People’s opinion of Elon Musk is irrelevant. His company gets the job done, and that’s what matters.
FishHammer on
Oh look another hit piece from an irrelevant blog
[deleted] on
[deleted]
NelsonMinar on
The most interesting part of this is how SpaceX is so very heavily dependent on government payments and subsidies. I think Musk has made a calculation that if the Republicans win he will be rewarded because of his demonstrations of loyalty. And if Democrats win he will be rewarded because they actually want to get shit done and SpaceX is executing pretty well on rocket launches.
poopinmee on
SpaceX is the most innovative American company in decades, and this article compares it to MyPillow
OgFinish on
What the hell is this title lol
Historical_Note5003 on
Having worldwide communications in the hands of an unhinged toddler is frankly alarming.
damnface on
Wow very apt analogy! I don’t like MyPillow guy because Trump is bad, and now I also don’t like Elon Musk because Trump is bad! Very nuanced insight, eloquently explained by this genius at The Verge!
Wayfarer285 on
Everyone worshipped Elon and praised to no end the innovation of his companies before he went right-wing grifter.
Yall are being hypocrites, those companies are still at the forefront of innovation, despite Elon being a complete jackass. I was never an Elon fan before or after his grift, but you cant deny that Tesla and SpaceX have made leaps and bounds in their respective industries.
I hate Elon as much as the next redditor, but be honest with yourselves. You know for a fact before Elon changed, you praised his companies. Those companies are still doing what they did before he changed.
Technical-Data on
At least we get to see good explosions from Elmo because all of their rockets constantly blow up.
We get nothing from a more comfortable pillow.
ElGuano on
What exactly is “the MyPillow of government contractors?”
EagleFalconn on
I work in the aerospace industry and find Musk’s behavior generally reprehensible, but I think that this article’s take is stupid. MyPillow sells a dumb commodity product based mostly on a grift and advertising at old people. SpaceX is by a parsec the most effective aerospace company in the world.
They do things that even 15 years ago would have been considered fanciful nonsense. They are the leaders in the technology, the design, the manufacturing, operations, and implementation. There is no other aerospace organization in Europe or North America that can compete with them.
The Chinese government is potentially doing a credible job of trying to keep up, but they keep their aerospace stuff much more secretive than we do and are still probably 15 years behind SpaceX. They have a pretty high tolerance for failure though and will probably catch up at this pace.
The take that SpaceX is dependent on government contracts and Elon Musk is a welfare queen working the refs is missing the point. The entire aerospace industry that is not commercial airlines is entirely dependent on government subsidies. Until Starlink, there was almost no case for an entirely profit-driven commercial entity that would spend the money to put something in space. Even a technology like GPS — which has worldwide economic benefits — would not exist if not for the hundreds of billions (trillions?) of dollars that has been sunk into spaceflight.
You can complain about Musk’s behavior all you want, and you can complain about SpaceX dominating spaceflight all you want, but the reality is that they have earned it by just being better at it than everyone else. None of the other old space companies (Boeing, Northrop, Lockheed etc) have their appetite to make big bets because they are so used to cost-plus contracts that are literally guaranteed profit machines. SpaceX ONLY takes firm, fixed price contracts. Regardless of how much it costs them to deliver, they get the same amount, and so they are better at delivering on time and on budget than anyone else.
>How could SpaceX compete using a rocket it hadn’t yet launched?
The entire aerospace industry works like this. Companies get contracts before they invest millions or sometimes billions of dollars on a new rocket or spacecraft. SpaceX was supported by the government but in the best way you can support a company: you guarantee a number of sales if companies are able to deliver on the final product. On the other hand, the aerospace industry has been used to cost-plus contract where they get the money no matter what, and the more they go over-budget, the better.
BMB2882 on
I’m just here to share how hard I’m laughing to the picture used. Look at these dorks, trying so hard to be recognized as something cool or great. Hahahaha!!! Dorks!
on606 on
Rage bait crap.
MeelyMee on
SpaceX have products nobody else does, that’s how.
Musk is definitely a complete wanker but SpaceX do what others can’t, can’t really deny that.
tacella on
Wasn’t sure who the author of this article was so I googled her and this is her bio: “Elizabeth Lopatto is a **senior writer at The Verge**, where she covers how the internet is changing how we think about money: cryptocurrency, business, fintech and Elon Musk for some reason.”
Weird.
Mako2401 on
Elon Musk bad because orange man. If Elon vote Kamala Elon smart.
SwindlingAccountant on
Idk about this article but I really do think Musk needs his security clearances revoked at the very least.
19 Comments
People’s opinion of Elon Musk is irrelevant. His company gets the job done, and that’s what matters.
Oh look another hit piece from an irrelevant blog
[deleted]
The most interesting part of this is how SpaceX is so very heavily dependent on government payments and subsidies. I think Musk has made a calculation that if the Republicans win he will be rewarded because of his demonstrations of loyalty. And if Democrats win he will be rewarded because they actually want to get shit done and SpaceX is executing pretty well on rocket launches.
SpaceX is the most innovative American company in decades, and this article compares it to MyPillow
What the hell is this title lol
Having worldwide communications in the hands of an unhinged toddler is frankly alarming.
Wow very apt analogy! I don’t like MyPillow guy because Trump is bad, and now I also don’t like Elon Musk because Trump is bad! Very nuanced insight, eloquently explained by this genius at The Verge!
Everyone worshipped Elon and praised to no end the innovation of his companies before he went right-wing grifter.
Yall are being hypocrites, those companies are still at the forefront of innovation, despite Elon being a complete jackass. I was never an Elon fan before or after his grift, but you cant deny that Tesla and SpaceX have made leaps and bounds in their respective industries.
I hate Elon as much as the next redditor, but be honest with yourselves. You know for a fact before Elon changed, you praised his companies. Those companies are still doing what they did before he changed.
At least we get to see good explosions from Elmo because all of their rockets constantly blow up.
We get nothing from a more comfortable pillow.
What exactly is “the MyPillow of government contractors?”
I work in the aerospace industry and find Musk’s behavior generally reprehensible, but I think that this article’s take is stupid. MyPillow sells a dumb commodity product based mostly on a grift and advertising at old people. SpaceX is by a parsec the most effective aerospace company in the world.
They do things that even 15 years ago would have been considered fanciful nonsense. They are the leaders in the technology, the design, the manufacturing, operations, and implementation. There is no other aerospace organization in Europe or North America that can compete with them.
The Chinese government is potentially doing a credible job of trying to keep up, but they keep their aerospace stuff much more secretive than we do and are still probably 15 years behind SpaceX. They have a pretty high tolerance for failure though and will probably catch up at this pace.
The take that SpaceX is dependent on government contracts and Elon Musk is a welfare queen working the refs is missing the point. The entire aerospace industry that is not commercial airlines is entirely dependent on government subsidies. Until Starlink, there was almost no case for an entirely profit-driven commercial entity that would spend the money to put something in space. Even a technology like GPS — which has worldwide economic benefits — would not exist if not for the hundreds of billions (trillions?) of dollars that has been sunk into spaceflight.
You can complain about Musk’s behavior all you want, and you can complain about SpaceX dominating spaceflight all you want, but the reality is that they have earned it by just being better at it than everyone else. None of the other old space companies (Boeing, Northrop, Lockheed etc) have their appetite to make big bets because they are so used to cost-plus contracts that are literally guaranteed profit machines. SpaceX ONLY takes firm, fixed price contracts. Regardless of how much it costs them to deliver, they get the same amount, and so they are better at delivering on time and on budget than anyone else.
Incidentally, more people should know who [Gwynne Shotwell](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gwynne_Shotwell) is. She’s the real reason SpaceX succeeds.
This article is stupid
>How could SpaceX compete using a rocket it hadn’t yet launched?
The entire aerospace industry works like this. Companies get contracts before they invest millions or sometimes billions of dollars on a new rocket or spacecraft. SpaceX was supported by the government but in the best way you can support a company: you guarantee a number of sales if companies are able to deliver on the final product. On the other hand, the aerospace industry has been used to cost-plus contract where they get the money no matter what, and the more they go over-budget, the better.
I’m just here to share how hard I’m laughing to the picture used. Look at these dorks, trying so hard to be recognized as something cool or great. Hahahaha!!! Dorks!
Rage bait crap.
SpaceX have products nobody else does, that’s how.
Musk is definitely a complete wanker but SpaceX do what others can’t, can’t really deny that.
Wasn’t sure who the author of this article was so I googled her and this is her bio: “Elizabeth Lopatto is a **senior writer at The Verge**, where she covers how the internet is changing how we think about money: cryptocurrency, business, fintech and Elon Musk for some reason.”
Weird.
Elon Musk bad because orange man. If Elon vote Kamala Elon smart.
Idk about this article but I really do think Musk needs his security clearances revoked at the very least.