I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Musk is a man who made himself known through Tesla. Yeah, he had a hand in Paypal, but Tesla is who Musk is. And Tesla got to where they are by abusing the everloving hell out of government grant programs, specifically "green" initiatives. He didn't build up a free market company. He's not an entrepreneur.
So when you look at that, at his actual actions, you see someone that is heavily reliant upon the government. And maybe he will do a decent job as DOGE. But his history is intrinsically linked with government grants. And that to me isn't someone that turns around and suddenly wants a smaller government. That's a man that wants a consolidated government with direct paths to achieving these handouts.
People talk about trust fund kiddies and nepo babies. Musks is a handout child. He got to where he is solely through the abuse of handouts. Frankly, when the left talks about Trump being a selfish businessman, it's pretty ridiculous. But Musk? I don't think the left are right, but those criticisms apply better to Musk than Trump. Not accurate, but better. I dunno, I just find it funny whenever I've seen people jerk off Elon. I don't think he's a bad guy or evil or anything like that, but I do think he's self-serving.
I would say to get started yes Elon was that but with Space X that kinda has becomes redundant.
Tesla hasn't been getting any grants since the Biden administration but has been making profits due to brand recognition and, well not making shit electric cars like GM, Ford or (nearly pukes) that abomination that Jaguar showed off.
Space X though makes A LOT of money thanks to how dominant it is in the space industry alone. Starlink being not just why Ukraine still has logistics but Australia uses it as their main source of Internet because the government provided service is so shit.
I can believe him in wanting to cut government spending and agencies down as, getting back to my earlier point of him holding grudges for being slighted, the Californian government fucked him around so much that he's moving operations to Texas and we all heard anecdotally the kind of red tape they have to leap through for Space X a out if rockets landing in the sea is a danger to whales..
The thing is Elon can be a good ally so long as he isn't slighted to hold a grudge and fortunately it looks like Trump's statements diffused anything that would hamper DOGE, just Twitter getting some backlash.
Tesla hasn't been getting any grants since the Biden administration
Tesla has been around since 2003. Let's be generous and suggest the first few years he didn't get any grants. So we'll be generous and say 2008. That's still 12 years of essentially being government subsidised. 12 years to build a business with massive "green" funding is a long ass time to gain viability when most businesses go under in less than 5.
This isn't to say that Musk is an idiot businessman. It still takes skill to be successful, even with handouts. But it still lessens the achievement.
And as you've pointed out, the way that Starlink has been adopted by multiple governments ultimately helps show that his pseudo-independence is still heavily funded through taxpayer dollars. His achievements should always have a big asterisk next to them, because it was not done in a free and open market like many seem to believe. His biggest boon was autonomy. That's it.
Selling a product to a government is like selling to any other buyer, and isn't the same as subsidies. (which Tesla tax breaks do count as, yes) If governments didn't buy Starlink he'd still be providing the service to private customers. NO entrepreneur would turn down government contracts, except maybe to avoid onerous regulatory paperwork or a difficult bidding process.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Musk is a man who made himself known through Tesla. Yeah, he had a hand in Paypal, but Tesla is who Musk is. And Tesla got to where they are by abusing the everloving hell out of government grant programs, specifically "green" initiatives. He didn't build up a free market company. He's not an entrepreneur.
So when you look at that, at his actual actions, you see someone that is heavily reliant upon the government. And maybe he will do a decent job as DOGE. But his history is intrinsically linked with government grants. And that to me isn't someone that turns around and suddenly wants a smaller government. That's a man that wants a consolidated government with direct paths to achieving these handouts.
People talk about trust fund kiddies and nepo babies. Musks is a handout child. He got to where he is solely through the abuse of handouts. Frankly, when the left talks about Trump being a selfish businessman, it's pretty ridiculous. But Musk? I don't think the left are right, but those criticisms apply better to Musk than Trump. Not accurate, but better. I dunno, I just find it funny whenever I've seen people jerk off Elon. I don't think he's a bad guy or evil or anything like that, but I do think he's self-serving.
I would say to get started yes Elon was that but with Space X that kinda has becomes redundant.
Tesla hasn't been getting any grants since the Biden administration but has been making profits due to brand recognition and, well not making shit electric cars like GM, Ford or (nearly pukes) that abomination that Jaguar showed off.
Space X though makes A LOT of money thanks to how dominant it is in the space industry alone. Starlink being not just why Ukraine still has logistics but Australia uses it as their main source of Internet because the government provided service is so shit.
I can believe him in wanting to cut government spending and agencies down as, getting back to my earlier point of him holding grudges for being slighted, the Californian government fucked him around so much that he's moving operations to Texas and we all heard anecdotally the kind of red tape they have to leap through for Space X a out if rockets landing in the sea is a danger to whales..
The thing is Elon can be a good ally so long as he isn't slighted to hold a grudge and fortunately it looks like Trump's statements diffused anything that would hamper DOGE, just Twitter getting some backlash.
Starlink is not used as the main internet infrastructure provider in Australia. That's flat wrong.
Tesla has been around since 2003. Let's be generous and suggest the first few years he didn't get any grants. So we'll be generous and say 2008. That's still 12 years of essentially being government subsidised. 12 years to build a business with massive "green" funding is a long ass time to gain viability when most businesses go under in less than 5.
This isn't to say that Musk is an idiot businessman. It still takes skill to be successful, even with handouts. But it still lessens the achievement.
And as you've pointed out, the way that Starlink has been adopted by multiple governments ultimately helps show that his pseudo-independence is still heavily funded through taxpayer dollars. His achievements should always have a big asterisk next to them, because it was not done in a free and open market like many seem to believe. His biggest boon was autonomy. That's it.
Selling a product to a government is like selling to any other buyer, and isn't the same as subsidies. (which Tesla tax breaks do count as, yes) If governments didn't buy Starlink he'd still be providing the service to private customers. NO entrepreneur would turn down government contracts, except maybe to avoid onerous regulatory paperwork or a difficult bidding process.