The slap fight between Donald Trump and Elon Musk has highlighted the absurdity of keeping so much of our space program and satellite internet infrastructure in the hands of a single oligarch.
  • Gorilladrums@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1312·
    13 天前

    No, they’re fine remaining as private companies. If the government wants to better control over the companies then they can pass regulation and if they want total control then they can build their own alternatives. Nationalization of companies should never be used as a political weapon.

  • reivilo@lemmy.worldEnglish
    167·
    14 天前

    Quite ironic from people constantly accusing their political adversaries to be communists…

    • Cocodapuf@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      14 天前

      Well that’s not really the case. Conservatives will accuse progressive of being communists, and claim any social services are examples of communism. But it’s mostly those progressives here on Lemmy suggesting communist ideas.

      So it’s not really ironic, just unsurprising I guess.

    • Ecco the dolphin@lemmy.mlEnglish
      161·
      14 天前

      Errr… am I mistaken? This is the first time I’m hearing about nationalizing SpaceX and it’s from Jacobin…

      Does Jacobin make a habit of calling people communists? Pretty sure they advocate for socialist positions usually…

      big spiderman pointing at spiderman vibes if true

  • postmateDumbass@lemmy.worldEnglish
    362·
    13 天前

    Arrest Musk on violation of controlled substances acts, file immigration violation charges, invalidate his ownership shares due to securities fraud, as he falsified education and naturalization forms.

    Or just emminent domain the shit. The Law is just made up right now.

  • TheBannedLemming@lemmy.worldEnglish
    6·
    12 天前

    I am not saying that I don’t agree with you. But this country is still not even close to considering nationalizing its own telecommunication infrastructure. Much less a privately held space company and a service of communication satellites. A large chunk of America believes that a for-profit business model for every good and service possible in life is the best course of action.

        • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          2·
          13 天前

          It was more than something like a loan, the federal government actually a fair amount of control over the company. It ended up divesting itself once the new, restructured company made its IPO, but during the bailout, the US gov was technically in control, and it got priority over all other interests since the company went private with special financing.

          It’s certainly different than other nationalized industries, but it was also much more than a regular bailout.

      • explodicle@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        5·
        13 天前

        I mean if we count bailouts as nationalization, then now we’ve got like some kinda national “socialism” where state and corporate power have fused.

        • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          3·
          13 天前

          The GM situation was a more than a bailout, they took complete control of the company, took it private, liquidated some assets, then sold it off in a new IPO.

          It’s not all that different from a private equity firm doing the same thing, the major difference is the legal protections the US had (e.g. it got priority over all other creditors). If the US wanted to keep it and run it, it could’ve.

  • psycho_driver@lemmy.worldEnglish
    511·
    14 天前

    Lets reach a compromise. Impeach Trump (successfully) and then take away SpaceX from Elon. That way things would be fair.

    • zarkanian@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      18·
      14 天前

      Trump has been impeached successfully. Twice. What I assume you mean is that he hasn’t been removed from office. That could be the consequence of an impeachment, but not necessarily.

      • AA5B@lemmy.worldEnglish
        613·
        14 天前

        For whatever reasons Musk has found himself as ceo of some wildly successful visionary companies. It has not changed that they are finally bringing the future to the present, disrupting old technologies in favor of newer and better, for a better world. And the musk from before his breakdown deserves a lot of credit.

        At this point I no longer care about musk either, but SpaceX and Tesla are critical. Or at least SpaceX is. Tesla has not yet finished disrupting vehicle manufacturing , but if we’re content to let Chinese companies go ahead, they’re ready and willing. Legacy manufacturers have been slapped up the side of the face, but if they’re still not awake at this point it’s on them

        • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          36·
          13 天前

          Sure, he gets credit for building hype and getting investors on board. He’s a decent salesman, and probably decent at business in general.

          I don’t care if he’s rich or not, he’s relatively harmless when it comes to things I care about. Trump, on the other hand, is dangerous because he seems to work off vibes and compliments, and that’s scary.

        • hornedfiend@sopuli.xyzEnglish
          171·
          14 天前

          I’m sorry, but credit for what? For being born privileged and buying talent? If you can’t beat ‘em, buy ‘em, right?

          Yeah, I guess he deserves praise for being a good liar and basically selling pipe dreams?

          • AA5B@lemmy.worldEnglish
            74·
            13 天前

            Tesla was started by a handful of really smart people with a great idea. Musk was ceo as it grew from an idea into the first new major automaker in almost a century. As it grew from a dismissed toy that no one would buy, into an industry-wide paradigm shift. Most of that time musk preached the gospel. You can’t disregard that influence, you can’t claim the guy in charge had nothing to do with it. You might decide his skill was more manipulative than visionary, but you can’t deny that him being the front man was part of the success. You might decide any engineering or problem solving ability was not real, but he was the guy in charge, he did make decisions, and Tesla has generally been a huge success (until recently).

            We just need some drug rehab and find a way to reset the god complex ….

            • hornedfiend@sopuli.xyzEnglish
              5·
              13 天前

              Sure, I mean technically paypal was a rather innovative idea for its time, but again, the guy basically associated himself with smart people that had bright ideas.

              Yes, he does have a knack for growing businesses to a larger scale, but most millionaires/ billionaires do, cause they outsource brain matter and decision making to a select few.

              I’m not sure if I ever liked the guy or his largely exaggerated marketing, but being a POS nazi isn’t helping either, so i’m biased towards nazi hate I guess. Either way, he will need a paradigm shift for people to accept him back into the decent human beings club. I do hope he will find a way, but doubt it really.

              • AA5B@lemmy.worldEnglish
                1·
                13 天前

                I mostly hope that his companies make it back into the “disruptive technology” club, regardless of him.