Hacker News Reader

Comment by fzeroracer | Hacker News Reader

I don't understand how anyone can say this when Musk has been granted preferential treatment by the government across multiple cases. He's received very lucrative contracts that fund and subsidize his company, Neuralink has received expedited treatment by the FDA for their research. This has held true across multiple administrations.

This is just not at all in touch with reality.

View on HN

preferential treatment over whom? he had to sue for the right to even compete for launch contracts. he's gone through hell getting Boca chica through an environmental review, and he was only recently considered to be right of center. at best it could be argued that he received preferential treatment until he publicly politicized himself.

edit: He's also been shut out of the Biden administrations public initiatives on electric cars. an industry Tesla single-handedly created. ostensibly due to being non-union.

Most of that is BS of course but I get your point. His companies have received billions in tax breaks and NASA contracts, then supports Trumpism, Kanye and segregation.

he doesn't support any of those things and never did. but even if he did, it is still worth supporting him because of the actual positive change in the world he has manifested by having the balls to try. results are what matter, not his political beliefs or personal associations.

Preferential treatment over who? He's the only game in town for half the things he's working on and still has to fight tooth and claw for support. The guy is funding Starlink for Ukraine out his own pocket (or at least was last I heard).

People are so envious that Elon is a genius and one of the greatest men of our time (and not them) that they can't think straight about him.

Name one entrepreneur who has close to the track record of success he has had? He was even a major key funder of OPENAI that is all the rage these days.

Politicans hate him because people can see he actually cares and is competent in a way they aren't and so is respected and applauded for it. While they are more often than not mediocre men who can barely fix a kitchen sink.

> The guy is funding Starlink for Ukraine out his own pocket (or at least was last I heard).

You hard kinda wrong, it's a bit of a wash, but USAID paid a significant amount of the cost for starlink.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/04/08/us-quietl...

what, really? not even spacex turns profit with it's gvmt contracts...Tesla turned a profit by his manipulation of initially the market, then latterly the crypto market, but despite making the cars dirt cheap (and it shows), he still couldn't make any money for over a decade.

He consistently misses but he knows where to make his money: conning vc, and getting his fans to dance on crypto.

He's a two-bit conman whose success is not in being an innovator but sometimes being ftm, he's going to be pushed out of every industry he's playing in eventually.

His one original idea: TBC...hahahahaha.

A clown who gets high off his own hype and the worship of smooth-brained fanboys.

> His one original idea: TBC...hahahahaha.

Assuming you mean The Boring Company, this has been revealed to be explicitly a ploy to torpedo support for high-speed rail in California.

I believe it but I thought that was just a conspiracy.

I don't have sources handy just at the moment, but I've seen it reported by (what appeared to be) some fairly reputable outlets. It's possible it's untrue, but it all seemed to check out.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com