The result is that instead of the US taxpayer OWNING the exclusive rights to the most advanced knowledge and technology in the world, we now LICENSE it from oligarchs who bought it with our money to hold over our heads forever.
Bold to assume that the US government could’ve accomplished what SpaceX has accomplished in the same timeframe in this day of Federal contracting. Bear in mind that no other country, no other competitor comes close to SpaceX’s throughput at this time.
They should be commended, not seen as a threat to the US
They can be both, commended for the technical prowess and achievements while also being a threat if they gain leverage over the US government. That's the fine balance to walk on, SpaceX could only exist because of American taxpayers footing the bill for their launches when they still had to prove they could do it and no other entity more risk-averse would pay for their launches, the government got a product out of it (cheaper launches) but it doesn't mean there's any loyalty involved.
The moment corporations start to have leverage over strategic assets of a nation it starts to shape into a bad time for everyone.
¿Por qué no los dos? Recognizing that a private endeavour is a commendable achievement, but then nationalizing it so that it conforms to the nation’s interest (whether the direct interest of the populace, or more oblique national-security interests) has played out again and again throughout history.
When SpaceX learns something, that knowledge belongs to SpaceX, and specifically a trashboat named Elon Musk.
I'd rather spend 10x more and have the American people benefit. And your assertion of SpaceX's supremacy makes you look like a corporate simp.
As an aside, Musk was once upon a time aligned with the Left/Progressives/Democrats. He even fell out with Trump before during his first term, not that anyone probably remembers. Understand that Musk was on your side and got pushed away, like a lot of ex-Democrats turned Republicans.
Consider that most of the country shifted Right/Republican this election, which is another way of saying ex-Democrats turned Republicans.
Kind of ironically, the Democrats also became the party of neocons and war hawks by inviting the likes of Bush and Cheney.
The Democrats keep moving further Left, leaving normal people behind. You can only play the "world is out of touch" Simpsons meme so much before even that becomes too stupid to bother.
https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/donald-trump-vote...
>Of the counties with nearly complete results, more than 89 percent shifted in favor of former President Donald J. Trump in the 2024 presidential election,
You know this didn't happen right? There was no war and they didn't switch parties, they just said trump was so dangerously corrupt that people should vote against him.
Everyone else, including American leftists forced to ally with the Democrats because they're the only game in town, is well aware that the Democrats been moving steadily to the right since Carter.
It didn't help that the only reason anyone voted for Biden to begin with was that he wasn't Trump. Biden's only mandate was to be less evil than the other side and he couldn't even manage the simple, basic task of being against genocide. And then Harris doubled down on it.
Which is really why they lost - not because they're too radically leftist for "normal people" (the implication that no leftists are normal is seen and noted) but because they aren't nearly leftist enough, and so Democrats decided to stay home in droves, or cast futile votes for third party.
Actually it was more like about a 4 percent shift.
Think about it.
He certainly has become more right wing over time.
Oligarchs who went all in and risked their entire net worth to make it work you mean.
Would you say this also applies to other systems? Like dictatorships, etc?
In a parallel timeline where NASA gets 100billion a year, but there is no SpaceX, it's entirely possible that the pre-SpaceX status quo just continued on indefinitely. After all when SpaceX was first developing their tech, they were being actively mocked by Boeing/Lockheed (via Tory Bruno) with comments akin to 'yeah cute idea, we worked it out decades ago - not economically feasible. have fun learning.'
The SLS was going to be NASA's next big vessel, and costs there are trending to what could be around 4 billion a launch. With costs like that you're never going to do beat things in space.
OTOH, China is basically copying the SpaceX designs, even without the designs.
One great thing about Elon Musk is that he's so horrible to work for that lots of people join SpaceX straight out of school, get that expertise and then leave for better bosses or start their own company.
c.f. the "traightorous 8" that left Shockley to start Fairchild. Shockley almost singlehandedly created Silicon Valley by being a horrible boss.