>

There’s also a really really important addendum here:
If you have that much net worth in assets, banks will be breaking down your door to lend you money with those assets as collateral, and since the loan can be overcollateralized, they’ll be more than happy to give you an incredibly low interest rate - below what other people borrow at. 
Here’s why this is important, if you sell $2 billion in shares you will pay capital gains taxes on any appreciation on the stocks. If you borrow $2 billion against the stocks, you will pay zero dollars in taxes to unlock the same amount of money because loans aren’t taxed. So if the companies you own / run compensate you mostly in stock with very little cash salary, you can pay almost nothing in total taxes by borrowing against the shares you receive as a way to get cash to fund your lifestyle.
Also a super wealthy person would almost never take all $2 billion at once because then they’d be on the hook for the interest payments on that entire sum. Instead, the bank would offer them a line of credit capped at that $2 billion, so the interest they pay would only be on the amount they actually spent from that credit line, ie a much smaller number at any given time.
I lost a $20 bill last week and I'm still pissed. >

I got upset just reading this >

I just checked my wallet to make sure that all of my cash was still there >

You guys have wallets? >

I keep my pebbles in an old stray dog's scrotum I found in ~~my house~~ a dumpster once. >

Wait you have a dumpster? That’s not fair, I’m living in a cardboard box and the rent is outrageous >

Uhh, this park bench >

My God, I WISH I had a park bench, I've been living out of an old shoe behind the manure factory for weeks >

Luxury. I'm currently living in a lake full of industrial chemicals and sewage from the wastewater plant. And I don't even have any cool mutations, just a deep, unsettling, rattling cough and an interesting collection of skin diseases. >

you have SKIN!? must be nice... >

Let's see how big of a record he can set! Call Guinness! >

if Elon Musks losses since buying twitter were a person, they'd be the wealthiest person on the planet. think about that one. >

Almost like none of that money actually existed in the first place. >

Man are you gonna be shocked when you learn how banks work >

So if I lend you $50 and you owe me $75 back over the next 10 years then I actually have $75 and can take a loan out on that $75. 
Now I have $75 I can lend out so I lend someone else that $75 and in exchange they have to pay me $100. Now I have $100 I can take a loan out on. 
So I get that $100 loan and I lend that money out to a third person for $125. Now I have the ability to get a $125 loan!
I had $50, and I can lend out $350 to 4 people. 
And I can do this forever since the person I'm getting the loans from for myself can just make more money to give me!
And where did I get the original $50? Someone else just gave it to me for free to hold onto for them! And since I'm getting so much back in loan payments I can pay both the person that is giving me loans and the original person that let me borrow the $50 since neither want any interest on their money! it's so easy! All I have to do is not lend money out to people who won't pay me back... but wait! the person lending me money will promise that if things go horribly wrong they will just give me more money! >


So if I lend you $50 and you owe me $75 back over the next 10 years then I actually have $75 and can take a loan out on that $75. 
Now I have $75 I can lend out so I lend someone else that $75 and in exchange they have to pay me $100. Now I have $100 I can take a loan out on.

That's not how it works. Your simple example falls apart because you don't have $75 unless you wait 10 years.
What really happens is this:


The debtor spends your $50


The seller deposits the money in their bank


That bank loans out the $50 again


So the money doesn't really go anywhere. It never leaves the banking system. It just transfers to another bank. >

Lose $200 Billion so far >

Getting the record is only half of the battle, now he needs to protect it.
But I don't see him shutting up any time soon so I'm sure he's still in the game losing more every day. >

Come join the Metaverse!
-Zuck, probably >

Frankly, I wish he’d bought and killed all things Zuck instead of Twitter >

Zuckerberg's doing a pretty good job of killing Facebook on his own. It may not be as rapidly or publicly stupid as Musk, but they've already lost $650 billion in market value since rebranding Meta. >

What is the ratio compared to the general stock market since everything is down? >

Meta is down 64.5% this year, while it looks like the Dow is down 9%, S&P about 20%, and average return in investments overall about 20% as well. >

Admittedly, big tech has really eaten shit across the board. >

Oh, absolutely, but there's no way anyone can say the direction Zuck is leading Meta in is a good one. >

Wow, I figured it would be lower, I didn't think it would be THAT much! >

Did he try retracing his steps? >

Where was the last place he saw the $200 billion? >

Is this a finders keepers situation? >

I won't publicly express an opinion, but I'm going through the pockets of all the clothing items in my local Goodwill as we speak.  Or type.  Or whatever. >

Becoming the first person to fly directly into the sun is another first that's up for grabs. >

Ready the gravitational slingshot! >

"COOP WE ARE GOING TO LOSE 60 YEARS TO THIS"
paraphrase >

"This little maneuvers gonna to cost us 60 years" is I think the quote but not 100% >

"This little maneuvers gonna cost us 51 years"
I looked it up. >

Nice thanks >

We did it! >

And his lifestyle will not change one iota, consider that. >

The article also says this:

His fortune peaked at $340 billion on Nov. 4, 2021

Losing $200 billion sucks, no doubt about that... But A) it's pReTeNd mONeY, and B) he's still fucking loaded and still one of the richest people in the world. Losing $200b doesn't hit so hard when you're starting at $340b.
Even if you had $201b, you're still a billionaire, you still have more money than the VAST majority of people could ever dream of. That's how goddamn fucking rich these assholes are. >

if he would lose 99% of his money, and then would lose 99% of THAT money he would still have 20 million. funny how that works huh. >

Jfc I'm in my mid twenties and even with 20 million I'd never have to work again on. That's wild >

The average American can live pretty well off 2mil simply off the dividends. >

That's my dream right there. Like, it's wild to think that's like tossing a homeless person a QUARTER to these people, and it would still never happen. I have a wife with a disease we can't treat, she's without insurance, we'll never own a home, my car just got rear-ended, I work as a teacher in TEXAS so yeah that's going nowhere, we'll never be able to afford a home, our savings go up like $1-200 a paycheck depending if it's a grocery run that involves things like laundry detergent, we're one mishap from financial ruin like almost EVERYONE else in the country/world and 2 million would literally save our lives and support us until elderly age, not that our lack of having healthcare forever would even allow us to live to elderly but.. 
A quarter. Rich people could toss us a quarter in the grand scheme of their lives and not miss a beat. It's nuts. >

Yep and they could help so many people  by sharing but all they care about is their high score. They are dragons sitting on massive piles of wealth. Evil sociopaths every one >

I think you would upset the bootlickers more than the super rich if you started heavily taxing the super rich. There are far too many temporarily embarrassed millionaires in the world, who fawn over rich people and like to watch how they flaunt their riches. They will always come to defend them. And as usual they are out here defending their superiors against those who dare critisize them. >

Yep and compared to a billionaire a millionaire is about as rich as a broke person. More of these temporarily embarrassed milllionaires would actually be able to make a million if there weren’t billionaires sucking up all the wealth. >

This quote from Rod Hilton is very appropriate here:

He talked about electric cars. I don't know anything about cars, so when people said he was a genius, I figured he must be a genius.  
Then he talked about rockets. I don't know anything about rockets, so when people said he was a genius, I figured he must be a genius.  
Now he talks about software.  I happen to know a lot about software & Elon Musk is saying the stupidest shit I've ever heard anyone say, so when people say he's a genius, I figure I should stay the hell away from his cars and rockets. >

The more he talks about Twitter the more I understand how his dream of self-driving cars never came.to pass >

Are you saying we won’t have fully automated taxis by 2020??? >

Not even by 2022 I dare say! >

He's still got 12ish hours! Still time to pull it out if the bag! >

Hey personally I'm excited about that coast to coast autonomous drive they're going to do by the end of 2017. That should be quite something. >

They also mentioned something about uncontrolled ejector seats that launch u out of the vehicle with special fireworks to make it look like ur in an action movie >

Couldn't have happened to a better guy >

Honestly, well deserved award >

"How to become a millionaire!" written by ex-billionaire Elon Musk.
Although he is still nowhere close to being a millionaire, which goes to show how insane the amount of wealth is. >

The magnitude of difference between billion and million can be illustrated with this example of the time scale: A million seconds is 12 days. A billion seconds is 31 years. A trillion seconds is 31,688 years. >

Or put simply: the difference between a billion and a million is about a billion. >

Give or take a million >

So some kid makes a twitter to track Elons jet. Declines the 5k offer to stop. Wants a car but gets rejected. Now Elon buys the twitter and bans the kid. Is now out 200 bil and counting.
And kids back on twitter with a 24hr delay posting jet flights again.
I guess soon Elon won't be able to fly private anymore at this rate. >

Officially the biggest loser in the history of the world >

He still has a net worth of $137 billion, which is ~$137 billion more than anyone needs. >

Prior to this, the second richest person in the world was worth ~$200 billion.
Elon lost the entire net worth of the second richest person and now he's... The second richest person in the world. That's insane. >

most of this can be explained just in how massively overvalued TSLA is/was >

Still can't comprehend how it's worth that much compared to automakers who have been around since forever. Glad the rest of the automakers are filling up the EV market with quality-built products. >

Its because the stock market has become almost completely divorced from the actual economy and has just turned into a runaway speculation/gambling machine. >

The wildest part to me isn't that this is the case, it's that this is so obviously the case, but everyone has to go around continuing to pretend that it isn't. The emperor isn't wearing any clothes. >


Musk tweeted on Dec. 16. "We don't control the Federal Reserve. That is the real problem here."

that's a very dangerous part right here >

It gives me no end of relief that Musky was born in South Africa and therefore cannot run for U.S. president >

Someday someone will run someone unqualified, they will win, and the country will shrug and nothing will happen. That person will be president because our country is completely unprepared for anything approaching that level of crisis. >

...so I assume you have been in a coma since 2016. >

Sorry, I meant constitutionally unqualified—too young, not a natural-born citizen, or some arcane thing—and the country will be paralyzed. 
Clearly we “elected” someone wildly unqualified and clearly receiving emoluments as defined by nearly anyone. But even after committing other clear “high crimes” and “misdemeanors,” the country failed to remove him from office. >

The country did not fail to remove him from office, the party refused to.
They were provided every opportunity and still refused.
However, a concerningly large part of the country refused to hold those people responsible for that inaction. >

Oh, yeah, the Republican Party is corrupt to its core. But the whole minoritarian rule is a feature of the Constitution, not a bug. The Senate is rigged against democracy. >

When someone can lose 200billion dollars and still be fuck off rich......there is still a problem >

If the second richest person in the world had lost this much money... They would have been flat broke.
Elon loses this much and he's now... the second richest person.
In a world of obscene wealth, Elon's wealth is obscene even when compared to other billionaires. >

It’s because a bunch of idiots made Tesla worth far far far more than it’s actually worth >

I sold my stock a month before he announced he was going to buy twitter. I was broke and needed the £400, originally I put in £200. I feel like an absolute accidental genius. >

Masayoshi Son, CEO of SoftBank, was the record holder for most money lost in a single day at $70B during the dot com crash. Glad Musk had surpassed him in total money lost. >

I'm sure his surname uses a different character, but check out the meaning of the Japanese word Son. >

When you realize that the only reason any of these fuck heads have success is their ability to suffer losses that would implode some small nations without any real consequence. >

Kanye and Elon stopped taking their meds around the same time >

Nope. 
Elon has always been making bonkers, empty promises that fell apart under basic scrutiny. People believed it because they wanted to believe it. >

Proud Trump University graduate. >

The $200 billion was unrealised right? So the money was never his and it couldn't flow anywhere. >

It's almost all stock valuations >

Right bubbles that burst. The money never existed. He just arbitrarily manipulated markets to inflate his net worth and the bubbles burst. >

Wow he literally lost more money than anyone else ever >

This is a bloated number. It considered potential value. The stock market is down so everyone has lost stock value. >

I shorted Tesla at $350. I'm doing fine so far. >

Puts or an actual short? >

The real losers here are the people he fucked along the way. >

😢Poor Elon 😂 Remember all the small investors taking it in the shorts because of his nonsense with Twitter. >

Anyone that does basic valuation is not in the stock. This is a stupid people tax. >

People shorting Tesla the last few months made bank. >

I remember awhile ago Elon had beef with Bill Gates because he was shorting Tesla, I wonder if he still is and how he did. >

If he took the short positions anytime this year he’s made money. If it’s been longer than a year and a half he’s lost (current price is down to where it was about the middle of 2020). >

When people talk about "taxing the rich," this is what the fuck they are talking about.
It's OBSCENE someone has $200 billion. Let alone can lose $200 billion and still be top-5 as far as richest human beings on Earth.
No one can "earn" $200 billion. It's not possible. >

All I can think about is how much Infrastructural improvements could be made with that kind of money. 
From a quick google search, Nuclear Power Plant construction costs between $6-9 billion dollars. >

It's been a spectacular year watching the downfall of people like Trump, Musk, Ye, and Tate. >

And SBF >

He could have gone down in history as one of the great drivers of technological innovation. Then he decided being a douche was more important. And that’s how he will be remembered.
Edit: I’m talking about public perception. Not what he has literally done or not done. >

Many of us were saying for years he bought that label like one would buy a medal at a thrift store and claim they were  a war hero. >

Richest troll in the world. >

Living in a glass onion >

Hopefully no one finds that napkin >

Where did it go? Who has it now? Did he even have it in the first place? >

You find an old typewriter at a goodwill for $1. Later on you get it appraised at an auction house to a value of ten million dollars, because it's super rare!
Your personal value has now increased by ten million dollars, even if you don't have any more money in your bank account, but just because you own a valuable artifact. You're effectively the richest person in your neighborhood, even if you have a hard time buying milk for your tea.
A month goes by, and someone finds an old warehouse full of these typewriters. The estimated worth of your typewriter is now ten thousand dollars. You've just lost 99.9% of your worth, your unrealized gains, because of someone elses actions.
Now, were the money ever there? Certainly not in your bank account, but in a potential buyers bank account. But now that potential buyer has disappeared, because your typewriter isn't worth as much. If you had sold your typewriter right after the valuation, you could've realized those gains and turned it into income - but up until that point it's just potential money you could gain.
In Elons case, most of his worth is in partially owning the Tesla company. It used to potentially be worth more, but he didn't sell his share of the ownership during that time, and now that people think Tesla is worth less, they also think Elon is worth less. >

Piggybacking on your awesome explanation here:
If you sold your typewriter, you would have paid income tax. But since you did not sell it, you made no profit/income from it, and you don't pay that tax. At most, you pay a "property" tax if the country you live in taxes typewriters. That is how you see extremely rich people paying the same amount of taxes as a median earning family.