Very good work, however (cough) I think you let yourself down slightly with the chart using Elon Musk's avoided tax as a measure of the public service. The reason is that he avoids tax by investing huge sums of money for productive purposes which create great benefit for the public. There is a commonly quoted metric of the size of the public benefit to the cost of the Apollo program which shows that the return on investment vastly outweighed the cost. In the same way Musk's ventures produce large public benefits, and tax revenues, which does not appear in your comparison. His personal issues should not influence your assessment.
(Louder cough)....Being despicably wealthy at a level that shouldn't be possible - then taking a small percentage of that wealth and investing it in businesses that will only make him more money is NOT contributing to the better good of the nation in any meaningful way.
Giving Elon a pass to avoid taxes because of your argument is just saying: "this man gets to decide how his taxes are spent - and he can use that money to make more money - and not pay taxes on that either."
That's absurd. He's not building roads, contributing to public health; education or anything else that benefits the country.
How much of that tax-avoidance is reinvested? And how much of it could be put to more productive uses in areas like basic scientific research, education, or physical infrastructure improvement? The federal workforce that’s being fired represents a huge loss of expertise, data-production, and non-political regulatory capacity. I doubt the marginal costs to SpaceX, for example, which is mostly supported with government spending, are a drop in that bucket.
This guy would rather have more rockets that explode on the launch pad and cars that explode on the highway than socialized health care or a functioning government lmao
Absolutely brilliant, Adam - can't thank you enough! Wish this kind of analysis was getting broader coverage. Seems like too many folks are agonizing and arguing over strategy when the data gives us clear direction and priorities. Would love to better understand what would most effectively motivate people to action, as I keep coming back to indifference as a key obstacle. Love and gratitude for this important work.
Very good work, however (cough) I think you let yourself down slightly with the chart using Elon Musk's avoided tax as a measure of the public service. The reason is that he avoids tax by investing huge sums of money for productive purposes which create great benefit for the public. There is a commonly quoted metric of the size of the public benefit to the cost of the Apollo program which shows that the return on investment vastly outweighed the cost. In the same way Musk's ventures produce large public benefits, and tax revenues, which does not appear in your comparison. His personal issues should not influence your assessment.
(Louder cough)....Being despicably wealthy at a level that shouldn't be possible - then taking a small percentage of that wealth and investing it in businesses that will only make him more money is NOT contributing to the better good of the nation in any meaningful way.
Giving Elon a pass to avoid taxes because of your argument is just saying: "this man gets to decide how his taxes are spent - and he can use that money to make more money - and not pay taxes on that either."
That's absurd. He's not building roads, contributing to public health; education or anything else that benefits the country.
Any such assessment of Project Apollo is wrong. See pages 18–26. Our appendix goes into the matter in greater detail. https://qdr.syr.edu/drupal_data/public/MusgraveNexon_DefendingHierarchy.pdf
How much of that tax-avoidance is reinvested? And how much of it could be put to more productive uses in areas like basic scientific research, education, or physical infrastructure improvement? The federal workforce that’s being fired represents a huge loss of expertise, data-production, and non-political regulatory capacity. I doubt the marginal costs to SpaceX, for example, which is mostly supported with government spending, are a drop in that bucket.
This guy would rather have more rockets that explode on the launch pad and cars that explode on the highway than socialized health care or a functioning government lmao
This really cut through the noise. Thank you for doing the hard work of gathering, vetting, and visualizing this data.
Great stuff. Keep up the good work.
Absolutely brilliant, Adam - can't thank you enough! Wish this kind of analysis was getting broader coverage. Seems like too many folks are agonizing and arguing over strategy when the data gives us clear direction and priorities. Would love to better understand what would most effectively motivate people to action, as I keep coming back to indifference as a key obstacle. Love and gratitude for this important work.