Tesla's shares are performing better than ever thanks to a huge deal with a rental car agency. CEO Elon Musk has also seen his net worth soar despite already being the richest person in the globe a month earlier.
Musk was the first person to have a net worth of more than $300 billion over the weekend. This is an absurd amount of money, which some critics believe could be better used to build electric luxury sedans or develop Mars rockets.
David Beasley (director of the United Nations World Food Program) said that this is the case. According to CNN, $6 billion (roughly two percent of Musk's net worth) could reach 42 million people who are literally going mad if they don't get help.
Beasley stated that the governments are exhausted. The billionaires must step up.
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He argued that I wasn't asking them to do it every day, every week or every year. This is a temporary crisis that has created a storm of conflict, climate changes, and COVID.
Musk was inspired to take on the challenge and set himself a task.
Musk tweeted Sunday that if WFP could explain on Twitter how $6B would solve world hunger, I'll sell Tesla stock now and do it. Musk wrote that it must be open-source accounting so that the public can see exactly how the money was spent.
Musk's interpretation of Beasley's comments seems to be wildly out of context. Depending on who you ask, the phrase "solve world hunger" can refer to many things. Musk seems to be using the phrase in a way that implies eliminating all food insecurity.
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However, Beasley's comments on CNN suggest that he is talking about saving a subset of people who are in extreme need during a single-time disaster.
Beasley refers to 42 million people who face Phase 4 acute levels of food insecurity. According to the WFP, this means that they are at the edge of death if they don't get help immediately.
Beasley's appearance on CNN was part of the push ahead of UN climate change summit (COP26), that began on Sunday in Glasgow, Scotland.
It's a terrible situation.
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According to a WFP press release, October 29, Ethiopia, Madagascar and South Sudan are some of the countries where 584,000 people face famine-like circumstances. This is because climate change intersects the other major driver of hunger, conflict, which pushes 42 million people to the brink.
Last week, the United Nations released a report that found that large numbers of these people reside in Afghanistan. This requires an urgent international response to avoid a humanitarian disaster.
Beasley stated that the country is currently in the most severe humanitarian crisis, if not the worst. Food security has almost collapsed. We are in a time crunch and must act quickly to avoid a complete disaster.
Musk's kneejerk reaction does not paint him in the best light. It is arguably an insincere response.
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His comments are not surprising. The billionaire believes that institutions and governments cannot be trusted when it comes to spending money.
He wrote a sarcastic tweet last week in response to lawmakers' plans to tax billionaires to fund healthcare expansion, childcare, and a tax credit for children.
Musk doesn't think philanthropy is his top priority. Musk stated on Twitter that his number one goal was to get humanity to Mars, and to preserve consciousness.
It is unlikely that money will be spent on one of the most pressing and important issues facing humanity in 21st century. Building a rocket capable to move humans to other planets is no different from dispersing funds to non-governmental actors and government agencies to ensure that fewer people die of hunger.
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However, asking Beasley for details on how to end world hunger while asking billionaires to help during a crisis is narrow-minded thinking that will not result in anyone being more fortunate.
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