Everyone should celebrate the world’s first trillionaire.

Zohran Mamdani has just been elected Mayor of New York on a radical socialist platform. Across Europe, from the Greens in Britain, to the Socialists in France, there are demands for wealth taxes. Political opposition to rising inequality is growing all the time. And how does Elon Musk respond? He has just awarded himself a $1tn pay package. Sure, it might seem very controversial, and in a sense it is. And yet, Musk is also absolutely right to throw down the gauntlet to the radical Left – it is his version of disruptive, innovative capitalism that deserves to succeed.

It is certainly generous. The pay package approved by Tesla’s shareholders this week will make Musk by far the richest man in the world. The CEO of Tesla, the founder of SpaceX, and the owner of X, will earn a cool $1tn if the targets are met. With a fortune already worth an estimated £500bn, it will turn him into by far the richest man who ever lived.

At a time when the populist Left is rising in power, it may seem an extraordinarily provocative move. The election of the “democratic socialist” Zohran Mamdani in New York, a city that has always been regarded as the heart of global capitalism, makes it clear that the backlash against rising inequality is growing in strength all the time.
Another trillion for Musk, especially given his support for Right-wing politicians and his willingness to dabble in politics, will only fuel the calls for higher taxes and stricter regulations to bring the plutocrats under control. If half his fortune gets taxed away, then surely Musk will have only himself to blame.

And yet, while it may be provocative, it is also the right thing to do. Sure, Musk’s pay package is generous. But it is also incredibly demanding. To qualify for the full amount, Musk has to grow Tesla’s market value to $8.5tn, from its current $1.4tn; sell 20 million electric cars; and launch one million robo-taxis and humanoid robots over the next decade.

In effect, Musk will make a lot of money for himself. But shareholders – who happen to include most of us through our pension plans – will make a lot more, while we will all save huge amounts of time by getting our friendly Tesla robot to vacuum the floors and wash up the dishes every day.

It is hard to see what is so terrible about that deal. Musk gets richer, and so do the rest of us. In reality, Musk’s $1tn pay package is making a case for radically innovative capitalism. If an entrepreneur drives huge growth and creates new products, then he or she deserves huge rewards. If they fail, they don’t make anything.

In reality, there is no point in compromising with the egalitarian Left. It will never be satisfied. Musk against Mamdani is a contest for different visions of American, and indeed, global capitalism. We should hope Musk prevails – we will all be a lot better off in the long-run.