What Musk’s $200 Billion Really Looks Like (And What It Doesn’t)
Lately, we’ve been reminded that Elon Musk has a net worth of $200 billion, while the median net worth of an American is around $200,000—and we’re meant to be awestruck by the sheer scale. And yes, it is staggering when you visualize it in grains of rice: if one grain represents the median American’s net worth, you’d need 139 cups of rice to represent Musk’s fortune. Wild, right?
It’s also worth noting why we focus on the median instead of the average. The average net worth in the U.S. is about $1.06 million, but that figure is heavily skewed by the ultra-wealthy. The median gives a clearer picture—it’s the middle point, where half of Americans have more, and half have less.
But let’s flip the math.
If we raided his estate right now and split the spoils evenly, each of us would walk away with about $600. That’s not even enough to fund the raid in terms of travel expenses and time off.
Give it all to the poor, and they’d get $5,000 each. Helpful, sure—but not exactly the revolution. That’s roughly the cost of a wedding cake shaped like Marie Antoinette’s head.
Seeing Clearly: Where Truth Begins and Spin Ends
My point here is simple: perspective is everything. Propaganda often hides not in lies, but in what we’re unwilling—or uninvited—to see. If we aren’t willing to look, the truth remains unsaid.
People often twist perspective, wrapping it in emotion to serve an agenda. That’s why it’s so important to stay alert. We need to recognize when emotion is being used to shape our conclusions—so we can strip it back, examine the facts, and view the picture from multiple angles with clarity and honesty. This takes practice, but it’s so worth it when it comes to our mental health and when it comes to creating results driven action plans.
If we want real change, we have to look at the whole picture, from every angle we have access to.
Truth is the only place you can build something real from.