Elon Musk, Welfare Queen
Audio Recording by George Hahn
This past weekend, Elon Musk called me cruel, mean and deceitful. Two and half years ago I called him a welfare queen. You decide.
This post was published August 19, 2022.
What’s the most successful venture capital firm in history? Kleiner Perkins and Sequoia Capital backed many internet-era success stories. Andreessen Horowitz? No, one organization towers above. This firm was there before the first transistor was printed, and it will be there after we receive brain implants. One investor funded the computer, the internet, speech recognition, last-mile distribution, mapping the human genome, the core technologies of fracking, and the first horizontal shale drill, and today it’s driving down the cost of solar and wind power below that of coal. Even better news: If you’re a U.S. taxpayer, you’re a limited partner.
The Firm
Founded in 1776 by General Partners Washington, Jefferson, and Madison, and headquartered today in a Beaux Arts corporate campus in the District of Columbia, the U.S. government is the world’s premier funder of technological and commercial innovation. The Inflation Reduction Act (“IRA”) is being hailed/hated as a climate bill, but it’s really just the most recent investment by Eagle Capital. Opponents of the legislation claim it’s a poor investment. Eagle Cap’s track record suggests otherwise, and we can expect big returns.
The IRA (awful name) will direct $369 billion to a variety of clean-energy initiatives, largely through tax credits. The largest investments are for solar, wind, and nuclear power generation, where Eagle builds on a track record of success. The government has invested over $3 billion in wind power R&D since 1976, and it’s been offering tax credits for wind and solar since the 1990s. Just since 2010, the cost of solar has dropped 85%, and the price to harness wind energy has been halved. Public funding, through R&D and tax credits, has been instrumental to that progress. Ninety percent of U.S. coal-fired power is now more expensive to operate than replacement wind or solar sources. And that’s not for lack of investment in coal. Conservative accounting puts government subsidies for coal at $20 billion per year, and the IRA includes investments in carbon-capture technology intended to support coal energy for several years. 
Eagle Cap’s $528 million loss on solar cell manufacturer Solyndra, which declared bankruptcy in 2011, was a notable miss. But failure is inherent to venture investing. One analysis found the best-performing VC firms have more money-losing investments than the average funds. The key difference is the magnitude of their successes and aggregate portfolio returns. Solyndra was a miss, but the $30 billion Department of Energy loan program that funded it turned a profit. There are many notable wins. One business that took a $465 million loan from the same program in its early days: Tesla. You likely didn’t know that, as its CEO spends more time shitposting America than crediting it.
Going Deep
Early-stage, future-leaning research is riskier and requires large amounts of patient capital. Private industry struggles to justify long-term, mammoth investments in deep science. The most enduring societies have one thing in common: Their governments play the long game. In the 1960s in the U.S., this meant computer and networking technology. At its peak, federal R&D spending approached 2% of GDP. The most cutting-edge work was done by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), which developed or funded the development of almost every building block technology of our tech infrastructure, from the internet and the mouse to graphical user interfaces and GPS. More recently, DARPA has been a major funder of AI projects, notably speech recognition — both Dragon and Siri spun out of DARPA. Speech illuminates the difference between government and private R&D: In the 1950s, private Bell Labs (aka the phone company) did pioneering work on speech recognition — but only on phone digits zero through nine. 
The government also invests upstream by supporting public education and universities. Stanford established its leadership in engineering thanks to a unique three-way partnership between the university, industry, and government contracts, centered around the Stanford Research Institute, where many DARPA innovations have been created. Marc Andreessen coded Mosaic, the first consumer-friendly graphical web browser — it was the precursor to Netscape Navigator — while attending the (publicly funded) University of Illinois and working at the federally funded National Center for Supercomputing Applications. Again, did you know that? Why would you? According to an MIT study, technology developed at universities and then licensed to industry between 1996 and 2010 created $388 billion in GDP and 3 million jobs.
Double-click on any major tech product or company, and you’ll find government-funded tech. Apple, Intel, and Qualcomm were all beneficiaries of a loan program similar to the one that funded Solyndra and Tesla. Google’s core algorithm was developed with a National Science Foundation grant. Economist Mariana Mazzucato, in her book The Entrepreneurial State, calculates that U.S. government agencies have provided roughly a quarter of total funding for early-stage tech companies, and that in the pharmaceutical industry (a sector requiring immense experimentation and a willingness to fail), 75% of new molecular entities have been discovered by publicly funded labs or government agencies.
Fifty years from now, the field most likely to spawn more value than digital computing is genetics, and similar to digital computing, genetics is an Eagle Cap portfolio industry. The Human Genome Project cost U.S. taxpayers $3.8 billion, was completed under budget and two years ahead of schedule, and has generated $966 billion in economic activity and $59 billion in federal tax revenue. It’s estimated the federal government’s $3.3 billion in annual spending on genetics projects generates $265 billion in economic activity annually. This number doesn’t account for the improved health outcomes and quality of life flowing from genetic breakthroughs — which have an estimated value of $1 trillion per year and growing. One of Eagle Cap’s recent wins in this space: the Moderna Covid vaccine, the result of a $25m DARPA grant to the company for developing RNA vaccine technology.
Eagle’s Biggest Critics
The biggest critics of the government are, oddly, some of its biggest beneficiaries. Tech billionaires are often the first to shitpost America, even as they continue to harvest wealth from the investments taxpayers make via the U.S. government.
In fact, the biggest bitch(er) may be the biggest (financial) beneficiary. Elon Musk says we should “get rid of all” government subsidies, that “the government is the biggest corporation with a monopoly on violence,” and last week mocked Washington for hiring more employees at the IRS. Let’s be clear: Elon didn’t build an EV company in South Africa or start a rocket company in Canada. He built Tesla and SpaceX in the United States. And both continue to be heavily dependent on U.S. government support.
There would be no SpaceX without NASA, its largest customer. Tesla built its Fremont factory with a $465 million DoE loan in 2010, and its first 200,000 cars benefited from tax credit subsidies of up to $7,500. For years the company was able to report profits thanks to the “sale” of emissions credits to other carmakers. All told, the company has accepted an estimated $2.5 billion in government support.
Marc Andreessen says he’s “pro-gridlock,” because “when the government does things, it usually doesn’t end well.” Except for providing the state-sponsored platform for his career — the University of Illinois and NCSA. Now @pmarca is making news because he’s concerned about our nation’s “housing crisis.” We aren’t building enough houses, he wrote recently, and that’s “a driving force behind inequality and anxiety.” Except when the housing is near … his house.
Another outspoken billionaire, Peter Thiel, says the U.S. government is “socialist” and believes we have “much worse outcomes than the Soviet Union in the 1950s.” (His solution is to take up seasteading — i.e., building floating autonomous ocean communities that aren’t subject to regulations or taxes.) But Thiel’s current venture, Palantir, is a government contractor that provides data analytics to the CIA, DoD, and other government agencies — and these contracts make up almost 60% of its revenue. Note: Palantir has lost money every year of its existence. That feels like a Soviet outcome. 
Mother of All Welfare Queens
In his 1980 presidential run, Ronald Reagan advocated tearing up our social safety net on the manufactured claim that it offered nothing more than handouts for lazy people. He popularized the notion of the “welfare queen,” someone living large on the government’s dime, having more children to generate more welfare income. It was a classist, racist stunt. And it worked. Twenty-two states passed laws banning increased welfare payments to mothers who had additional children, and we’ve been slashing and burning the government ever since. Reagan’s welfare queen was a caricature, a country club cocktail fantasy of the ungrateful beneficiary of hard-earned tax money. The new welfare queens are tech billionaires. The only difference is, they’re real.
VCs claim they partner with entrepreneurs (many do), bring unique insight (most don’t), and care about the founder (read: money). What’s clear is that the economic model of 20% carried interest — investors and VCs get 80% and 20% of the gains on capital, respectively — has been flipped on its head re: public investment, where investors (taxpayers) often get less than the VCs and entrepreneurs they back. Ironically, a Democrat held up the legislation until the most obscene tax break in our tax code was restored. I hope someday somebody loves me the way Senator Sinema loves VC and private equity.
Lemonade Stand
We’re on vacation, and my kids made $27 from their lemonade stand yesterday. They then spent $29 on Nerds and Airheads candy, and were 100% confident they should have unfettered access to their returns (before/during/after dinner) … as they earned it. The gap in the math was that Dad spent $38 on supplies (table, sign, market, pitcher, cups, lemonade mix, etc.). Take this times a trillion, and you’re starting to get warm re: the relationship between taxpayers, Sand Hill Road, and the innovators they back.
Citizenship
A wonderful thing about our country is that the people who are most patriotic are the ones who’ve made the greatest investment: veterans. Less heartening are the individuals who’ve registered the greatest benefit, are the least grateful, and are often the most critical: VCs who relocate to Miami and, before buying sunblock, disparage (constantly) the state they built their wealth in. Also, mega-welfare queens who cash EV subsidy checks and sell carbon credits as they mock the elected leaders who passed those laws. BTW, nobody believes you moved to Florida or Texas for better governance — you wanted the chance to recognize a capital gain at a lower tax rate than the middle-class taxpayers who funded your infrastructure. Fuck off.
The first trillionaire will likely be an entrepreneur who builds a layer of innovation on top of the bold investment American citizens are making to address climate change. Let’s hope they display more grace and citizenship and our elected leaders demonstrate more backbone representing investors, the lower 99.99%.
Life is so rich,
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MUSK: Make U S Kinky
DOGE finds $2.7 Trillion in fraudulent US Government Medicaid and Medicare payments that have been going overseas.
A week later DOGE reveals $4.7 Trillion of Taxpayer Money went into a government black hole and is untraceable.
This is ORGANIZED CRIME
What kind of resources do you think a CRIMINAL ORGANIZATION with Trillions of dollars has and what do you think they are capable of?
I’ve often wondered how many bloggers, podcasters, news networks, academia, law enforcement, Governors, Judges, IG, Presidents, ect, ect, have taken money from criminal organizations.
Trump declared the Mexican cartels a terrorist organization.
Trump is going to use the military to take the cartels out.
I wonder how many of the military grade weapons that we gave to Ukraine ended up being sold to the Mexican cartels.
I wonder how many of the $80B in brand new weapons that Biden left in Afghanistan (Inside Job) were sold to the Mexican cartels.
What would happen if those weapons were used to kill Americans?
There’s a reason why Trump brought back the Death Penalty and the firing squad.
Everyone who ever took a dollar from from these criminal organizations can be tried as an Enemy Combatant.
Military Tribunals.
Treason doesn’t pay very well in the end.
I’ve got my first check for a total of thirteen thousand US dollars. I am so energized, this is whenever I first really acquired something. I will work much harder now and I can hardly hang tight for the following week’s installment. Go to the Home tab for more detail. I highly recommend
everyone to apply…………. Www.Tagsalary.Agency
I’ve got my first check for a total of thirteen thousand US dollars. I am so energized, this is whenever I first really acquired something. I will work much harder now and I can hardly hang tight for the following week’s installment. Go to the Home tab for more detail. I highly recommend
everyone to apply……………….
Great article Professor G. Many today are not used to in-depth content such as this. You provide an undebatable perspective because you use historical, researchable facts.
So what happened? If you’re familiar with Project Management Methodology, the Project Management Institute, established in 1969, has been the backbone of Project Management throughout the world, providing training programs that lead to certifications of it’s various programs. This has helped many thousands of professionals attain the PMP (Project Management Professional) certification and enhance their careers.
It’s a very difficult certification to attain. An exhaustive process to qualify to sit for the 4 hour, 200 question test is daunting. Some of the strengths in the PMP is the use of Waterfall Project Management. Everything that you’ve stated in this article any PMP would understand and agree with, as you touch upon “ROI”, “FPV”, “Sustainability”, “Scheduling”, “Scope”, “Budgeting”, “Quality” and “Risk” to name some.
Unfortunately, there has been a movement in Project Management since the early 2000’s (c. 2001), which resulted in the Agile Manifesto. (In addition to once being a PMP, I was also certified as an Agile Scrum Master.) Agile, as a Project Management methodology is weak, careless to the integrity of the project, doesn’t address budget issues and their projects seem to never end. Deadlines are never considered and so an Agile Project is like a forever filling up of your gas tank when there is a major hole in the bottom of the tank.
Agile’s main focus is on the emotional well being of the Agile project team. It’s a safe haven for snowflakes, where protocol and respect aren’t as important as protecting the feelings of sociopaths such as Elon Musk because they claim to be neurodivergent.
Isn’t it odd how during the 2016 campaign made fun of a physically disabled reporter, yet kisses the ass of Elon Musk, who has a horrible verbal and physical presentation… and he’s a nasty fucker on top of that? But you know the old saying “Money talks and bullshit walks”.
We can thank the one time empathetic, left wing extremists for elevating the evils of Elon Musk. If we had only kept a close eye on him throughout and the federal government would have said, “OK, this guy is not an ADA or EEOC person anymore. He’s a con-artist!”
Hello
This show is boring.
The person who reads it Hahn doesn’t really
Have a compelling voice for a
Podcast. His tone and the content puts me to sleep immediately.
Pivot is far more engaging as there are 2 people talking and it’s a back and forth.
Besides Galloway churns out the same content on all his shows so if you listen to Pivot you know what he is going to say in his other shows. This one is a skip.
This show is boring.
The person who reads it Hahn doesn’t really
Have a compelling voice for a
Podcast. His tone and the content puts me to sleep immediately.
Pivot is far more engaging as there are 2 people talking and it’s a back and forth.
Besides Galloway churns out the same content on all his shows so if you listen to Pivot you know what he is going to say in his other shows. This one is a skip.
Some excellent points here.
But the general tone is the same I’ve been hearing for the last 2 weeks:
Daddy’s home!
The gravy train is over!
He’s taking the liquor & car keys away!
Where are we going to party now that he’s kicked us out of the house?
Live is so rich …. !
couldn’t agree more… Scott is in full meltdown mode
great work Mr Galloway, i remember Obama said it best and more briefly, talking about some billionaire. ” you didnt do this alone” please continue the good work
We the people are watching the destruction of this great experiment. This destruction is at the hands of people deemed great business people but are the most self serving. Wake up America! Do your homework before it’s too late. Look at history and not headlines. Thank you Scott for taking the time to write, share and reshare this article.
Magnificent!!
Elon Musk is a huge fan of The Firm (the US). Scott is too myopic to see that. That is why Elon is seeking to make the US better w/ DOGE. I mean he has more money than he can spend in n lifetimes, where n >> 1. He has given away much of his intellectual property. He’s a do-gooder. Inspiring people is his second greatest talent. Elon greatest talent is predicting the future. That’s largely why Tesla and SpaceX and xAI are winning, and PayPal, etc won. And his Engineering talent is astounding as well.
AI summarizes: “Elon Musk has called Scott Galloway “cruel, mean, and deceitful” in response to Galloway’s comments about Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) team. Galloway had previously referred to Musk’s team of young professionals as “children” and “arrogant little pr—s,” and he suggested that Democratic governors should arrest DOGE employees, claiming the team was attempting a coup.” Scott called for Elon to be sent to prison too (which implies conviction of crimes warranting a multi-year sentence).
Who has the better track record? Better argument? I have my view. I agree with Jeffrey L Minch ‘n harv.
Bravo! As a former Federal public servant it’s exciting and inspiring when someone points out an overlooked marvel of the American experiment: the huge success of public/private partnership alongside entrepreneurship and regulation.
Fantastic! Unfortunately, unless Washington hits their pocket book hard, none of this talk matters and I don’t see that happening. Seems like Trump wants the USA to be like other countries, namely Russia and China. Perhaps the USA should do what those countries would do and just take Space X from Elon. Just take Starlink from him. Don’t ask. Take.
Spot on!
Excellent, as usual. I have often thought that going bankrupt multiple times also is like welfare of a sort, in case you know of anyone who has bankrupted, say, 6 or so organizations.
The hypocracy of the wealthy beneficiaries of governement programs is something well worth highlighting. The same folks who benefit most from tax breaks, direct and indirect subsidies, tariff protection and grants are occasionally quite vocal in their opposition to government benefits provided to other people. Failing to acknowledge the help you have recieved from others people, organizations and government is a common failing, and like ignorance, a renewal resource.
Great article Scott, a lesson in why not all debt is bad for our economy, but an investment in our future.
The first trillionaire will likely be Musk selling treasury data and agency sensitive agency data to the highest bidder
Mr. Trump is coming up with the soverign fund. That will use social security money to invest in Tesla, SpaceX and Crypto. Wait and watch. Meanwhile BYD is kicking Tesla’s butt in its core business and China will take over the energy markets with cheap solar and battery. Its not 1900, and every govt in the world understands energy implications – and solar, wind + battery can make every country (other than US) adopt it. Meanwhile we are worshipping our hero Mr. Musk.
In an era of billionaire bullies, this post is almost prophetic. The anti-American, anti-democratic billionaire rhetoric, hung under the banner “Make America Great”, is undermining that very idea. Keep shining light on these issues. Hopefully enough of us will pay attention and do something about it.
By far and away, one of the very best commentaries you have written in all the years I have read your missives and listened to you on Pivot (primarily). This reminder of the hypocrisy of the ruling and wealthy class is stark in its factual basis. Thanks for the brilliant recounting historically of what has contributed to actually make America great in its support of ventures that benefit its shareholders!
An interesting perspective which makes me think and hopefully makes people question some of the insane things happening in this new administration. Thank you Scott.
I wish more people on the right would acknowledge this, but there is a collective cognitive dissonance around anything that makes Musk look like the massive hypocrite that he is.
This may be a little off-topic, but with all the deregulation and shift of power to the oligarch class, I have serious doubts that the middle class will survive. Public and private sector jobs are being slashed, and shareholder value is increasing. Still, the average American will be automated out of their middle-class careers. I don’t see the tech billionaires subsidizing all the workers they plan to replace.
$400,000,000. For Tesla Armored Vehicles???
Ummm. They were ordered by Biden. Rachel Maddow says hello.
😉
…but Galloway really is a cruel, mean, deceitful, petty, spiteful, unforgiving, jealous, vindictive, bitter, arrogant, obnoxious, and just plain miserable person. And it shows.
Remember when Galloway wanted to ruin the lives of everyone that didn’t want to take the shot?
Now Galloway wants the names of DOGE so he can dox them & ruin their lives too?
You would think someone who identifies as a Professor would learn from their mistakes instead of repeating the same mistake over and over again.
Trying to sic the mob to ruin the lives of people who have done you no wrong is a really bad idea that will backfire on you.
Were Galloway’s students required to get the shot?
Were Galloway’s employees required to get the shot?
What do you think is going to happen when all those people realize just how badly they have been lied to & poisoned?
Who are they going to blame?
The Luigis will be coming for you, Galloway.
I wouldn’t wish that fate on my worst enemy.
I pray that you find God and find a way to make things right to all the many, many, many innocent people whose lives you tried to ruin.
But you keep wanting to hurt people and ruin people’s lives.
Hurt people? DOGE is a government entity so the personnel can be named and held responsible. They are not the CIA. So we should only react if we are personally impacted? I guess civic classes were not a high priority. BTW did not god have malice?
Botty botty bot bot bot.
BOOM! That is some serious hate, brother. Kind of sad, just say’n
Let’s be frank about Musk and his government assistance. While Tesla was trying to off the ground, they received a \$465M loan for their Fremont factory and subsequently got \$7,500 tax credits for the first 200k cars. Space X? They got to where they are because of NASA contracts. All of these put together put the government expenditure at \$2.5B.
The interesting part is, this isn’t an example of handout. It is, in fact, the backbone of some of America’s best innovations. Put it this way: remember the internet, GPS, or even the technology behind Siri? They were all developed through government funding. It’s like having a quiet partner who’s more than willing to take the big risks typical of the investor’s approach.
Tussling Musk’s talking points on government grants, it’s a bit amusing. He never built Tesla in South Africa or SpaceX in Canada. The man intentionally selected the US because effortless the system works. Instead of dismissing this collaboration maybe the focus should be on how to improve it.
Merely saying – sometimes the most harsh critics are those that benefit a great deal from the system they seem to hate.
Thanks for helping to shame those who deserve so little yet claim so much.
So true Scott, another example to add is Research Triangle Park in the Raleigh NC area. I was recruited for a job with the government GPS project right out of college in 1983 and it was really very insightful about this. Quite amazing everything that GPS enabled everywhere everyday!
There’s a huge need to tell this story to others – succinctly, simply and loudly – across as many mediums as needed as often as possible. Most of us don’t know this stuff not because of a reading level but because we don’t have platform. Most of us work, deal with life, come home, deal with kids homework, support their sports, fix broken house stuff or paint or cut the grass. Yet the megaphone is owned by those in power – who have an audience and they continue to repeat the same thing over and over. So where do we start our platform? Cause every substack wants money, every one running for congress wants money. How about those who have a ton of money start funding the solutions?
Although educated in Business, I get more from your discussion and insight than any class or seminar I have attended. I would like to hear your thoughts about moving from a MAKE (production) economy to a TAKE (profiting by moving money) economy. Also about how we got from six sigma quality to disposable products (forget build quality and customer service, just throw it away and get a new one (from telephones to automobiles.))
Go, Scott! We need you.
And as you have frequently observed, Scott, mercenaries like Musk come to California for its great expanse of Human Resources, sustained by a world-beating higher education infrastructure and the fact that the winter weather is peerless….and as Randy Newman rightly observed ‘Look at these women
There ain’t nothin’ like ’em nowhere’.
I don’t even know what to say anymore. On the one hand I am dumbfounded that this type of information isn’t news/talking points for pushing back on this insane narrative and agenda but then I wake up and remember what country I’m living in. Most people just don’t care even though it has been and continues to actually affect their lives in so many unappreciated ways. But hey let’s attack the institutions of higher learning because learnin’ is dumb and it never got us nowhere…buncha pinko liberal ‘murica hatin’ commies.
Sorry this wasn’t meant to be a reply!
So your premise is the collection of simps, dolts, opportunists, and grifters that currently make up our Congress are capable of “playing the long game” and have provided the launching pad for entreprenurial success? Recent events and revelations haven’t startled you about the sheer size of the money laundering, kickbacks, “soft” diplomacy and leftist agenda-driven financial largesse all on the taxpayer dime. You insist these are part of some long game VC strategy. Others cheer that the Aegean stables of DC horsecrap are finally being dunged out. Four years of somnolent malfeasance by the aider and abettor in chief, but nary a word from you. Your integrity and believability have been permanently soiled by your incoherent endorsement of Kamala Harris. Race and gender aside, has there ever been a candidate foisted on the American public by backroom poobahs less qualified to run a nation? Since then, your constant sniping at the new administration reveals your butthurt bias. You sir are the real shitposter!
Great post. I think it’s funny that guys like Scott use information available to everyone to to sling mud when he is digging out the same information for us that are footing the bill. They love when only information that supports their cause is available and all other information should be suppressed less they be exposed themselves as grifter’s. Why nobody calls it what it is which is money laundering is beyond me.
Sorry by saying he is digging up information I was referring to Elon
What do you expect. 54% of American adults aged 16-74 read below the 6th grade level. These are the people who elected Donald Trump. They will hate the federal government for the good it has done because they have been told to.
50% of Americans are of below average intelligence.
Your collage of state-funded enterprises and selected quotes leads back to the Lincoln Memorial—especially as regards Thiel’s so-called ideological pejorative, “socialism.” Upon what does Abraham Lincoln rest his hands? Answer: fasce. What do fasce symbolize? They symbolize the social contract, which simply put is the popular agreement required to reach a constitution. Those who knowingly or unknowingly perpetuate ideologies obscure the path to the social contract.
The city that invented the fasce was erased from the historical rolls by the Romans and by The Church. That city? Vetulonia.
Working toward the greater good is effected by the state, but the diversion of its benefits to the few, powerful mouths is a crime.
THANK YOU! Great research, written succintly (read: for the impatient generation) that represents facts in great visual format AND calls BS. I’m now looking up if there is a website that makes it easy and possible to write a note to my elected representatives in congress. I APPRECIATE YOU for throwing light on these facts.
Outstanding in every way. Thanks for the insight, the background, and the data. Special thanks for not holding back. Great writing style as well. Will share broadly.
Like many on this list I’ll share this with my Red Hatted family only too happy to see the lives of my neighbors (who work at NIH, DoE, and others in DC) go up in smoke. Looking forward into a deeper dive into socialized failure/losses.
Though I am aware of the stupidity of welfare queen billionaires, it is good to have excellent writing with facts. I appreciate the work Scott Galloway.
you are so amazing. I love you, I love Kara, keep putting it out there. Unfortunately the uneducated just don’t read anything let alone make the effort to find the truth like you publish. Always grateful for you.
Excellent post! I would add one other of the biggest Eagle-funded infrastructure projects of all time: The Interstate Highway system. How can these points be communicated effectively to those who readily accept conspiracy theories and/or over-simplified Social Media clips? How do we ever get back to debating facts instead of supporting a cult?
Thank you for your clarity, honesty, and true masculinity. Keep it up!!!
Scott, I’ve followed you for 8 years now and I’ve always appreciated your great insight. It’s so obvious that Elon lives rent-free in your head 24-7.
You lost me when you were congratulating “President Elect Harris” before the election even happened. Don’t you always talk about “putting your finger on the scales?” hmmm
Its so obvious that you have entirely lost touch with people who actually do work in this country.
I hope you write a future No Mercy No Malice on the unfettered graft that the welfare state has created through 60 years of unchecked NGO’s and non-elected bureaucrats.
My Dad owned a small grocery store in Appalachia in the 1980’s. Even then, it was common practice for welfare recipients to use a $1.00 food stamp for a 2-cent piece of gum and then go across the street to buy smokes or beer. I know multi-generational families who have done nothing but exist on the welfare state.
I think almost all reasonable Americans have no problem with the government subsidizing early-stage companies. What we have a problem with is our tax dollars being shipped overseas for worthless conflicts and for endeavors that, again, most reasonable people would say are not in the best interests of the United States…you know, like sex changes in Guatemala.
I did some work in DC a few years ago with U.S. Dept of Agriculture. It was strange. All these career bureaucrats owned amazing 2nd homes in Horse Country of Maryland.
Well said.
Thanks for the anectdotal propaganda. It’s so well-researched and fact-based.
/very much snark
“…anecdotal…”
Thanks for keeping it real. I struggle with how my fellow veterans and citizens do not understand how this works. We need to find a way to connect them.
The enemy of my enemy….. with all that has been exposed your only concern is the messenger. It’s like you are crying about painting the ship a different color while others are bailing water as fast as they can to keep it from sinking. Of course as long as clicks are involved then it’s all good. Keep them distracted and off topic. 👍🏻
I will use this information with my friends. Thanks. A fantastic well researched article
Your prescience is appreciated and troubling. Once the current crop of federal investment beneficiaries makes it big, their approach is all noblesse and no oblige.
With formerly ink-stained wretches of media now seeking their fame and fortune, the urge to serve the public good seems a faint memory.
There used to be controls on wealth and power through shame and statute. The former has vanished and the latter is melting in a toxic goo.
Thanks for assembling this essay 3 years ago and for staying on the case. May kinder souls prevail. And smarter, too. Flat out capitalists need to grok that it is folly for the parasite to kill its host.
Thanks for validating my thoughts on a subject I’ve privately discussed for years with people. Most recently during the ‘rise of Elon’ it has been posing the question, “How do you think Elon became a billionaire?” . . . but the cognitive dissonance kool-aid of modern online media keeps most people star struck like moths flocking to a porch light.
In China, government insiders will refer to Elon Musk as 间隙制造者 (Jiànxì zhìzào zhě). It roughly translates as ‘gap maker’. His work is creating opportunities for China and they are moving swiftly to fill the space he’s creating by mindlessly slashing USAID, federal gov’t agencies, foreign affairs, global investment, intelligence, business diplomacy and so much other successful American work at home and abroad. If he succeeds in his ultimate goal, China will soon rise above the US as the primary superpower.
VERY well said ! This should be on the Nightly News of ABC, CBS & NBC tonight or as soon as possible. I also just signed up for the email. Thanks
There are a few grammatical and spelling issues in your text. Here’s a corrected version with improvements for clarity and flow:
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This post is one for the ages. *No Mercy/No Malice* is usually great, but this one hit it out of the park.
But why? What happened to VCs? It didn’t used to be like this. I remember SV in the 2000s, and all the literature since then—VCs (and entrepreneurs) were America’s biggest promoters and supporters (and many still are, be it Mark Cuban, Reid Hoffman, and many lesser-known figures). So what makes Andreessen, Horowitz, Musk, Thiel, Rabois, Sacks, et al. despise America and the very system that made them successful beyond their wildest dreams?
Is it, as Kara says, that they are in it just for the money, their self-interest? That seems too simplistic.
I heard Marc Andreessen’s *NYT Matter of Opinion* interview, and sure, overregulation *is* a problem. And yes, a D.C. political “elite” (or whatever) telling them what they can and cannot do is a huge issue. But still, the level of mayhem being created by Musk and his “Dogies” seems wildly out of proportion.
Maybe it’s the expectation that AI is such a game-changer that the disruption is not only justified but necessary. Still, I hope we see the UFC match between Scott and Elon—I’m rooting for you, Scott!
All well put, Professor. However, unlike venture capitalists, humble taxpayers don’t see any direct returns on their investments. Many subsidies end up serving interest groups rather than fostering genuine innovation. If the government were such an excellent investor, then communists would be the supreme lords of the galaxy.
I think that the incredulous “silicon bros” running their mouths is their lack of history and the context of how they got there. Their “info bubble” is a rotten self serving eco-system of “I did it!” and forgot that their road was paved without toll booths along the way.
Also, their resentment on the Fed government is a retribution due to not liking FED folks checking back on them and not giving them the validation of how great they are. It’s like the relationship has morphed from collaboration when the $$$ came down, but when they are up and running, it change to frenemies.
Brilliantly put. This should be on the cover of the WSJ.
Dead-on.
For a follow-up, please examine the world of federal government subsidies (including, if not primarily, through the tax system).
These billionaires are soooooooooooooo thin-skinned. They want to be loved by others as they love themselves. But they got the quote wrong. The correct quote is: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” The love starts on your side not theirs! So poorly educated are these fellows!
The nice thing is there is room in America for more than one voice. While there is much to nod one’s head about in the Professor’s aged (some aged were, some were folly) utterances, the future belongs to extraordinary guys like Elon Musk and his jack booted henchnerds.
Musk is, literally, cutting his own flow of subsidies whilst doing good work on attackind the fat underbelly of our Jabba the Hutt bloated, corrupt, gluttonous government.
There is an element of patriotism to his work. We are, at the same time, a capitalistic country and we should not shy away from praising its merits whilst trying to subdue its demerits.
I say, “Bravo and well played, Elon Musk and you DOGE henchnerds. Bravo indeed!”
JLM
I’ll believe that Musk is cutting off funding to his own firms when I see it. So far, all I’ve seen is bloviating about “waste” that really means complaining about spending he (and his minion Donald and co-billionaires) don’t like. Congress, not the executive branch, or their hired gun, is responsible for deciding what spending is allowed and not. Read the Constitution.
Regardless, that misses the point that Musk and his companies are only where they are because of that past $2.5B in subsidies and contracts. So, best case, he’s simply trying to pull up the drawbridge after he’s already crossed. But that fact that investors generally are bullish about his forms’ future suggest it’s more than that – he’ll keep sucking off the teat of the American taxpayer, but now he’ll directly control that flow too.
As for patriotism, there’s none of that here. Musk is doing what’s good for Musk, as he always has. Ditto for Trump. Patriotism involves sacrifice, even if that sacrifice isn’t putting your life in danger, but simply paying your taxes. He does everything he can to avoid even that.
Nick, you will get no argument from me that Musk is, how did you characterize it? “pull(ing) up the drawbridge after he’s already crossed.” We agree. Big deal.
Neither will you get me to rise to the bait of assessing anybody’s personal patriotism. This Trump fellow was a Vietnam War Era draft dodger and that does not sit well w chaps like me who served.
Those are both sunk costs. We live in the present and plan for the future.
What is important and what adults should focus on is what is the impact on our great nation and on that score I give Trump 2.0 and Musk high marks for serving our nation.
The world was a safer place during Trump 1.0. The US was more orderly and prosperous under Trump 1.0.
The Biden lost presidency — he was never really in charge — was a wandering amongst every sick and twisted leftist policy and will not be missed. He made the world more dangerous and filled cemeteries therefrom.
So, only on policy and outcomes — not on personalities — our Nation and its citizens will be better served during Trump 2.0 and with the work of EMusk and his henchnerds.
Cheers.
JLM
“We live in the present and plan for the future.” You know what they say about ignoring the past.
Musk has zero guardrails and has been given enormous power. Trust him if you choose. Most Americans are starting to question his ambition, goals and strategies.
Ah yes. Of course the Trump world is safe for now. Whilst he threatens all friends and gives a free pass to foes who is going to start a conflict – until they are ready to take over the mantle – and they will at some point. Trump and co are only heralding the faster downfall of the old law based value system. The quick erosion of American values is sad to see. They say great civilisations fail over centuries. They are intent on proving that they can do things faster.
Musk cutting his own subsidies? Oh no, not at all; they’re just getting started. The new subsidies will be hidden payments made directly to orange-sucking billionaires and corporations. That’s why the elimination of all oversight had to be step#1, and why the orange king had to go right to SCOTUS on the Office of the Special Counsel.
“steal a little they throw you in jail, steal a lot and they make you a king.” We need your voice and a shit ton of others if we are to survive this swarmy takeover.
I always think of Marion Jones lying to federal agents under oath about steroids. How many confirmation hearings do we witness lies in real-time? Lies that will cost lives. Lie a little, go to jail. Go large, and the world is your oyster.
When Mr Musk starts calling you names, that’s when you know you’re on the right track to help make America smarter, healthier and more successful both at home and abroad. Moreover, Mr. Galloway has provided insightful, intelligent and moral points here (and in many other sources). Right now, he appears to be America’s most outspoken and brilliant capitalist thinker but he’s also clearly compassionate. And we need both. What we don’t need is more narcissistic toddlers in powerful positions who will line their pockets and damage the United States for generations. And that’s where we are headed. Keep it up, Scott. Please.
Prof G is at his best here, which is saying a lot. These facts need to be reposted by every politician who cares what’s happening to this country right now. Every investment banker should repost this. Every VC should repost this. Please get on TV and your socials with this story Prof. Thank you.
Not to mention Fascist Elmo sued to call himself a Tesla co-founder. Fuck off indeed. He’s a first ballot hall of fame c*nt.
Very insightful… and you forgot to add Solar City was not built in South Africa either!
Scott has jumped the shark. His TDS is terminal – he’s appalled that DOGE is saving tax dollars. He refers to DOGE as a “coup,” but it was hook, line & sinker for Fauci to hijack the country over COVID. Was Elon Musk not correct with the cruel and mean comments referring to your interview where you made assassination jokes? Prof G, you have great ideas but are becoming less credible as the new administration ushers in…do better
Surprised the new comment police let this one through. Scott (and Jessica) can’t handle criticism.
A Commenter – harv?
It’s pretty clear to anyone paying attention that DOGE’s primary goal is to line the pockets of a few powerful people. The only thing that’s ‘terminal’ right now is America’s reputation with its taxpayers, including farmers, healthcare workers, blue collar Americans, etc, and, so clearly, on the world stage. Clearly, you don’t agree but I’ll check back with you in a year when all this DOGE “saving tax dollars” is further along the road to destruction. I suspect if you’re true MAGA, you’ll sing Trump’s praises anyway since he correctly identified ya’ll when he said he could murder someone and not lose your support. Until that time, I remain open to be proven wrong.
It’s not TDS; it’s called /fuhk-tos-in-to-luh-runt/
“the condition of being unable to tolerate other people’s BS.”
Saving tax dollars? You do realize that the entire point of dismantling the government is to fund a tax break for the wealthy and corporations so large that it will go down in the history books, right? A little bit of that might trickle down to the plebs, but not much.
Brilliant post Scott. I would add that China is our biggest nemesis precisely through its funding of “strategic” initiatives. ie, DeepSeek, Quantum Computing, EV technology. etc etc
Let’s not forget the Belts & Roads initiative by China. The cost of developing friends across the world just went down considerably as more countries pivot away from a “normal” world order where the US was able to project its strength and reliability. Burning bridges is considerably easier than building anew.