A Simple Question about the Current US Economy

• One thousand seconds is 16 minutes and 40 seconds.
  
• One million seconds is 11 days, 13 hours, 46 minutes, and 40 seconds.
  
• One billion seconds is over 31 years and 8 months.
  
• One hundred billion seconds is 3169 years.
  
• Elon Musk's net worth, 402 billion dollars, in seconds, would be 12739 years. The human era–the period for which humans have been the dominant species on Earth–is estimated at around 12000 years, with the holocene calendar putting us in the year 12025.
  

We would still have people like Elon Musk making investments and independently deciding how companies are run. 

This means that if you earned a dollar every second..

Well I would hope mathematicians wouldn't be saying arbitrarily "this number is too large" without proof

For a non-mathematician, the concept of wealth generation being an exponential function is like speaking a foreign language.

• Elon Musk's net worth, 402 billion dollars, in seconds, would be 12739 years. The human era–the period for which humans have been the dominant species on Earth–is estimated at around 12000 years, with the holocene calendar putting us in the year 12025.
  

This is a linear function. Can you use a realistic function and calculate wealth generation with an exponential function?

Ten times the money has ten times the buying power.

You continue to make contradictory prescriptions:

“Only the government would make investments.”

“We would still have people like Musk making investments.”

Would you be able to outline exactly what it is you are prescribing? I need more than “Musk can keep doing what he’s doing. He will just be accumulating wealth at a more humane and reasonable rate.” (Not an exact quote)

How long will Elon Musk live with all those seconds added to his wealth?

But Elon Musk did not buy Tesla orSpaceX. He created those companies.

I have no idea what that is supposed to mean. This was just a thought experiment comparing scale of wealth to scale of time. I'm not sure what Musk's life span or "adding seconds to wealth" has to do with this.

There's no reason why we can't allow both individual success and collective well-being to coexist.

If you are comparing scale of wealth to scale of time. How much time does Elon Musk have when you compare it to his scale of wealth?

having the resources necessary to do something is a prerequisite for being motivated to do it

If you are comparing scale of wealth to scale of time. How much time does Elon Musk have when you compare it to his scale of wealth?

Your wording is a little strange, but I'm assuming that you are asking what amount of time corresponds to Musk's quantity of wealth in my chosen scale. The answer to that is 12739 years, which was included in the original post.

What is the significance of that 12739 years when he will only live the normal lifespan?

What is the significance of that 12739 years when he will only live the normal lifespan?

12739 years is 402 billion seconds, and Elon Musk's net worth is 402 billion dollars. This isn't about his lifespan.

innovation is never a limited resource. Ever.

So he cannot add 402 billion seconds to his life even though your calculation says it’s possible to convert his billions into years.

So he cannot add 402 billion seconds to his life even though your calculation says it’s possible to convert his billions into years.

My calculation says that 12739 years is 402 billion seconds. It also says that you would therefore need 12739 years to reach Elon Musk's net worth if you theoretically made one dollar every second. It does not say that Musk can buy additional seconds to add to his lifespan.

"Only government employed professional investors would make investments."

"We would still have people like Musk making investments."

These statements aren't contradictory if people like Musk were government employees.

innovation is never a limited resource. Ever.

And the value of finite material resources relies solely on innovation, which is a limitless resource.

Example, an acre of farm 100 years ago produced x amount of food. today it produces 100x amount of food. 100 years from now, it could be 1000x

But you said he was ahead by 12739 years.

Hmm… and if people like Musk don’t wish to be government employees?

Where does the investment capital come from?

Would you be able to outline exactly what it is you are prescribing? I need more than “Musk can keep doing what he’s doing. He will just be accumulating wealth at a more humane and reasonable rate.” (Not an exact quote)

I believe that people should be employed to make good investments, and the resulting large quantities of wealth should be controlled by the government and used for public interest. Is this fair to the investors? Well, they aren't doing anything more important than, say, doctors, so yes, it is absolutely fair, and the current "free market" system isn't fair to those who struggle to get enough to eat while Elon Musk buys private jets with money that could have fed hundreds of children for almost two decades.