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Multi-mansion-owning Sen. Bernie Sanders, a multimillionaire congressman who claims he’s a socialist, fired off another arguably sanctimonious tweet Saturday calling for “the extremely wealthy” to “pay” their so-called “fair share.”
In response, billionaire entrepreneur, investor and scientist Elon Musk fired off a shot heard round the world.
“I keep forgetting that you’re still alive,” Musk tweeted.
Ouch.
Look:
We must demand that the extremely wealthy pay their fair share. Period.
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) November 13, 2021
I keep forgetting that you’re still alive
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 14, 2021
That wasn’t the only “ouch” response Sanders got, as social media was spurred into action.
Here’s some more:
— Dan Held (@danheld) November 14, 2021
They already do. pic.twitter.com/L04wEvQnIH
— HM (@heatheremorton) November 14, 2021
— Captain Nemo 🔺️ (@20LinksUnderSea) November 14, 2021
“Fairness” is a concept that was invented so children and idiots would have something to talk about.
How about a “fair” system in which the people who don’t try hard in school and also break laws have shitty lives forever? Seems fair to me. https://t.co/Rzgg14TVOg
— Scott Adams (@ScottAdamsSays) November 14, 2021
Hey @BernieSanders, if the govt wasn’t stealing from the middle class/poor for decades through the inflation tax, you wouldn’t need to go after people like @elonmusk. You folks in DC create the problems & moral hazards then blame others and falsely claim to be prophets. #Bitcoin
— Natalie ₿runell (@natbrunell) November 14, 2021
this year elon alone will pay something like 1,000x as much in taxes as you have paid over your entire life. he’s employed tens of thousands, popularized electric cars, and landed a rocket. the highlight of your career was losing two presidential elections. perspective, please.
— Mike Solana (@micsolana) November 14, 2021
The top 1 percent of earners in America pay 40.1 percent of federal taxes; the bottom 90 percent pay 28.6 percent. So you must want tax cuts on the rich or tax increases on the poor to make it fair. Clearly the rich are paying far more than their fair share.
— Jay-W (@jay_malibu) November 13, 2021
About an hour after his first tweet, Musk posted another tweet seemingly again mocking the “socialist” senator again.
“Want me to sell more stock, Bernie? Just say the word …,” he wrote.
Last week the billionaire sold nearly $7 billion worth of Tesla stock, sending the stock tumbling in value. The sale came after he ran a poll asking Twitter users whether he should sell 10 percent of his stock.
Much is made lately of unrealized gains being a means of tax avoidance, so I propose selling 10% of my Tesla stock.
Do you support this?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 6, 2021
I will abide by the results of this poll, whichever way it goes
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 6, 2021
“Much is made lately of unrealized gains being a means of tax avoidance, so I propose selling 10% of my Tesla stock. Do you support this? I will abide by the results of this poll, whichever way it goes,” the poll read.
Nearly 60 percent of about 3.5 million Twitter users ultimately voted “yes,” so Musk pulled the trigger. What remains unclear is why.
While he mentioned Democrats’ plan to tax unrealized gains, which suggests he was trying to cash out before this sort of legislation becomes law (though to be clear, the chances of it becoming law are extremely low), he also posted an additional tweet talking about how selling stock is the only way for him “to pay taxes personally.”
Look:
Note, I do not take a cash salary or bonus from anywhere. I only have stock, thus the only way for me to pay taxes personally is to sell stock.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 6, 2021
According to Insider, there are several additional theories “around why Musk is selling stock.”
“The executive noted months ago that he held stock options that expire in 2022, and that he planned to sell shares to cover the cost of exercising them and paying the resulting taxes. … Meanwhile, Michael Burry of ‘The Big Short’ fame suggested this week that Musk might need to sell stock to pay off personal debts, as the executive held loans against 88 million Tesla shares, as of June 30,” the outlet reported.
But there’s another possibility: He’d wanted to teach Democrats a lesson. After all, his abrupt sale tanked the stock, thus hurting retail investors and the economy overall.
And it just so happens that if Democrats were to successfully push through a bill forcing taxes on unrealized gains, most billionaires would likely also cash out, thus causing 100+ times the damage engendered by Musk’s sale.
Perhaps the billionaire had simply been trying to convey this lesson in attempt to teach Democrats the fundamentals of economics before it’s too late?
#Elon_Musk tongue in cheek remark to Bernie! So true. Market cap destruction hurts retail investors disproportionately. Bernie you will lose 2.5 trillions of wealth destruction to gain $100 bn in wealth tax collection. Choice is yours.@SenSanders @elonmusk pic.twitter.com/dBLHFIwk55
— Iqbal Latif (@ilatif) November 14, 2021
Ok… There’s a lot I don’t love about you @elonmusk, but you might be my spirit animal anyway. I think you should sell your stock and teach this old fools a lesson from Bernie to Biden. pic.twitter.com/2O5jB8RtcR
— Liberty Above All (@libertyaboveall) November 14, 2021
BecUse he’s teaching a lesson to the fools in Washington and their unrealized gain tax .
— dark2light369 (@dark2light963) November 14, 2021
Sell it , crash the market, let the socialist learn their lesson 😂
— Caelyn (@GillaspieCaelyn) November 14, 2021
He did.. and tanked the stock price and hurt retail investors. when you increase taxes on the rich, the cost trickles down to the little people. That was his whole point. Don’t you get it? Smh
— shib lord (@InfamousCalls) November 14, 2021
Unfortunately, Democrats have a track record of NEVER learning their lesson …
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V. Saxena is a staff writer for BizPac Review with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University.
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