‘We’re in big trouble’: pope concerned at Elon Musk’s trillion-dollar proposed pay
www.theguardian.com
Pope Leo criticises executive pay packages and talks about gap between rich and poor, in his first media interview

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/35971063

Pope Leo said “we’re in big trouble” when it comes to the ever-widening pay gap between the rich and poor, citing Elon Musk, who may be on course to become the world’s first trillionaire.

Leo made the remarks while criticising executive pay packages during his first interview with the media.

Reflecting on why the world was so polarised, he said one significant factor was the “continuously wider gap between the income levels of the working class and the money that the wealthiest receive”.

“CEOs that 60 years ago might have been making four to six times more than what the workers are receiving … 600 times more [now],” the pontiff said in excerpts of the interview conducted by Elise Ann Allen, a senior correspondent with the Catholic newspaper Crux as part of a forthcoming biography.

Earlier this month, the board of the electric car maker Tesla said it had proposed a new trillion-dollar pay package for Musk, its chief executive and largest shareholder, if he hit targets set by the company.

Outlining the incentive package, which is unprecedented in corporate history, in a stock market update, the company said: “Yes, you read that correctly.”

The pope, who turned 70 on Sunday, has so far shown to be much more low-key than his predecessor, even if they shared similar progressive political views.

Francis often clashed with the US president, Donald Trump, over his hardline immigration policies, while Leo, formerly Cardinal Robert Prevost, also criticised Trump’s policies on his X account before becoming pope.

    • jballs@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      1·
      9 days ago

      “CEOs that 60 years ago might have been making four to six times more than what the workers are receiving … 600 times more [now],” the pontiff [said]

      I hate to math check the Pope here, but this isn’t 600 times anymore. We’re talking 6 MILLION times more.

      Humans have a hard enough time comprehending a billion. A trillion is even harder.

      • Carighan Maconar@piefed.worldEnglish
        1·
        11 days ago

        I did a lot of thinking about this over the years (not the youngest one anymore) and I will say that I think my personal limit would be at ~10 mil. Beyond that, I fail to comprehend what amount of money I have. I can comprehend 1 mil, which means I can use in excess of that in some capacity, even pointlessly.

        But 10 mil? That stops being an amount of cash, it’s just “Me rich nao”.

        • blattrules@lemmy.worldEnglish
          1·
          11 days ago

          Yeah, that’s the number I came to also. At that point, you don’t have to work anymore and can mostly just live very comfortably off of the interest. There’s no way you’d catch me still working if I had that much saved.

          • qwerty@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
            01·
            11 days ago

            I don’t really keep up with random people’s politics, and I suppose anything short of a communist is considered far right in these circles, but putting aside the idea that anyone who doesn’t support collectivism is a devil incarnate, what’s unethical about making a game and pawning it off to M$ for a billion $?

            • chemical_cutthroat@lemmy.worldEnglish
              1·
              10 days ago

              I mean, if you aren’t keeping up with their social stances and politics, you probably shouldn’t be putting them on the “good millionaires” list.

              • qwerty@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
                01·
                10 days ago

                I’m not, I’m just asking what’s unethical about having money. If he made it fair and square what’s wrong with that? Notch is a good example because he’s self made and didn’t have a big corpo behind him, anything beyond that is irrelevant to the argument I’m making.

                • chemical_cutthroat@lemmy.worldEnglish
                  0·
                  10 days ago

                  There is nothing unethical about having money. Ethics are what you do with the money once you have it. Ethics are how you got the money in the first place. It’s not unethical to have a car. If I stole the car, that is unethical. If I use it for a hit and run, that is unethical. Notch has money. He also used his fame and reach that came with that money to spout hate speech.