I have no issue with Musk or his success. Stop trying to frame it like that. You’re stuck in an internal narrative which is wholly different than what I have said.
SpaceX could not have succeeded without the government. Just note that the venture capital did not invest until SpaceX got government resupply contracts. My position is that the govt has a larger risk tolerance, and thus facilitates ushering in nascent industries. Something like 95% of SpaceX contracts in its early days came from the government. It’s been like this in aerospace since the Wright brothers, when the promise of an army contract turned it from a hobby to a legitimate business. That doesn’t make Musk “bad” or the government “bad” because they both operate under different constraints that can be mutually beneficial. It’s just weird to see people refuse to acknowledge something because of obvious cognitive dissonance, but humans are gonna human, I guess.
The government needed SpaceX and SpaceX needed the government. We probably disagree why, but I think I have a more nuanced understanding than yours, which comes across as dogmatic and ideological since you can’t even parse the points being made.
To the point of the actual thread, do you think the purchase of Twitter has proven to be a good business investment, outside of any govt effects? If so, why?
He sells rockets to the government at 10% of what it would cost the government to buy them elsewhere. It's clearly Musk helping the government. Besides, Musk did not get subsidies for SpaceX nor special treatment.
> Are you claiming that subsidies don't get factored into a business plan?
No, I claimed that Musk had no control over the EV subsidy, which was given to buyers of electric cars from any company.
> acknowledge his success is tightly coupled to governmental help
Making a better, cheaper rocket is helping the government save tens of billions of dollars.
> contradictory to free-market ideals
The government keeps taking our economy farther and farther from the free market. Government taxes, subsidizes, and regulates. It isn't really possible to run a free market business in the US.
I know it's cool these days to dump on Musk and denigrate his achievements with "you didn't build that" (as if anyone else could have done it), but history will show him to be the greatest entrepreneuer the world has ever seen.
The government has subsidized other companies. None of them succeeded like Musk did. Not remotely. The idea that the government created Musk is just nonsense.