# Democracy is dead: Elon Musk becomes world's first TRILLIONAIRE with SpaceX IPO

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Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/geopolitical-economy-report-5434689/democracy-is-dead-elon-musk-becomes-world-s-first-trillionaire-with-spacex-ipo.md
Podcast: [Geopolitical Economy Report](https://stenobird.com/podcast/geopolitical-economy-report-5434689)
Published: 2026-06-13T13:07:49+00:00
Episode link: https://soundcloud.com/geopoliticaleconomy/oligarchy-elon-musk-trillionaire-ipo-spacex
Audio file: https://feeds.soundcloud.com/stream/2338645610-geopoliticaleconomy-oligarchy-elon-musk-trillionaire-ipo-spacex.mp3
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Duration seconds: 2081

## Resource

Elon Musk has become the world's first trillionaire, with the IPO of his company SpaceX. He is a symbol of how the United States has become an oligarchy, where elections are bought by rich elites and large corporations, and extreme wealth is concentrated in a few hands. Ben Norton explains. VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dj-hd3l4dSo Topics 0:00 Elon Musk, world's first trillionaire 0:50 Oligarchy 1:54 SpaceX IPO 3:06 SpaceX is losing lots of money 4:13 Wall Street changes the rules 5:39 Trump coin pump and dump 6:14 Reasons to avoid SpaceX 7:04 Musk: symbol of US oligarchy 8:45 Wealth concentration 9:55 Gilded Age & robber barons 11:13 Money wins US elections 13:06 Elon Musk funded Trump 14:52 Larry Ellison buys up media 17:14 Capitalist class 18:19 Progressive Era 19:27 Great Depression & New Deal 20:08 Golden Age of capitalism 20:59 Tax rates 22:08 Tax burden shifts onto workers 23:24 Billionaires avoid taxes 24:34 Neoliberalism 25:18 Financial crisis & QE 26:54 Neofeudalism / technofeudalism 28:27 Artificial intelligence (AI) 29:24 Universal basic income (UBI) 30:50 Nationalize Big Tech 33:04 China's alternative 33:58 Outro

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