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No one on the planet at the time was as wealthy as the current crop of ultra-rich, including Musk. Perhaps no one in all of history, really, though that becomes
by stormbrew 5y ago
No one on the planet at the time was as wealthy as the current crop of ultra-rich, including Musk. Perhaps no one in all of history, really, though that becomes a complicated comparison really fast.
But yes, he absolutely comes from wealth. Just like most of them do.
- dijit 5y agoJohn D. Rockefeller was at the peak of his wealth in 1909, with over $900 million (in 1909 dollars). Doesn’t sound like much today—just your run-of-the-mill almost-billionaire. But that fortune represented about 5% of the TOTAL GDP of the U.S. in about 1910. That is obscenely GARGANTUAN. If we were to translate 5% of the 2020 U.S. GDP today, that would be 5% of $20.807 trillion. Or about $1.404 trillion. So Bezos, with his $182.2 billion and Musk with his $264.6 billion, have A LONG way to go to catch up with Rockefeller.