By The Editorial Board
Elon Musk’s life is a great American success story. Time and again, he has anticipated where the world was headed, helping to create not just new products but new industries. His achievements, from his pioneering role in online payments to the construction of SpaceX’s satellite network to the mass production of electric Teslas, have made him the world’s wealthiest man.
But Musk’s fortune rests on more than his individual talent. He built his business empire in a nation with a stable political system and an unwavering commitment to the rule of law, and he built it on a foundation of federal subsidies, loans and contracts. Musk’s companies have received at least $38 billion in government support, according to an analysis by The Washington Post. NASA has invested more than $15 billion in SpaceX; Tesla has collected $11 billion in subsidies to bolster the electric car industry.
Now, as an influential adviser to President Donald Trump, Musk is lawlessly tearing down parts of the very government that enabled his rise. As the head of an agency he conjured and named the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, Musk has suspended billions of dollars in spending and discarded thousands of scientists, regulators and other government workers. Brandishing a chain saw during a recent appearance at the Conservative Political Action Conference, he shouted: “This is the chain saw for bureaucracy. Chain saw!”
Musk claims that the government is a business in need of disruption and that his goal is to eliminate waste and improve efficiency. And he’s right: The federal government is often wasteful and inefficient. Taxpayers, business owners and recipients of federal benefits all know the frustration of navigating the federal bureaucracy. There are huge opportunities, in particular, for the government to make better use of technology.
But DOGE is not building a better government. Instead, its haphazard demolition campaign is undermining the basic work of government and the safety and welfare of the American people. Musk directed the firing of nuclear safety workers, necessitating a frantic effort to rehire them just days later. He ended federal funding for Ebola monitoring, and despite his subsequent acknowledgment that it might be a good idea to keep an eye on Ebola, it still has not been fully restored. The government at Musk’s behest has disrupted cancer research, delayed work on transportation projects and sought to close the agency established after the 2008 financial crisis to protect consumers from being robbed by banks.
Even worse is that Musk, with Trump’s support, has demonstrated a disregard for the limits that the Constitution places on the president’s power. Musk and Trump insist that voters want change. DOGE’s slogan is “The people voted for major reform.”
But in their campaign to shrink the federal government, Musk and Trump have defied laws passed by Congress, and they have challenged the authority of the federal courts to adjudicate the legality of their actions. Trump recently referred to himself as a king and then insisted he had been joking, but there is no ambiguity in his assertion of the power to defy other branches of government. It is a rejection of the checks and balances that have safeguarded our nation for more than 200 years. Musk and Trump are not trying to change laws; they are upending the rule of law.
Even where Musk’s actions have remained within the bounds of the law, he has shown little understanding of the differences between business and government. Musk built his rocket company, SpaceX, by repeatedly launching rockets that failed until he learned how to launch rockets that worked. Even now, the company often conducts experiments that fail, and Musk has argued, compellingly, that “if things are not failing, you are not innovating enough.” But managing the nation’s air traffic control system or its Social Security payment system requires a different calculus.
Businesses can take risks in pursuit of profit because it’s OK if they fail. Americans can’t afford for the basic functions of government to fail. If Twitter stops working, people can’t tweet. When government services break down, people can die. While governments are often guilty of inefficiency, it is in the public interest to tolerate some inefficiency when the alternative is a breakdown of basic infrastructure.
“I think we’re just moving a little too fast,” Rep. Rich McCormick, R-Ga., told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in late February after constituents booed him at a town hall meeting. He suggested that the Trump administration should pause to think before acting. “We’re moving really, really rapidly, and we don’t know the impact.”
Research has shown that even small declines in political stability can deliver enduring blows to economic growth, mostly by discouraging investment. In a chaotic environment, like post-Brexit Britain or Trump’s America, entrepreneurs are less likely to pursue big ideas, and investors will hesitate to make long-term commitments.
DOGE, of course, is merely one way that Trump has increased instability, along with his flurry of executive orders purporting to rewrite environmental policy, the meaning of the 14th Amendment and more; his on-again, off-again tariffs; and his inversion of American foreign policy, wooing Vladimir Putin while disdaining longtime allies.
Musk has made clear that he holds caution in contempt. But the president, whose power Musk is wielding, should listen to those in his party who are raising concerns about Musk’s methods and priorities. There are already signs that the chaos is hurting the economy. Inflation expectations have risen; stock prices have tumbled.
Americans like to take risks; to do so, they need a government that is steady and reliable.
Comments