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Comment by ttobbaybbob | Hacker News Reader

it's nice to be wholeheartedly rooting for a company and the technological progress it represents

Let’s be honest: I’m rooting for the technological progress. The company operates like all companies - exploitation and shareholder manipulation.

The progress is a nice outcome. Even if it makes the asshole owner richer.

Especially because the progress should be open for any tech funded by taxpayer dollars.

Lol. Ask some of the early-mid stage employees whether they were exploited given current valuations.

> The company operates like all companies - exploitation and shareholder manipulation

I don#t suppose there is any chance you can explain what this means. Shareholder manipulation? What exploitation do you reductively observe?

All corps exploit. Its how capitalism treats its labor pool.

Here’s a recent link to some examples. At SpaceX.

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/11/17/former-spacex-employees-file...

Far as shareholder manip - I mean the choice to take roi over people is the shareholders manipulating the company into allowing this behavior by its ceo and to its employees.

I still don't know what point you are making. What alternative do you propose?

>Especially because the progress should be open for any tech funded by taxpayer dollars.

Where did this idea that SpaceX is heavily subsidized by the government come from?

No, the government being a customer != subsidies. (If anything, the government is paying less than market rate, thanks to SpaceX's reusability.)

I never mentioned subsides or heavily but : Gov money is still our money. So I, personally, believe it should be spent on good things that profit us. Financially and socially. Space. Not war. Health not cops. Etc.

I worry some corps will allow for accepting funds and privatizing the profit. Then pivot into needing subsidies because they’re “too big to fail”

With the way musk runs things… That’s what I’m worried about.

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