a lot of terrible things happening all the time. There are lots of problems that need to get solved \u2014 lots of things that are miserable and kind of get you down. But life cannot just be about solving one miserable problem after another. That can\u2019t be the only thing. There need to be things that inspire you \u2014 that make you glad to wake up in the morning and be part of humanity. It is time to go forth, become a star-faring civilization, be out there among the stars, expand the scope and scale of human consciousness. I find that incredibly exciting. That makes me glad to be alive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Less than three decades ago, Mr. Musk sat by a swimming pool with former PayPal colleagues, poring over a dog-eared manual for a Russian rocket engine. When a friend asked about his plans, he replied: \u201cI\u2019m going to colonize Mars. My mission in life is to make mankind a multiplanetary civilization.\u201d<\/p>\n

His colleague\u2019s response: \u201cDude, you\u2019re bananas.\u201d<\/p>\n

Today, Mr. Musk dominates the global space industry. Of the 324 orbital launches conducted last year, 165 were performed by SpaceX. If SpaceX were a country, it would rank first worldwide, well ahead of China\u2019s 88 launches.<\/p>\n

Of the roughly 15,000 active satellites now in orbit, about 10,000 belong to Starlink. Mr. Musk has cut launch costs by approximately 95% compared with the space shuttle era and pioneered the first reusable orbital rocket \u2014 a feat no government space agency has matched.<\/p>\n

Critics often argue that Mr. Musk\u2019s fortune rests primarily on government subsidies. They frequently cite a figure of roughly $37 billion in support. The claim is misleading. Much of that sum represents payments under contracts for services rendered, especially those made to SpaceX.<\/p>\n

When NASA could no longer reach the International Space Station after the space shuttle\u2019s retirement, the agency turned to SpaceX in what many called a \u201cHail Mary\u201d move. Mr. Musk has saved the agency far more than he has ever cost it.<\/p>\n

Even if one accepts the $37 billion figure at face value, it amounts to less than 4% of his current net worth.<\/p>\n

Read more Gallup: Record few Americans find transgenderism, death penalty, animal testing \u2018morally acceptable\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2022 Rainer Zitelmann is the author of a new book, \u201cNew Space Capitalism.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Through the SpaceX IPO, Elon Musk has become the first trillionaire in history.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1771,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31,30],"tags":[51,258,1227],"class_list":["post-1772","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-commentary","category-opinion","tag-elon-musk","tag-spacex","tag-tesla"],"yoast_head":"\nElon Musk: Proof the American dream lives - Home Buyer Relocation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?p=1772\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Elon Musk: Proof the American dream lives - Home Buyer Relocation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Through the SpaceX IPO, Elon Musk has become the first trillionaire in history.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?p=1772\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Home Buyer Relocation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-12T05:36:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homebuyerrelocation.com\\\/?p=1772#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homebuyerrelocation.com\\\/?p=1772\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homebuyerrelocation.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b2ac56955b020950324cad4c6c27b42a\"},\"headline\":\"Elon Musk: Proof the American dream lives\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-12T05:36:47+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homebuyerrelocation.com\\\/?p=1772\"},\"wordCount\":820,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homebuyerrelocation.com\\\/?p=1772#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homebuyerrelocation.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/5ba6d8ef0005239d752e8470f96cb1c3.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Elon Musk\",\"Spacex\",\"Tesla\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Commentary\",\"Opinion\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/homebuyerrelocation.com\\\/?p=1772#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homebuyerrelocation.com\\\/?p=1772\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homebuyerrelocation.com\\\/?p=1772\",\"name\":\"Elon Musk: Proof the American dream lives - 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