The World Food Programme which is the food-assistance branch of the United Nations recently made headlines with a statement. The director of WFP David Beasley recently said that billionaires like Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk should “step up now, on a one-time basis” to help tackle world hunger with a small percentage of their net worth.
In an interview with CNN, Beasley said that $6 billion is needed to help 42 million people that are literally going to die if we don’t reach them. “It’s not complicated”, he said.
Beasley urged that climate change and a pandemic are not the only crisis that the world is facing at the moment. He further noted that a “perfect storm” of crises like the coronavirus pandemic and climate change implies that several nations are on the verge of famine.
According to Bloomberg, Tesla chief executive Musk has a net worth of nearly $289 billion. Out of this, David Beasley has asked for 2% of his wealth.
Shortly after, the statement became the headline of many news channels stirring discussions all over. Social media platforms were also full of people commenting in favor and against it.
The researcher, Lecturer, and Founder of Deep Instinct, Dr. Eli David, started a conversation as well by stating ‘facts’. He stated that 2% of Musk’s fortune will be $6 billion.
He then stated that in 2020 the UN World Food Program (WFP) raised $8.4B. ”How come it didn’t solve world hunger?”, he asked.
Fact check:
🔹 2% of @elonmusk‘s wealth is $6B
🔹 In 2020 the UN World Food Program (WFP) raised $8.4B. How come it didn’t “solve world hunger”?— Dr. Eli David (@DrEliDavid) October 30, 2021
His post attracted a lot of attention and Musk himself retweeted his post. Musk said that if WFP can describe on his Twitter thread exactly how $6 billion will solve world hunger, he would sell Tesla Stock right away.
If WFP can describe on this Twitter thread exactly how $6B will solve world hunger, I will sell Tesla stock right now and do it.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 31, 2021
The internet was then divided in opinion and people came in huge numbers to express their thoughts on the matter.
