Elon Musk the trillionaire... does the global economy need him to succeed?
Americast
BBC
4.3 • 3.1K Ratings
🗓️ 19 June 2026
⏱️ 24 minutes
🔗️ Recording | Apple Podcasts | RSS
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The US economy backs Elon Musk’s vision for sending people to Mars, the moon and beyond with SpaceX. Elon Musk’s rocket, telecommunications and artificial intelligence company SpaceX has listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange with a value of $2.2 trillion; making him the world’s first trillionaire in the process. Other AI companies, including Open AI and Anthropic have plans to follow suit but what does that mean for the US economy and global financial stability? In this episode, Justin speaks to Ryan Mac - an investigative technology reporter for the New York Times who has extensive experience covering Elon Musk and other leaders in the AI field. SpaceX’s public valuation has made millionaires of many of its past and current employees and generated around $85 billion for the company; money that Elon Musk says is essential to fulfill the company’s plans to build bases on the Moon, put data centres into orbit and send human beings to Mars. But what happens if those plans remain unfulfilled? As more companies offer shares to investors and the general public, Justin and Ryan explore whether America is gambling on the promise of AI? And is the US economy becoming dangerously reliant on one industry?
HOSTS: • Justin Webb, Radio 4 presenter
GUEST: • Ryan Mac - New York Times investigative technology correspondent
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This episode was made by Tom Gillett, Grace Reeve, Alix Pickles and Purvee Pattni. The technical producer was Ben Andrews. The series producer is Purvee Pattni. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts. |
| 0:05.9 | Hello, it's Anthony, and you're about to hear AmeriCast, and we're delighted to have you with us. |
| 0:11.0 | And if you enjoy what you hear, please do consider subscribing to the podcast. |
| 0:15.0 | That way, you'll never miss an episode. |
| 0:17.3 | Now, on with today. |
| 0:19.2 | We're going to go behind the scenes today, looking at why Elon Musk has become a trillionaire |
| 0:23.9 | and why the US needs him to succeed as financial institutions and investors all around the world. |
| 0:29.6 | Take a huge gamble on his unique vision becoming reality. |
| 0:33.6 | We want to be able to take anyone who wants to go to the moon, anyone who wants to go to Mars, or anywhere in the solar system, and maybe beyond the solar system at some point, we want to be able to take you there. |
| 0:45.1 | Not just a few astronauts. I mean, you, literally you. |
| 0:50.5 | So as financial institutions, investors across the world put their money behind Elon Musk and his sci-fi strategy, |
| 0:57.7 | which includes putting artificial intelligence data centres into space as well, as well as sending people, of course, |
| 1:04.0 | how risky is all of it? |
| 1:06.1 | And it's not just Elon Musk, with big AI companies also planning to float on the stock exchange later |
| 1:11.6 | this year with promises of what AI will do. What does it mean? Not just for the US economy, |
| 1:17.3 | but the global economy as well. Welcome to AmeriCast. Americaast. Americaast from BBC News. |
| 1:26.6 | You hear that sound? |
| 1:27.8 | Oh, I think when I hear that sound, it reminds me of money. |
| 1:31.5 | We didn't start this war, but under President Trump, we are finishing it. |
| 1:35.7 | This is a big cover-up, and this administration is engaged in it. |
| 1:39.1 | This guy has Trump Arrangement Syndrome. |
| 1:40.9 | I have four words for you. |
... |
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