[leshow]

The state keeps the billionaires afloat though. Tesla, SpaceX, all of Musk's companies wouldn't exist without government welfare. Other big monopolies benefit from government protection and subsidy.

Billionaires are not a fact of nature, they exist because the rules we have created allows them to exist. Different rules could make them not exist, and society would benefit hugely.

> Regardless of your feelings about Elon, what would the strategic implications for the US vs Russia and China be minus SpaceX?

Weird to think of everything in the view of great power competition. Like, you can't have healthcare cause spaceX needs to beat China? There are many options.