The Last Temptation of Musk
Politics and business don’t follow the same rules. Eliminate ‘waste’ in a business and you increase profits. Eliminate ‘waste’ in government and who cares? Taxpayers won’t remember. DC won't forget.
Friday, March 14th, 2025
Bill Bonner, writing from Baltimore, Maryland
Live happily. Live hidden.
—French proverb
Poor Elon. Such a genius. Such a fool.
Bullied as a child. Somewhere ‘on the spectrum.’ Elon set out to prove that he was the greatest human being who ever lived. He would make more money than anyone… start more businesses… develop more technology… and even put humans on Mars… the first ever extra-terrestrial colonization by our species. Or, maybe any species.
A polymath. A tech rock star. Inventor. Investor. Innovator…and now…in over his head.
The public is turning against his cars. Investors are selling his stock. His net worth is collapsing. His influence is waning. His popularity is plummeting. Newsweek:
Elon Musk, the world's richest man, saw his net worth plummet by more than $100 billion in 2025, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. The decline is largely tied to Tesla's struggling stock price, broader investor concerns about the increased competition in the electric vehicle (EV) market, and the knock-on impacts of Musk's political activities on his business ventures.
USA Today:
Tesla stock was the biggest S&P 500 loser on Monday and for 2025 as Musk's politics according to Investors Business Daily reports, having dropped 45% so far this year and 54.5% from the record high of $488.54 set on Dec. 18.
Today, we shed a tear of sympathy for the nation’s most successful African-American immigrant. LA Times:
'I've been betrayed.' Tesla drivers are pushing back on Elon Musk
In late February, Culver City resident David Andreone posted a photo of his black Model 3 Tesla on Facebook and Instagram and offered it for sale for $35,000. Though the posts received dozens of comments, no buyers emerged. Andreone, 59, said he loves driving the car, but made the decision to sell after the brand’s association with founder Elon Musk became too much to bear.
Poor Elon. It was just a couple days ago when the DOGE champion was going to be a hero in outer space…The New York Post:
Elon Musk says SpaceX capsule will bring home stranded ISS astronauts ‘in a few weeks’
And then… hardly a day later. The Daily Beast:
SpaceX Mission to Rescue NASA Astronauts Stranded in Space Ditched Last Minute
It might have been enough for most men…
…getting into the electronic payments business early…and selling Paypal for $1.5 billion…
…or starting a company whose mission is to colonize Mars…
…or founding a global, satellite- based communications system at a cost of $10 billion…
…or building a whole new car company…worldwide…with a value of more than $1.5 trillion at its peak…
…or developing an AI company…or one that links the brain to computers…or owning the most influential social media company…or founding a recording company and putting up lyrics and voice of his own…
…or being selected as TIME’s ‘Person of the Year.’
…or being the world’s richest person ever…or fathering 14 children.
Merely reciting his achievements is exhausting.
But all of this was not enough for Elon. Like Christ, tempted by Satan, he was offered political power; unlike Christ, he went for it.
Elon was not the first to imagine that government ‘waste’ could be eliminated…and that the feds could operate ‘efficiently.’
Indignation over wasteful spending has been a staple of the National Enquirer for decades. A half-century ago, your editor was a ‘source’ for the National Enquirer’s research and a regular voice for its outrage.
But with a surfeit of naivete…a shortage of cynicalism…and an excess of vanity… Elon got involved in politics. He’d been so successful at so many businesses…now he set out to be the most powerful private citizen in world history.
But politics and business don’t follow the same rules. Eliminate ‘waste’ in a business and you increase profits. But eliminate ‘waste’ in government and who cares? The taxpayers won’t remember…while the parasites won’t forget.
‘Waste’ is someone’s income; they’re not going to be too happy to give it up. And they’re going to use politics to a) get the money back and b) crucify the cost cutters.
The US spending machine is set up to waste trillions of dollars. And as Musk probes more deeply into the fat — especially in Social Security, Medicare, and the Pentagon — more and more political power will howl against him. It is only a matter of time before his patron — Donald Trump — begins to see him as a liability.
Regards,
Bill Bonner
Unfair article. Musk is taking enormous personal and financial risk to uncover grand theft by corrupt politicians. He knew what he was doing and made the sacrifice anyway. He’s already lost billions of dollars and has his life threatened daily. You write this crap but no one is trying to kill you.
And now Bill’s TDS goes after the Musk. A man who gave up everything to give back to the country that gave him everything. If all he cared about was money and fame he would have stayed status quo, but he didn’t. Trying to save America has cost him a trillion dollars but he never complained. Thank God for people like him willing to take on the beast of the swamp.