Elon Musk might think he's very smart, but his management style – which is controversial in the private sector – is totally alien to the state sector because it relies on the acceptability of failure and governments must never fail.
This is the audio version:
This is the transcript:
Elon Musk is wrong.
Now, that's not a very difficult statement to make because I think the vast majority of people in the world right now would agree with that, but I need to be more specific to justify the claim I've just made. Elon Musk is wrong because he doesn't understand government.
Let's be clear: whether Elon Musk is a good business manager or not is something that is open to question. His approach to managing Twitter, for example - which I still like to think of under that name - is questionable, to say the least. He walked in, he sacked 75 per cent of the staff, he saw what broke, and then he filled in a few of the remaining gaps, and this supposedly represented his management philosophy.
And so now, he's transporting that into the federal government in the USA.
He's walked in at the invitation of Donald Trump.
He's effectively taken over running the government.
He's sacking as many people as possible.
He's closing down every type of expenditure that he can.
And he's seeing what will break.
It's very clear that the model that he's using is identical to the one that he used at Twitter. But there are fundamental differences between running a company like Twitter and a state.
If Twitter failed, it would be annoying for those millions and even billions of people around the world who use it.
The political narrative that has been explored through it would, in my case, have been something I would have missed.
But in practice, I've already abandoned it now because I will not tolerate using something that Musk owns.
But, if it had failed, the world would not have come to an end. Remarkably few people would actually have really suffered because they would have moved to another social media platform remarkably quickly, as indeed, we all are, and that's the end of it. Private sector companies are replaceable at the end of the day. The few people who would lose their jobs - a few thousand - would have found jobs elsewhere because they're highly skilled individuals in most cases, and we'd all have moved on.
Government is nothing like that. It is so far removed from that, that it is quite ridiculous to pretend that a philosophy that can work in private sector enterprise can work in government.
Now, if you want to live in somewhere like South Sudan, I suggest you think again. Because failed states are truly terrible places. What goes on there is frankly unspeakable.
There is the rule of law via the club, the machete, the rifle, the submachine gun, whatever else it is that is used as a form of violence to ensure that the local warlord gets their way.
There is genuine hardship.
There is no protection for the vulnerable.
Those who disagree no longer disagree because they are no longer there to disagree with.
This is not the sort of society that I would suggest that anybody wants. And that is what happens when a state fails.
Musk is trying to fail the US state. He's trying to push it as far as possible to see how literally far he can go before he breaks it. And when he's broken it, he'll say “Oh, look, we need to put one or two things right, and then we'll have found the new equilibrium that we desire.”
This is not an acceptable policy, and it's not acceptable for a number of reasons.
The first and most glaringly obvious is that people will be hurt as a consequence. Those people will not just be federal employees, although they are clearly hurting, but the people of the USA are going to hurt.
The people who will no longer have the social security check that they need.
The armed forces who will not get the support they require.
The veterans who will not get the services on which they depend, which are provided by the federal state.
The climate, which will not be supported.
The businesses that will fail because of what Musk and Trump are doing with regard to tariffs and so on.
Those people are really going to hurt.
And some people are going to hurt because, well - let's be clear about it - Musk is cutting the protection for some people as a consequence of the spending that he's got in line for removal, including in things like the FBI.
Now, I never thought I'd be standing up and defending the FBI, which is not a natural organisation of which I'm a fan. But we do need law enforcement agents. We do need to protect people, and we need to protect those who have served the state. And Musk is doing none of those things.
And all of this is frankly truly frightening. Because the consequence is that there isn't a state that we can rely on. And in a state that we can't rely on, we are all on our own.
Now, Musk does not understand what that means. Musk is the richest man in the world. He, as a sample of one in a population of 7 or 8 billion, can survive on his own. Or so he thinks. But the rest of us can't. The vast majority of us depend upon there being a functioning society in which there are things that we know will happen and on which we can rely just to give us an ordered life.
We haven't got the option of opting out.
We can't buy something else because it's not available to us, either financially or because it simply does not exist.
And we don't have the resources of the type that Musk has to command somebody to create them when we need them, even if he can.
So, his model, based around as I say, his own personal sample of one very rich individual, cannot be translated into the experience of the rest of the population.
Musk doesn't understand government because he doesn't understand why the rest of us need government.
He doesn't really understand how business works because his model of business management is truly dire and is, in most cases, likely to lead to such reputation loss that, in fact, the business will fail.
And let's be blunt about it: Twitter, or X as he would now rather have it, only succeeds because he is willing to provide it with financial support. It's a true basket case of a commercial entity now because he has destroyed so much value within it by his policy of trying to break things, but if he breaks the US government, things are much worse.
The people of the USA are left on their own, unprotected.
And so too, of course, are many of the rest of us because we've seen the threat that the US will withdraw from its support for stability around the world; stability that has not always been completely beneficial but on which we have relied, and from which, if we are to transition, well, we need time, and we're not being given it.
So Musk, and his philosophy of breaking things, is a very real threat. A danger. To you, to me, to everyone around the world. And in that sense, Musk really does not know what he's doing. He is wrong.
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”The billionaires, Christian fascists, grifters, psychopaths, imbeciles, narcissists and deviants who have seized control of Congress, the White House and the courts, are cannibalizing the machinery of state. These self-inflicted wounds, characteristic of all late empires, will cripple and destroy the tentacles of power. And then, like a house of cards, the empire will collapse.”
Chris Hedges – https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/the-empire-self-destructs-read-by
A fascinating read, thank you
Mr Hedges is of course right. & here @ 1min 50 secs in is another view (film or prophesy?) of what happened to the USA.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJlgkgiBlTg
Hi there, Mike Parr! That’s a fantastic film – we watch it every November 5th!
[…] is no basis for this hypothesis. As I argue in today's video, the fundamental management logic of the state has, by necessity, to be completely different to […]
Another example of your poignant insight. So useful as well as interesting. And you do it day after day. Thank you, Richard.
I am so pleased that the Taxing Wealth Report 2024 appears to be gaining traction. ‘Inequality’ is so wasteful of lives as well as resources and, as the Attlee government demonstrated, happier – more efficient – societies can be created and sustained.
Thanks, Joe. Appreciated.
Your post has elicited a wry smile from me.
Home working, constant cuts from government support grants etc., has totally changed local government for a start. It has changed team dynamics and managers are out of touch with staff more now than at any time in its history. And where I am there are more redundancies coming and the highly paid agency worker rules – they make decisions and then disappear from the face of the earth. So much for accountability.
One way or another, the public sector is in danger from without and within. You would not think there had been a general election.
I’ll work on the basis that Musk-rat is anti-woke.
Last night our 10 year old Ukrainian refugee noticed a book “We were never Woke” & asked “what does woke mean?”. (smart child!).
My explaination was: it is a short cut to describe the three qualities that define any civilisation worthy of the name: fairness, justice and equality.
“What does equaility mean?” –
me – well if you got ill and had to go to hospital you would get the same treatment as someboyd your age from a very very rich family. Also, having a nice warm home, something nice to eat and a good education. Small person nodding along with this (she has her own ideas on fairness and justice which +/- converge with commonl;y accepted ideas).
10 year olds it. Musk-rat doesn’t (cos money & power corrupt – absolutely).
We have to teach people to be anti-woke
Thank you, Richard.
Further to the post: https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2025/02/what-is-the-mainstream-media-missing-about-elon-musk-he-is-instituting-technocracy.html.
Thanks
It’s good
We are beginning to regroup
Thank you, Richard.
And more on Musk and US designs in / on South Africa: https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2025/02/does-the-us-pressure-campaign-against-south-africa-have-more-to-do-with-naval-bases-and-shipping-lanes-than-boers-and-brics.html.
Thanks
Good link. Extract:
“Second, it implies that technologists are superior to the vast array of other technical experts, such as scientists, mathematicians, engineers, statisticians, lawyers and yes, even economists. I don’t remotely accept that proposition. ”
Readers have seen my posts on electricity market reform. The proposals/knowledge was arrived at via a collective effort; one economist (Austrian & ex-Harvard), two engineers and an Irishman (no this is not leading up to a joke). No egos involved. The result was a tight techno-econometric argument that would have been impossible to produced without the mix. Indeed, it has reached the point where, any one of us could explain the what & the why -the expression would be different the concrete output – the same.
I rather doubt the Musk-rat & his acolytes can accomodate the “no-ego” approach – which will, ipso-facto weaken anything they do, quite apart from the fact that they are only software “engineers” (insult intended).
Other comment – the para following (.. Johnson – could not run deficits with the economy at full employment and not generate too much inflation..) sits as the other side of the coin to – the USSR made the mistake in the 1960s of NOT moving some parts of its economy to a market basis and assuming computers could do all the planning heavy lifting. Both heading towards failure.
Thanks
I like that
King Donald and Musk view life as a business deal, anything they disagree with is “fraud” . anyone who challenges them (especially journalists) is “engaged in criminal activity”.
Breaking the state only benefits King Donald and Musk. Musk is wiping out agencies that are investigating his purchase of Twitter and his space company.
72million Americans are on Medicaid expect that to go.
Bird flu is wiping out the US chicken flock. Guess what? Yes, the King Donald/Musk cuts have stopped monitoring the outbreak.
The US population better accept that it’s government is leaving them exposed to a health crisis and on current form is not going to help.
What do we have in the UK? Headlines of “three million on universal credit not looking for work”. “Cut the bloated benefits bill”.
I doubt if firstly there are three millions vacant job opportunities and secondly most of these people will not be able to work due to family commitments.
The fallacy that only the private sector can provide the correct answer for the state is just utter crap.
UK private sector water services show how crap the private sector is.
The City can only work with state tax breaks or subsidies.
Labour is quietly hollowing out local government service using the mantra of efficiency.
Very slowly the UK is being pushed by the elites into a failing state.
Thank you and well said, John.
It’s not said enough how much of the private sector is failing, not just water, and needs government help.
Yesterday, I read with incredulity that, this morning, Reeves is hosting some US firms and City blue blood Schroders for a rebooting of the economy. That’s not what Big Finance is for. If the economy and society are doing well, that’s a happy accident.
John: “The City can only work with state tax breaks or subsidies.” The City loves socialism. Just for me, not for thee. The City is the biggest welfare junkie in the benighted kingdom. The City has captured the state.
Agree entirely, as does Rachel Maddow, and as usual she has absolutely everything you need to know on this: watch this clip – EVERYBODY https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show
It’s MUCH WORSE than is being reported in the UK.
And the segment underneath is all about major ‘buyers remorse’ on the part of Trump voters.
Thanks Ivan
I watched several – assisted by being on a train this morning
Musk is clearly in with Putin on what’s happening in the US, but so too is Trump (who they obviously have kompromat on from his days running beauty pageants in Moscow).
This clip from Rachel Maddow’s show lays it bare: https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show
If the link takes you to a list of segments you want the one titled: Trump oddly squemish about his contact with Putin.
And this from a man who usually talks nonsense about anything.
Thanks
Just listened to the Chris Hedges Report. What do we do? What can we do?
I was offered an episode from April 2024…
Another excellent article I agree with from Mr Hedges – one of a few fighting back in the USA: https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/the-mafia-state
Richard were you offered to go on the Chris Hedges show?
Not that I know of…..
The Russian economy was destroyed by the Neo-librals and has recovered. I suggest that it would be useful in the near future to know how they managed it.
Thank you, Ben.
I worked there for HSBC in the early and mid-noughties and can help answer that. I was also part of UK teams to train and mentor young government and private sector officials from Russia and China seconded to the City and its regulators when the G20 started in 2009.
A group of people who had suffered* or had loved ones* suffer the post war era and in the Yeltsin era gathered around Putin and began the slow process of ejecting oligarchs and western, usually US, investors from the commanding heights of the economy**, redistributing wealth**, moving up the value chain** and substituting imports**.
*Let’s take Putin. He became a cabbie after leaving the KGB as the Soviet / Russian state imploded and retrenched. *His elder siblings perished in the war and post war famine. He learnt the lessons.
**Let’s take the banks and oil and gas sectors. Joint ventures with western firms, like TNK-BP and the former banking combination with France’s Societe Generale, allowed access to western expertise, technology and funding, but they were always intended to be short-term. The long-term aim was domestic capability and capacity. This was not hidden, but freely talked about, including to me. Progress was tracked by the government. Domestic production and value add predates the 2008 and 2014 sanctions. One may argue that Putin and his technocrats followed not just China, but Arthur Lewis and the 19th century’s emerging markets of their day, the US and Germany, too. I note the young officers in charge of the Sahel states are doing just that and completing the task that Thomas Sankara began forty years ago.
Getting rid of the domestic oligarchs and foreign capitalists was vital, something the UK and US would do well to emulate. Please pay no attention to the MSM and people like Bill Broward, who I can’t believe shows his face in public and has a knighthood. As for Magnitsky, he should not be lionised.
I have not been there for some years, but contacts who have, from here and elsewhere in the west, paint a very different picture to what the western MSM does.
I must dash, but hope to write more.
Thanks
Funding the Future has silently become my everyday visit to an oasis of knowledge sanity and courage.
I’m grateful for being able to share this space with you.
My best wishes and congratulations to Mr. Murphy, of course.
Thanks
I hope it will be around for a long time
The US is $34 Trillion (yes trillion) in debt. It is spending $1 Trillion a year in interest payments on its debt. Your thinking that government can’t be run like a private company is exactly why it’s got to this position. If it isn’t sorted then the US will collapse and the consequences of that would be far worse than the short term consequences of people losing their jobs.
Your ignorance walked before you onto this blog
The US is not in debt
It issued dollars
The world wants them
Debt is when you spend more each year than you generate which is whats happening. Printing more money is not sustainable especially given that the us dollar isn’t as powerful as it once was. Keep printing. Keep spending. It will speed up the timezone and how quickly China overtakes the US.
Tell me how the world would have functioned without having had dollars produced by the US government by running a deficit?
Please be precise and accurate
The world would probably have ‘functioned’ far better. Less money for them to spend on their military and so they wouldn’t have been attacking countries. More humility so their citizens wouldn’t stupidly believe their country is the best in the world and have rampant consumerism. The world would be a much better place if the US hadn’t become so powerful, but history tells us America will collapse just as every empire has done.
[…] is no basis for this hypothesis. As I argue in today’s video, the fundamental management logic of the state has, by necessity, to be completely different to […]