Socialists and left-wing politicians often argue that billionaires are bad because they would have to give up billions of dollars in order to end world hunger. Usually, the billionaires don’t respond, too afraid of the bad PR that would come with arguing against it so they don’t come off as greedy or uncaring, but Tesla CEO Elon Musk isn’t your normal billionaire.
Last week, CNN released a report covering a claim by the United Nations director of the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP), David Beasley, who said that if Musk and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos gave up just two percent of their personal wealth they could solve world hunger.
“$6 billion to help 42 million people that are literally going to die if we don’t reach them. It’s not complicated,” Beasley told Becky Anderson of CNN’s Connect the World.
Beasley stated that the world would be fed if it received just two percent of his fortune. CNN later corrected their article, stating that Beasley believed it would Get help solve world hunger.
CNN reported that Musk’s net worth is $289 billion. This would mean that two percent of Musk’s wealth would be equivalent to approximately $6 billion.
Cyber security expert Dr. Eli Davis responded to CNN’s article first noting how much money Musk would give up if he did donate two percent of his wealth, but noticed something interesting about the UN’s claim.
“In 2020 the UN world Food Program (WFP) raised $8.4B. How it didn’t “solve world hunger?” he tweeted.
Fact check:
🔹2.2% @elonmusk$6B is the wealth of a single person.
🔹The UN World Food Program (WFP), raised $8.4B in 2020. Why didn’t it “solve the world hunger?”— Dr. Eli David (@DrEliDavid) October 30, 2021
This is a good thing to remember. It would appear that the UN is already gathering billions for that very purpose, even more than what they would require from Musk in order to make great strides in solving the world hunger crisis…so why isn’t it well underway to being solved?
Musk responded with a double punch to the guilt-laden questions and continued his conversation. He turned the tables on UN WFP and asked for a plan to solve the problem.
“If WFP can describe on this Twitter thread exactly how $6B will solve world hunger, I will sell Tesla stock right now and do it,” he tweeted. “It must also be transparent accounting so that the public can see exactly how money has been spent.”
But it must be open source accounting, so the public sees precisely how the money is spent.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 31, 2021
Beasley later responded with his own response tweet
“With your help we can bring hope, build stability and change the future. Let’s talk: It isn’t as complicated as Falcon Heavy, but too much at stake to not at least have a conversation. Let me know if you’d like to be with me for the next flight. Throw me out if you don’t like what you hear!” said Beasley.
Firstly, it’s interesting that Musk specifically asked Beasley to provide him the plan in an open Twitter thread and refused to, wanting to meet privately instead. Secondly, it’s highly unlikely that Beasley could actually come up with a plan that utilizes Musk’s money in such a way that wouldn’t look bad to the general public.
It is not uncommon for the UN to waste millions of dollars. Sky News reported in 2019 that the UN spends large sums of money on expensive flights, luxurious hotel rooms and lavish meals. Dave Rubin’s conversation with Richard Grenell (ex-Ambassador) was informative about the UN’s constant financial waste and how it is managed.
Quick summary: It’s far more unorganized and disjointed than you think.
Musk’s point was, however that it was not about solving the problem of hunger in the world. This is because it is more difficult than throwing money at people. Handing someone a meal and medicine is great, but once they eat that meal they’ll soon need another.
Infrastructure changes, national politics, and the environment all play a role in the solving of world hunger, and it’s highly unlikely that six billion dollars are going to solve it. It’s even more unlikely that the United Nations is going to solve this problem, especially given their bloat.
There’s little doubt that if Musk could solve world hunger he would, but given the UN’s track record of waste, it’s unclear how much of Musk’s billions would actually make it to those in need.
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