Hear me out, a trillionaire Musk benefits all mankind

Elon Musk, is he worth it – a trillion dollars, give or take?

- SEAN O'GRADY

Unfashionable as it may be, I still cleave to the view once provocatively expressed by the now equally unfashionable Peter Mandelson, that even social democrats should be “intensely relaxed about people getting filthy rich, as long as they pay their taxes”.

But in the case of Musk - no ordinary mortal, he - one should probably add: “And as long as they behave like a responsible global citizen and don’t abuse the political influence money can buy.”

Not only is the Tesla boss already the wealthiest person on earth - a net worth of $491bn, last time I consulted the handy Forbes Real-Time Billionaires database - but he has a claim to being the richest human ever to inhabit the planet, leastways aside from the ancient emperors who “owned” entire civilisations.

Adjusting for inflation, Musk easily outstrips JP Morgan, Henry Ford, John Paul Getty and Rupert Murdoch put together, with only John D Rockefeller at the close of the Gilded Age edging him - but maybe not for much longer.

It seems incomprehensible. Could Musk really be that rich, now that he’s got his trillion-dollar payday, on top of his existing half-a-trillion net worth?