Elon Musk, Tesla CEO, fires back at Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) for demanding the extremely wealthy pay their “fair share.”
Bernie Sanders shared another provocative “fair share” tweet.
“We must demand that the extremely wealthy pay their fair share. Period,” Sanders tweeted.
Musk responded on Sunday, “I keep forgetting that you’re still alive.”
This past March, Sanders, and Musk also engaged in a battle when the socialist senator criticized the billionaire for focusing on space travels instead of planet earth.
“We are in a moment in American history where two guys — Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos — own more wealth than the bottom 40% of people in this country. That level of greed and inequality is not only immoral. It is unsustainable,” Sanders tweeted.
Musk responded, “I am accumulating resources to help make life multiplanetary & extend the light of consciousness to the stars.”
Sanders argued American inequality is too “obscene” to be brushed aside for space travel.
“Space travel is an exciting idea, but right now we need to focus on Earth and create a progressive tax system so that children don’t go hungry, people are not homeless and all Americans have healthcare. The level of inequality in America is obscene and a threat to our democracy,” Sanders said.
According to the AP, Elon Musk’s latest spat with Bernie Sanders came just days after he sold $6 billion in Tesla stock in response to a Twitter poll:
Musk’s selloff came days after he created a Twitter poll — in which millions voted — asking whether he should sell 10 percent of his huge stake in the electric carmaker.
On Saturday, Musk tweeted: “Much is made lately of unrealized gains being a means of tax avoidance, so I propose selling 10% of my Tesla stock. Do you support this?”
In the poll, almost 58 percent of the 3.5 million votes cast favored him proceeding with the sale.
Tesla shares had plummeted at the Wall Street opening on Monday and have fallen further since.
After moving his company from California to Texas last month, Musk warned Austin not to institute destructive policies like San Francisco’s “defund the police.”
Musk tweeted, “Austin should be its city, not a San Francisco copycat.”