Elon Musk, the world’s current richest man at close to $300 billion, said he’d immediately sell his stock to end world hunger, if the organization asking him for $6 billion could explain how they would do it.
David Beasley, the director of the United Nations’ World Food Programme, called on Musk and Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos to use their massive wealth to keep 42 million people from starving.
“The governments are tapped out. This is why and this is when the billionaires need to step up now on a one-time basis: Six billion dollars to help 42 million people that are literally going to die if we don’t reach them,” Beasley told CNN last week.
“It’s not complicated. I’m not asking them to do this every day, every week, every year,” he added. “Just help me with them, one time. That’s a $6 billion price tag.”
Beasley seemingly pulled the figure from Musk’s recent personal gain of $6 billion in a single day. He also noted that both the Tesla CEO and Bezos raked in billions during the pandemic.
“The top 400 billionaires in the United States, the net worth increase was $1.8 trillion in the past year,” Beasley said. “All I’m asking for is .36% of your net worth increase. I’m for people making money, but God knows I’m all for you helping people who are in great need right now. The world is in trouble.”
Musk gamely responded to the call to action on Twitter, telling Beasley that he was in, if the organization could accurately describe how the money would be spent to solve the crisis.
“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,” Musk tweeted. “But it must be open source accounting, so the public sees precisely how the money is spent.”
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.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 31, 2021
But Beasely clearly couldn’t, but still scrambled to get Musk to give him the money.
“Headline not accurate,” He wrote back. “$6B will not solve world hunger, but it WILL prevent geopolitical instability, mass migration and save 42 million people on the brink of starvation. An unprecedented crisis and a perfect storm due to Covid/conflict/climate crises.”
The SpaceX founder was not moved by the request. “Please publish your current & proposed spending in detail so people can see exactly where money goes,” he replied.
wpDiscuz
the 8.4 billion didn’t solve the problem because Administration, graft and dictators in those countries got the bulk of the money collected.