Musk has used his wealth to buy elections, and used his influence to quash government investigations of his companies, cut federal spending we all depend on, and ensure that his businesses benefit from government contracts. Having most of society’s wealth in a few hands is bad for all of us.
Trillionaire Elon Musk, now reportedly the world’s richest person, is a stark example of how the super-rich dominate our government and society and affect our daily lives, mostly in a negative way.
Some economists argue that 10 ultra-wealthy people, especially the tech moguls who have taken over the Trump administration, essentially control the US: They dominate campaign financing, media ownership and digital platforms such as Tik-Tok and X. Musk is part of that group.
Musk was the largest single political donor in 2024, having spent $277 million through his America PAC helping to get Trump elected, and Musk got his money’s worth after Trump took office.
As the Economic Policy Institute reported last year, “Before Inauguration Day, federal agencies had at least 32 open investigations into Musk’s companies. Since then, Trump has appointed Musk as a special government employee to lead the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which is slashing government programs and jobs and targeting many agencies that are investigating his companies. His actions in this role have led to the end of many, if not all, of these investigations. The end of these investigations will not only boost Musk’s bottom line, but they will also make U.S. workers less safe.”
In addition to quashing investigations of Musk’s companies, DOGE operated to cut federal regulations and spending, and it eliminated thousands of federal jobs, canceled public contracts, and targeted major programs across the government. The agencies affected include the US Agency for International Development, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Department of Education, the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Social Security Administration, the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Environmental Protection Agency.
Nearly everyone in the country was hurt by these cuts in one way or another. We depend on these agencies for health research, for helping to educate and care for children, for housing, for occupational safety and health, for food safety, for disease prevention, and for ensuring the well-being of older people, among many other things.
Now, Musk is trying to affect this year’s midterm elections, reportedly planning to spend up to $100 million with an eye toward keeping Congress in Republican hands. He has already put money into 15 competitive congressional races in 13 states, including Texas, Maine, Ohio and New Hampshire. As the Texas Tribune reported in September, Texas is an important state for Musk because “The headquarters of Tesla, SpaceX and X are all based in Texas, along with a number of other facilities owned by Musk and his companies. That presence is only growing.”
Musk has also invested in a website called votesafe.org. Musk is “funding an aggressive advertising campaign encouraging people in key states to check their registration status” at votesafe.org, writes Judd Legum of Popular Information. Legum says the site harvests a lot of personal details about people who visit there, presumably so they can be targeted with political information and disinformation. (You can register to vote or update your registration at vote.gov, which is a federal government site that doesn’t harvest personal information.)
Musk is also said to exert political influence through his ownership of X (formerly Twitter), where he has over 241 million followers and promotes conservative and far-right views and causes.
Finally, let’s not forget that if it wasn’t for government spending, Musk wouldn’t have his wealth. As CNN reported in June, “Elon Musk has many people to thank for becoming the world’s first trillionaire — his companies’ engineers who produced technological breakthroughs, Wall Street investors who were eager to shower him with their dollars despite questionable financials, but most of all, American taxpayers and government policymakers.” The story goes on to describe how Tesla and SpaceX got various federal government grants, contracts, loans and tax subsidies totaling billions of dollars over many years that at key moments allowed the companies to survive and remain attractive to Wall Street investors. (See also 7 Ways Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill hands $2 Trillion to the Rich)
Clearly it seems that having so much of society’s wealth in the hands of so few produces results that are dangerous to the well-being of the mass of everyday people. What are people saying and doing about it? Some are debating if billionaires and trillionaires even have a right to exist. Others wonder if anyone should be allowed to own all this wealth, especially when so many people are suffering from inflation, lack of necessities like food, housing, healthcare, and good education for the kids. And the billionaires and trillionaires not only hoard their wealth, but use it politically to undermine our well-being.
Groups are fighting to get the money out of politics. They are demanding government provide universal healthcare, stop cutting social programs, and stop tax breaks to help people like Musk and big industries like defense profit. Some say that the public should run these giant businesses and industries in the interests of the people, that our tax dollars are now used to help make them become richer and government should serve us not them. And we have the ability to produce everything everyone needs. One thing is clear: Something has to give. What do you think?
Bob Lee is a professional journalist, writer and editor, and is co-editor of the People’s Tribune, serving as Managing Editor. He first started writing for and distributing the People’s Tribune in 1980, and joined the editorial board in 1987.
