Re:I will give one of my SpaceX shares to every kid in America
by rationalist on Monday October 19, 2026 @10:56AM
(#50153269)
Musk does not have $3000 x 300,000,000+ in cash laying around.
That is a common misconception about billionaires. His net worth is tied up in assets, and there are not enough buyers to buy every share at the highest offered price per share.
Re:I will give one of my SpaceX shares to every kid in America
by bumby on Tuesday October 20, 2026 @09:10AM
(#50165851)
People always retort this. Just change it to $3k in stock, or whatever. It isn’t usually meant to be taken literally, it’s just a reference point for his differential level of wealth.
It’s like saying Usain Bolt would run a 2:30 mile at his 100m pace. Yes, we know that’s impossible but it’s an interesting way to conceptualize how ridiculously fast he is.
Re:I will give one of my SpaceX shares to every kid in America
by lapcat on Monday October 19, 2026 @08:08AM
(#50151399)
No coincidence that this is announced just weeks before the midterms, which Musk is almost single-handedly funding for the Republicans. It's essentially a bribe to parents, like the $500 checks that Trump sent out (to wealthier Affordable Care Act users), or the Musk $1M giveaways in the 2024 elections.
How would this even work, practically? Did DOGE steal all the Social Security Numbers of American children (and adults)? Or would Musk require parents to send him the SSNs of their children to verify?
Re:I will give one of my SpaceX shares to every kid in America
by zwirbl on Monday October 19, 2026 @02:22PM
(#50155964)
That's dystopian commentary, using one sided arguments to dunk on a state built by elections to promote finance feudalism.
Let's hope our corporate overlords find it i themselves to share their wealth with people, I'm sure they will decide in everyone's best interest just out of charity /s
Re:I will give one of my SpaceX shares to every kid in America
by xvxvx on Monday October 19, 2026 @09:17AM
(#50152085)
72M children in the US.
72M shares is 1.5% of his current amount, totaling $10.5B, which is 1.16% of his wealth.
One share is worth $146. On average, it will be 9 years before these kids turn 18 and can touch the share.
In its first few months of public trading, SpaceX ranged from an intraday high of $225.64 in June to a low of $104.83 in August, before closing at $146.03 on October 16. So the future value could be substantially higher—or lower—than the value at the time of the gift.
This is Elon venturing into the ‘Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’ territory where the super rich whitewash their public profiles. I assume he received information that the Democrats are about to wipe the floor with Republicans and his influence will nosedive. It also works as a bribe of sorts, tying the success of his companies to American children. Any politician that interferes with his God complex will be taking money from their pockets.
Re:I will give one of my SpaceX shares to every kid in America
by sidibe on Monday October 19, 2026 @10:49AM
(#50153179)
No he's not doing what Bill Gates did he disdains charity and sees it as stupid virtue-signaling empathy. It's really doing Elon a huge service here to make that comparison. This is to get public support for SpaceX.
Re:I will give one of my SpaceX shares to every kid in America
by bumby on Tuesday October 20, 2026 @09:06AM
(#50165811)
My past analogy for me overly protective policies was hypothesizing IBM stock was given to all Americans. This would create a public incentive to create anti-competitive policy to protect that company. I fear this move goes beyond mere superficial public support.
Re:I will give one of my SpaceX shares to every kid in America
by WheelsAtLarge on Monday October 19, 2026 @12:11PM
(#50154180)
Smart move. For less than 11 billion, he will have at least a generation of taxpayers on his side, with a positive view of SpaceX. Bezos better start talking about doing the same thing, otherwise, his company will be at a deficit.
Second Principle in the book is — “Reciprocation”, The Old Give and Take…
This principle means that we should try to repay, in kind, what another person has provided us. This is by far, the most universal & widely used method of influence I have seen around the Globe in all communities. Also, this principle has been used since eternity as the archeologist Richard Leakey tells: “We are human because our ancestors learned to share their food & their skills in an honoured network of obligation.”
In order to understand its underpinnings let us see a practice used by the famous Hare Krishna/ISKCON society for fund raising. In the 80’s or 90’s, many people from this society used to be standing in public places & would quickly greet passerby with a small flower like Rose as a gift and in most cases passerby fail to return it as the solicitor says it is a ‘Gift’ from our side. This is a perfect example of rule of reciprocation. Now that the passerby has received a gift so he is indebted to the Krishna’s volunteer. Now the volunteer would quickly ask for a donation and in most of the cases the passerby would not deny and give something.
Voters should let these companies remain private, and tax them to pay for their children's healthcare, education and pensions instead.
(1) Give $11B away
(2) ???
(3) Profit
In particular, everybody has a stake in keeping up his stock price. If it doubles, they collectively gain $11 billion, and he gains $500 billion.
That's a lot of profit.
Musk could give everyone in the USA $3000 and still have money left.
Or everyone in the world about the same price as one SpaceX share - $124.5.
That is a common misconception about billionaires. His net worth is tied up in assets, and there are not enough buyers to buy every share at the highest offered price per share.
It’s like saying Usain Bolt would run a 2:30 mile at his 100m pace. Yes, we know that’s impossible but it’s an interesting way to conceptualize how ridiculously fast he is.
How would this even work, practically? Did DOGE steal all the Social Security Numbers of American children (and adults)? Or would Musk require parents to send him the SSNs of their children to verify?
Let's hope our corporate overlords find it i themselves to share their wealth with people, I'm sure they will decide in everyone's best interest just out of charity /s
One share is worth $146. On average, it will be 9 years before these kids turn 18 and can touch the share.
In its first few months of public trading, SpaceX ranged from an intraday high of $225.64 in June to a low of $104.83 in August, before closing at $146.03 on October 16. So the future value could be substantially higher—or lower—than the value at the time of the gift.
This is Elon venturing into the ‘Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’ territory where the super rich whitewash their public profiles. I assume he received information that the Democrats are about to wipe the floor with Republicans and his influence will nosedive. It also works as a bribe of sorts, tying the success of his companies to American children. Any politician that interferes with his God complex will be taking money from their pockets.
Simple trick covered in Influence — The Psychology of Persuasion.
https://medium.com/@mappmechanic/influence-the-psychology-of...
Second Principle in the book is — “Reciprocation”, The Old Give and Take…
This principle means that we should try to repay, in kind, what another person has provided us. This is by far, the most universal & widely used method of influence I have seen around the Globe in all communities. Also, this principle has been used since eternity as the archeologist Richard Leakey tells: “We are human because our ancestors learned to share their food & their skills in an honoured network of obligation.”
In order to understand its underpinnings let us see a practice used by the famous Hare Krishna/ISKCON society for fund raising. In the 80’s or 90’s, many people from this society used to be standing in public places & would quickly greet passerby with a small flower like Rose as a gift and in most cases passerby fail to return it as the solicitor says it is a ‘Gift’ from our side. This is a perfect example of rule of reciprocation. Now that the passerby has received a gift so he is indebted to the Krishna’s volunteer. Now the volunteer would quickly ask for a donation and in most of the cases the passerby would not deny and give something.