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Economy
'Decades of Policy Failures' Confirmed as Elon Musk Net Worth Hits $500 Billion
Rooted in apartheid South Africa, built on a foundation of unethical business practices, and boosted by staggering sums of corporate welfare, Musk's fortune soared to even greater heights after he played a key role in buying the 2024 election for President Donald Trump and other Republican candidates by pouring over a quarter billion dollars into their campaign coffers.
As Forbes noted:
Worth just $24.6 billion in March 2020, soaring Tesla shares made him the fifth person ever worth $100 billion, in August 2020. He became the world’s richest person for the first time in January 2021, with a nearly $190 billion net worth. Then, in September 2021, he became the third person ever worth $200 billion (after Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and Frenchman Bernard Arnault of luxury goods conglomerate LVMH). Musk went on to hit $300 billion in November 2021 and $400 billion in December 2024.
Musk was rewarded for his 2024 largesse by being named the de facto head of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a job he has since left after overseeing the Project 2025-inspired evisceration of numerous federal agencies.
As progressives argue that the existence of billionaires is a public policy failure, Musk apparently no longer wants to be one. That's because he's seeking to leave the realm of mere multicentibillionaires behind and become the world's first trillionaire. Such an outcome is possible under a compensation package recently proposed by Tesla's board, and Forbes says it could happen by 2033.
Addressing this possibility, Musk—who has long warned about the existential threat posed by artificial intelligence, even as his companies pioneer such technology—said on his social media site X last year that “it’s not about ‘compensation’, but about me having enough influence over Tesla to ensure safety if we build millions of robots."
“If I can just get kicked out in the future by activist shareholder advisory firms who don’t even own Tesla shares themselves, I’m not comfortable with that future," he added.
Progressive observers expressed dismay at the news of Musk's latest money milestone.
Campaign for New York Health executive director Melanie D'Arrigo said Wednesday on social media that "Elon Musk hitting $500 billion while 60% of Americans can’t afford basic necessities is what it looks like when billionaires buy elections to get laws written to benefit themselves at the expense of everyone else."
"Elon Musk is a result of decades of policy failures," she added.
Podcaster Brian Allen alluded to United Nations World Food Program Director David Beasley's challenge to Musk to contribute toward the $6.6 trillion needed to combat world hunger.
"He could’ve solved it 83 times, but chose to buy Twitter, pump Dogecoin, and lay off workers instead," Allen said of Musk. "Welcome to late-stage capitalism."
Sanders Report Shows Prices for 688 Prescription Drugs Rose Under Trump
The committee staffers documented price increases for 688 medications—310 brand-name drugs and 378 generic ones—during Trump's second term, with a median increase of 5.5% and 25 treatments more than doubling in cost.
"Of the 17 companies that received a letter from President Trump on July 31, 2025, 15 raised the price of at least one product since Trump took office," the report notes. "Since Trump sent letters asking drug companies to lower prices, the prices of 87 drugs have increased."
(Image: The Art of the Bad Deal: Trump’s Failure to Lower Prescription Drug Prices)
Overall, the highest hike was 1,555%. Eton Pharmaceuticals increased the price of Galzin, which is used to treat a rare genetic liver disorder called Wilson's disease, from $5,400 to $88,800 per year in the United States—even though it only costs $1,400 in the United Kingdom and $2,800 in Germany.
The report highlights some other examples, such as Novartis' cancer drug Kymriah, which increased by $25,600, or 4.5%, to $594,000 annually. In the UK, it costs $381,000 a year, and in Germany it's $282,000. The report also notes the company's executive compensation last year: $83.3 million.
Vertex jacked up the price of Trikafta, used to treat cystic fibrosis, by 7%, or $23,900, to $365,000 a year, according to the report. Just north of the US, in Canada, it's only $146,000. The company's executive compensation for 2024 was $12.7 million.
Johnson & Johnson increased the price of Xarelto, used to treat and prevent blood clots, by 5% to $7,200—far higher than its cost in Canada ($750), the UK ($880), and Germany ($1,300). The company also hiked the price of Spravato, a nasal spray used to treat depression, by 8% to $28,100, roughly double the cost in those other three countries. Its executive compensation was $64.5 million.
"These price increases are just the beginning. Trump's chaotic across-the-board tariffs will further increase prices," the report warns. "Trump has already imposed a 15% tariff on pharmaceutical products from Europe and Japan, and he has threatened to increase tariffs on pharmaceuticals to up to 250%."
"On September 25, Trump announced that he will impose a 100% tariff on pharmaceutical products starting October 1 unless a product's manufacturer is making or is planning to make the product in the US," the publication details. "Insurers are already reporting that higher drug prices arising from tariffs will result in higher health insurance premiums."
The report continues:
In addition, instead of working with Congress to pass legislation to lower prescription drug prices, the Trump administration spent its first months in office racing to sign a law that makes the largest federal healthcare cuts in history. The cuts will make it harder for millions of Americans to afford prescription drugs as people lose coverage and face ballooning premium bills and rising out-of-pocket costs. In addition, hidden in the administration's One Big Beautiful Bill Act is a multibillion-dollar giveaway to some of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world.
OBBBA prevents or delays Medicare from negotiating the price of some of the most expensive prescription drugs. Public reporting and analyses have identified several drugs that will benefit from this loophole.
The document stresses that "any real solution to lowering prescription drug prices will require legislation, not just press releases," and points to Sanders' Prescription Drug Price Relief Act, which "would ensure Americans do not pay more for prescription drugs than the median price paid in Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Japan."
Although Trump's health and human services secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., "committed to working with Sen. Sanders on this legislation at a hearing in May 2025, HHS stopped responding to staff-level requests to work together to get this bill passed into law after one meeting," according to the report.
Echoing the report, Sanders said in a Monday statement that "I agree with President Trump: It is an outrage that the American people pay, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs. But unlike Trump, I believe we need more than just press releases, polite requests to drug companies, and pilot projects. We need real action to take on the greed of the pharmaceutical industry and substantially reduce the cost of prescription drugs for all Americans."
"If President Trump is serious about making real change, he will support my legislation to make sure Americans pay no more than people in other major countries for the exact same prescription drug," added Sanders, a longtime advocate of Medicare for All. "Now is the time to end the greed of the pharmaceutical industry."
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