Posted on 12/14/2018 4:39:33 AM PST by BurgessKoch
Elon Musk and his corporate empire, much of it financed by taxpayer dollars, is very much in the news. Most of it is not good. And it may be getting worse.
Tesla spends $1 million annually on Washington lobbyists. Its cars are financed by over $280 million in federal tax incentives, including a $7,500 federal tax break and millions more in state rebates and development fees. SpaceX has also received over $5 billion in government support. It has over promised and under delivered. SpaceX rockets, for example, are far less reliable than many of its competitors. This is outlined in reports from December 2017 and January 2018 in which the Department of Defense Inspector General and NASA's Aerospace Safety Advisory Council described a list of security concerns they have with SpaceX, among them 33 significant non-conformities.
(Excerpt) Read more at mises.org ...
Sounds like United launch alliance wants space x gone
This place sounds like a “Give us the money and tell us what findings you want.”
The comments about SpaceX are pure fabrications and otherwise bullshit.
I will give Musk credit for one thing, he’s not an open zealot SJW like all the other tech CEOs. Oh and some of that SpaceX stuff is cool.
Tax payers should not be funding anything like this. Let MS and Google invest in it if they believe in it. It’s gambling with other peoples money.
SpaceX has also received over $5 billion ......
...hmmmm isn’t that what DJT
wants for the wall?
I’ll give Elon Musk credit for being real,
We should be far more worried about Zuckerberg, Dorsey, Page, Pichai and Bezos,
The booster return in stereo the other day was indeed cool.
The shot heard round the world.
SpaceX is delivering a service, launching payloads into space, at a competitive price. The government is paying for getting that. The government is not "investing" in SpaceX.
Like having a company (ULA) which depends on Russian boosters is in the US's national security interests.
Musk is actually making PROGRESS in a number of fields.
SO LET’S STOMP ON HIM!
(no I do not like government control of anything- but he is doing a much better job than NASA)
The money quote: “Time will tell, but in the interim, the government should put its cozy relationship with Musk on a long, if not permanent, hiatus.
........
disagree. profoundly.
Musk is one of the jewels in America’s technological crown today.
He should be given all the support the government has available.
It started with a failed car based on an environmental lie that has cost us a lot of subsidies over the years.
As for SpaceX... Have we laid off or fired any NASA staffing as unneeded in exchange? Have we stopped funding completely unneeded projects and expense at NASA? If not then we are now paying out two directions and double for this so called “competitive service”.
When they cut what SpaceX is costing us from NASA in exchange, or shut down NASA I will agree. Only then will it be money well spent, until then it is just another additional cost we do not need.
SpaceX has “under-delivered?” It’s by far, far, far and away the most economical system, and its success rate (measured by delivering the payload at full use and value) is 2nd only to the Atlas V.
Launches since failure:
SpaceX’s Falcon: 38 <-— 2nd place
Arianne 5: 6
Antares: 4
Atlas V: 69 <-— The grand champion.
Delta IV: 33
Electron: 2
Epsilon: 3 (no launch failures)
GSLV: 7
H-IIA: 32 (9, if you count the loss of a telescope despite a clean-looking launch)
Kaizhou: 4 (unknown if there were any failed launches)
Land Space: 0
Long March 2C/3A: 24
Long March 3B: 13
Long March 2D: 10
Long March 4: 5
Long March 5: 0
Long March 6: 2
Long March 7: 2 (only 2 flights)
Minotaur C: 1 (after 3 of 4 failed)
Minotaur IV: 6 (0 catastrophes, but 3 of 6 payloads failed, so I don’t know if the rocket is to blame.)
Long March 11: 4 (unknown if there were any failed launches, but notice the jump in numbering.)
Proton: 13
PSLV: 4
Rokot: 12
Soyouz FG: 2
Soyouz 2: 10
SS-520: 1
I'd rather they keep the space budget intact, and eliminate a boatload of welfare programs.
I hate gubment money going to Tesla to subsidize coal powered cars while I drive a truck powered by recycled dinosaurs. But I like SpaceX as a competitor for NASA bids.
I agree... We are already dumping billions of dollars into their department with very little “practical” return. NASA is already forced to invent justifications to keep themselves in the budget game as it is now, much of it completely impractical. So I would also say welfare, especially corporate welfare like Tesla, SpaceX, and many others.
Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning founded Tesla. Elon Musk was one of three other persons which later invested personal fortune in the company’s first investment round. Musk eventually was called upon to turn the operation around as CEO, after Eberhard was booted for poor performance.
Pork-Barrel politics is back in vogue. Congressional districts hosting Boeing, Lockheed, and other aerospace contractors are behind anti-SpaceX rhetoric. Musk’s space venture has cut their throat. ULA has cut launch billing by two-thirds in an attempt to retain market share.
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