Why does anyone else care what Elon Musk does with his money?

Elon Musk can be an eccentric jerk. He can also be a visionary who leads companies to great achievements. He does things that people say can’t be done. But he’s not always honest or reasonable about it, as I see it.

Musk has been a wildly successful creator. He’s gotten stunningly wealthy by betting on himself. I like and admire some of the things he’s done. I detest many of his actions at other times. I don’t see how anybody can admire him completely or reject him completely.

But Musk is a polarizing figure. Some people seem to worship him. Others seem to hate everything about him. And now that he’s buying Twitter, a lot of people are projecting their deep biases about the man onto their opinions about the purchase.

But the most bizarre thing about public commentary about Musk — and other wealthy people at times — is that so many otherwise-reasonable people have strong feelings about what he should do with his money.

Every time I see someone criticize Musk — for his space ventures or for his latest plan to buy Twitter, for example — I always ask one simple question.

Why do you care what Elon Musk does with his own money?

Indignant people angrily tweet at Musk all the time to tell him he ought to be using his money in a different way. And it’s always some favorite leftist dream which they claim this successful capitalist should be spending his money on.

I’ve seen people claim Musk could solve world hunger if he would just give his money to the poor instead of building SpaceX. I’ve seen people tell Musk that he could “cure cancer” if he threw his money at some undefined thing instead of buying Twitter.

I have no opinion about how Musk ought to spend his money, but that doesn’t mean I don’t care about hungry people or curing cancer. It’s simply that Musk’s money belongs to him, not to me.

Musk’s spending is none of my business.

And this is the root of why it scares me that such criticisms are becoming more common. For many people on the political left, Musk shouldn’t have that much money. Even if he’s earned it by commercializing his ideas and creating things that wouldn’t otherwise exist, these people don’t believe that anybody has a right to become wealthy.

When they see a wealthy person — particularly a wealthy person who doesn’t act as they prefer — their envy and their anger kick in. They want politicians to make up “rules” to steal the money of billionaires.

I’m appalled at the way most people spend their money, because very few have the same priorities that I have. Many people spend their collective billions of dollars on big-screen televisions and lottery tickets and alcohol and cigarettes.

I don’t own a television and think we would be better off if more people turned their televisions off for good. I know that people waste uncounted billions of dollars on lotteries that leave them poor and needy. And since I’ve never used alcohol or smoked cigarettes, I can easily point to the data showing that we would be better off without these dangerous substances.

But the point is that what other people do with their money and with their lives in none of my business. I don’t get a vote in whether you waste your money on booze or tobacco. Or on gambling or television sets or whatever you like to spend your money on.

It’s simply none of my business.

You might find my life choices equally absurd. You might spend my money differently. You might invest my time differently. But you don’t get a vote about my life — about my money or time or effort.

Elon Musk has more money than you have. More money than I have. But the same principle applies.

How the man spends his money is none of our business. Whether you love the man or hate him, it’s his money. Not yours. Not mine.

And if he wants to build rockets or electric cars or social media platforms, that’s his business. You can admire him or hate him. You can do business with his companies or not.

But don’t tell him how to spend his money. It’s none of your business.