A viral explanation of wealth inequality using rice puts the sheer scale of Elon Musk’s riches into mind-numbing perspective
For the avergage person, it’s almost impossible to visualise a million pounds or dollars, and to understand what that can do to a person’s life outcomes. It’s far more difficult to appreciate the effect of having $400,000 – the estimated fortune of Elon Musk, who appears to be using his billions to buy his way around the constraints of democracy.
Over on TikTok, Whisper Pickle – @realestatebulldog – has gone wildy viral by explaining the different levels of wealth using grains of rice as a visual aid.
It’s quite the eye-opener.
@realestatebulldog Who's hungry? #eattherich ♬ original sound – Whisper Pickle
Musk could end world hunger …if he wanted to.
Nobody I know has a grain of rice.
Meg
MY GRANDPA ALWAYS SAID money is like menure, in a big pile it stinks, but spread it around and you can watch things grow.
Julianna Cheryl Jame
Wealth inequality exists not because we can’t help the poor, its because there is no way to satisfy the greedy.
rickschauer
This isn’t left vs right. this is them vs us. this is upper and lower.
Jessie
Great visualization! It’s also important to note that Musk’s pile is growing rapidly, while the net worth of average Americans is decreasing, and Trump/Musk are going to make it decrease even more.
cubsfan23546
The clip found its way to Musk’s own platform, where his own posts have been amplified using an algorithm, because he can.
1.
This is the best illustration of the obscene wealth of Elon Musk that I’ve seen.
Look how much rice he’s got!
We don’t have to organise our world like this. pic.twitter.com/8pUjwRNPpP
— Alex Nunns (@alexnunns) January 7, 2025
2.
With that much money they could fix so many of the worlds problems, instead they strive for division as diversion so they could squeeze out even more that they'll never need. These people are soulless and hollow shells
— M. Ali Dogan (@alidogan_uk) January 7, 2025
3.
Very interesting illustration https://t.co/2GdrDb1KLf
— Paul Lewis (@paullewismoney) January 7, 2025
4.
Why we need wealth taxation https://t.co/2nYOTLs5wa
— Cllr Alex Armitage (@alexjarmitage) January 8, 2025
5.
But it’s definitely the immigrants fault https://t.co/j8OuKPgkna
— (@dogjoel) January 8, 2025
6.
I saw that 1 million seconds is just over 11.5 days, and 1 billion seconds is 31.7 years. It's insane. You should clock capitalism at 1 billion, go in the Guinness book of records or get a plaque like youtube then the rest just gets shared. https://t.co/nwMub76q1i
— Kung- Fu Kerry (@kcpk1988) January 7, 2025
7.
What could go wrong… https://t.co/ccIGXjVVS1
— Sanj (@jhumus) January 8, 2025
Depressing subject matter aside, it’s a great video. Give Whisper Pickle a follow for more like it.
I wish my maths classes at school had been this interesting. https://t.co/hNUnW2k3fV
— Chris Pensa (@PensaEvents) January 8, 2025
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Source Whisper Pickle Image Screengrab