Musk’s $150 billion Christmas gift—and the fight to expropriate the oligarchy

The fight against inequality and dictatorship requires an independent socialist press.

Hello, On Friday, a court ruled that Tesla CEO Elon Musk should keep a 2018 pay package valued at $150 billion despite deliberately misleading shareholders and violating securities laws in obtaining it. The ruling sent Musk's wealth surging to $749 billion, putting him three-quarters of the way to becoming the world's first trillionaire. The decision comes just weeks after Tesla shareholders approved an even larger compensation package for Musk, potentially worth $1 trillion over the next decade. To grasp the scale of this social crime: at the start of 2024, Musk's net worth stood at roughly $195 billion. In just two years, he has appropriated half a trillion dollars—a sum larger than the entire annual economic output of countries such as Vietnam, the Philippines, or Malaysia. Musk is one representative of a social class—a class that is dispensing with democratic forms of rule. In our statement initiating the WSWS New Year Fund, we wrote, "The United States under the Trump administration is spearheading a global descent into war, dictatorship and social counterrevolution. Trump heads a government of gangsters, fascists and oligarchs." Donate to the WSWS The accumulation of wealth on one pole is at the same time the accumulation of poverty on the other. In this holiday period, nearly two-thirds of Americans say they would struggle to cover an unexpected $1,000 expense. More than one in four have skipped medical care due to cost. Workers are being told there is no money for wages, healthcare, housing, or education—while one man pockets the equivalent of $50 million an hour. I asked Socialism AI what Musk's wealth could do to address social problems, and the response was illuminating. The resources monopolized by just one individual could finance the construction of three million high-quality, affordable homes; build and staff thousands of community health clinics, expand public healthcare, slash drug prices, and prevent countless deaths caused by rationed care; cancel roughly half student debt; rebuild public transport and energy systems to cut living costs and confront climate change; and relieve crushing debt and fund essential development in the poorest countries. Inequality on this scale cannot be maintained through democratic means. That is why the courts openly legitimize corporate criminality, why the political system serves the oligarchy, and why governments respond to popular opposition with repression and war. The purpose of the World Socialist Web Site is to tell the truth about this reality and to arm workers and young people with a revolutionary socialist program to change it. It has launched Socialism AI as a means of educating workers throughout the world, connecting the lessons of history with the developing struggles throughout the world. As WSWS International Editorial Board Chairman David North explained in a reply to a reader posted today, Socialism AI "opens up the possibility of breaking the stranglehold of the ruling class over an extraordinarily powerful new technology by adapting it, to the greatest extent possible, to the interests of the working class." This work is sustained entirely by the support of readers. In 2026, the WSWS is going on the offensive, to build a socialist movement on a world scale to put an end to the dictatorship of the oligarchy, war and fascism.  I therefore urge you to donate to the WSWS 2026 New Year Fund, and consider becoming a regular monthly supporter.   Donate $5 Donate $25 Donate $100 Donate $500 Joseph Kishore National Secretary Socialist Equality Party (US) World Socialist Web Site We're powered by the support of our readers and workers. Make a contribution today to the World Socialist Web Site. This email was sent to alitealbum.wsws@blogger.com. If you want to, you can unsubscribe. We rely on your financial support and your participation. © Copyright 2025, World Socialist Web Site, wsws.org. All rights reserved.