And Elon’s solution was to destroy our government services so billionaires can escape regulatory oversight and the law.
AngryBlackNerd on
I was thinking about this (innovation) yesterday. How much has the US tech industry actually innovated in ways that improved this country?
That aside as someone that contracts to the government there is definitely a lack of innovation. Do you know why though? You roll out a new feature at Twitter and shit breaks people may not be able to Tweet for a few hours. You do the same shit in the government people may not be able to eat for days.
FakeGeek73 on
Te best way a government innovates and advances technology is by funding science research.
Ghost_shell89 on
Everyone repeat after me: government 👏🏻 is 👏🏻 not 👏🏻 for 👏🏻 profit.
If there’s a feedback loop, it’s at the ballot box. The government should be beholden to the voter and the taxpayer, not the bottom line. Otherwise services like USPS would drop delivery routes that were too expensive to maintain.
Bulky_Specialist9645 on
It’s estimated DOGE cancelation of USAID has already killed 630,000. 2/3 of which are children.
Source: The New Yorker
KiwDaWabbit2 on
If no one in government innovated, how did we ever get Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on that sound stage? Riddle me that, Batman.
CallMeChristine75 on
DOGE was just to dismantle the agency’s that were investigating him.
BoomZhakaLaka on
people who are too ethical to climb the executive ladder at an insurance agency often go to work for the OIG instead
well, before this last november, that was something that used to happen
Comus_Is_My_Guide on
Don’t this guy’s SpaceX rockets blow up like every other day? You know efficiency…
Neptune7924 on
That’s why we have free and fair elections, right Elon? Right?
SpiritualTwo5256 on
Vs a threaten all your competitors and buy out everyone that could compete with you monopoly like most right wing billionaires. Nah, it couldn’t be that the reason things are slow at the government level is because the government has a fiduciary duty to its citizens to go for as low a dollar amount as possible to get the basics in place. It isn’t built to be extravagant.
Future-Atmosphere-40 on
NASA said if they’d lost as many rockets as Elon, they’d be disbanded.
Specific_Berry6496 on
they still havent made anything practical with all the AI investments. Where is everything that was promised? The iphone was made by humans.
laughsinflowers1 on
The government is not a business. You would think a “genius” would know that.
AbbreviatedArc on
Weird I just got my passport renewed using the online standard service, from submission to receiving the passport it took 8 days. Sounds like DOGE / Trump should cancel that program along with the already canceled IRS Direct File … can’t have government programs interfering with the Republican Narrative.
Meanwhile in the vaunted private sector, after the Hawaiian / Alaskan merger, all my points disappeared and I can no longer log in to my account despite being promised a “seamless transition.”
scholesp2 on
And that’s why the government took us to the Moon (and all the associated things like styrofoam), or made the internet, or GPS, or nuclear energy, or the national highway sysytem, etc. It’s crazy how we ignore stuff like this.
The government is the only rich entity who innovated a food stamps program to solve the challenge of every hungry American. I wish billionaires innovated more like the feds.
Confident_Fortune_32 on
Speaking as someone who has worked on a NASA contract, there’s another element to it that’s hard to codify but very much real: *passion*.
For those of us who deeply feel the beauty and romance of space exploration, we put our hearts into the work, and hold ourselves to the highest standards, not bc of any carrot (raise or promotion) or stick (threat of demotion or firing).
Motivation comes from inside, not from external pressure.
Not to mention being keenly aware that *human lives are on the line*. Even for unmanned missions, what we learn contributes to the manned missions.
No amount of money is a greater motivator.
I turned down a job offer from IBM to work on the space program, and my family was *horrified*. They never forgave me for my “foolishness”. But I have no regrets.
Mr_MacGrubber on
My areas DMV works pretty well. You make an appointment and can usually be seen around that time. It’s no different than going to a doctor or something.
manwhothinks on
If his companies work so efficiently, why does he need government money?
CaptainPixel on
Cool cool cool. So how’s that Full Self Driving you promised would be available in 2021 going? Or how about that 2020 Tesla Roadster with the 620 mile range you announced? Cybertruck is selling well isn’t it? Good thing Tesla’s global sales aren’t collapsing. Sounds super efficient.
Elon Musk is an extremely wealthy man who made a couple of good bets then became convinced of his own legend.
Government provides services. Agencies are allocated money by congress. The people’s money. And we have a feedback loop. Two in fact. Elections and legislation. Congress members are elected to their seats based on their ideas for how to spend our money. They allocate that money to the agencies who then have to figure out how to best spend it with no promise they’ll get it again during the next budget cycle.
Elon and the Right’s obsession with taking an axe to agencies and making them more efficient shows a dramatic and concerning lack of understanding of how the US government actually functions. It highlights their ignorance and desire for a top-down authoritarian state.
If you think something like the IRS is inefficient, you don’t make it “save money” by firing a bunch of people because ***the money is already allocated***. All you do is make it less efficient because it’s understaffed to utlize it’s funding and fulfill it’s mission. But this is always the conservative strategy. You sabotage the government, then you point at it and say “see, it doesn’t work”, then you defund it further. That’s the real feedback loop they want.
If you are a good faith actor and actually want to make positive change to an agency that you think is inefficient, then you write legislation dictating how that agency spends it’s funds, what it’s powers are, or change it’s rules. That is how government actually functions. Through legislation and representative voting.
GamingGems on
I don’t know about the rest of you but the DMV in my area was fixed and is incredibly efficient now compared to when I first got my license.
You just go online and select what you need. Set an appointment and show up. You wait outside the door and at the time of your appointment someone comes out and calls your name. They immediately take you straight to a service window where the worker knows what you’re there for. You get it done and out the door in like 10 minutes. I’m sure they worked out this system during Covid and just kept it. Sometimes there are people waiting outside the door but you quickly realize they’re old people who naturally showed up 30 minutes early to their appointment, doesn’t stop them from staring and judging you when your name is called right on time before theirs.
Ever since this whenever I hear someone local complain about the DMV I instantly know they’re full of shit.
chriskiji on
The reason many government programs are inefficient is lobbying efforts to carve out this and that for private gain.
Ambitious-Ocelot8036 on
He’s never been to the DMV. Mine runs very efficiently. Shout out to Ann Gannon, the tax lady in West Palm Beach. The place runs like a top and is staffed by awesome people.
24 Comments
Hey, Elon – get some help, sir.
[https://smartrecovery.org](https://smartrecovery.org) <- not a 12 step program
And Elon’s solution was to destroy our government services so billionaires can escape regulatory oversight and the law.
I was thinking about this (innovation) yesterday. How much has the US tech industry actually innovated in ways that improved this country?
That aside as someone that contracts to the government there is definitely a lack of innovation. Do you know why though? You roll out a new feature at Twitter and shit breaks people may not be able to Tweet for a few hours. You do the same shit in the government people may not be able to eat for days.
Te best way a government innovates and advances technology is by funding science research.
Everyone repeat after me: government 👏🏻 is 👏🏻 not 👏🏻 for 👏🏻 profit.
If there’s a feedback loop, it’s at the ballot box. The government should be beholden to the voter and the taxpayer, not the bottom line. Otherwise services like USPS would drop delivery routes that were too expensive to maintain.
It’s estimated DOGE cancelation of USAID has already killed 630,000. 2/3 of which are children.
Source: The New Yorker
If no one in government innovated, how did we ever get Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on that sound stage? Riddle me that, Batman.
DOGE was just to dismantle the agency’s that were investigating him.
people who are too ethical to climb the executive ladder at an insurance agency often go to work for the OIG instead
well, before this last november, that was something that used to happen
Don’t this guy’s SpaceX rockets blow up like every other day? You know efficiency…
That’s why we have free and fair elections, right Elon? Right?
Vs a threaten all your competitors and buy out everyone that could compete with you monopoly like most right wing billionaires. Nah, it couldn’t be that the reason things are slow at the government level is because the government has a fiduciary duty to its citizens to go for as low a dollar amount as possible to get the basics in place. It isn’t built to be extravagant.
NASA said if they’d lost as many rockets as Elon, they’d be disbanded.
they still havent made anything practical with all the AI investments. Where is everything that was promised? The iphone was made by humans.
The government is not a business. You would think a “genius” would know that.
Weird I just got my passport renewed using the online standard service, from submission to receiving the passport it took 8 days. Sounds like DOGE / Trump should cancel that program along with the already canceled IRS Direct File … can’t have government programs interfering with the Republican Narrative.
Meanwhile in the vaunted private sector, after the Hawaiian / Alaskan merger, all my points disappeared and I can no longer log in to my account despite being promised a “seamless transition.”
And that’s why the government took us to the Moon (and all the associated things like styrofoam), or made the internet, or GPS, or nuclear energy, or the national highway sysytem, etc. It’s crazy how we ignore stuff like this.
The government is the only rich entity who innovated a food stamps program to solve the challenge of every hungry American. I wish billionaires innovated more like the feds.
Speaking as someone who has worked on a NASA contract, there’s another element to it that’s hard to codify but very much real: *passion*.
For those of us who deeply feel the beauty and romance of space exploration, we put our hearts into the work, and hold ourselves to the highest standards, not bc of any carrot (raise or promotion) or stick (threat of demotion or firing).
Motivation comes from inside, not from external pressure.
Not to mention being keenly aware that *human lives are on the line*. Even for unmanned missions, what we learn contributes to the manned missions.
No amount of money is a greater motivator.
I turned down a job offer from IBM to work on the space program, and my family was *horrified*. They never forgave me for my “foolishness”. But I have no regrets.
My areas DMV works pretty well. You make an appointment and can usually be seen around that time. It’s no different than going to a doctor or something.
If his companies work so efficiently, why does he need government money?
Cool cool cool. So how’s that Full Self Driving you promised would be available in 2021 going? Or how about that 2020 Tesla Roadster with the 620 mile range you announced? Cybertruck is selling well isn’t it? Good thing Tesla’s global sales aren’t collapsing. Sounds super efficient.
Elon Musk is an extremely wealthy man who made a couple of good bets then became convinced of his own legend.
Government provides services. Agencies are allocated money by congress. The people’s money. And we have a feedback loop. Two in fact. Elections and legislation. Congress members are elected to their seats based on their ideas for how to spend our money. They allocate that money to the agencies who then have to figure out how to best spend it with no promise they’ll get it again during the next budget cycle.
Elon and the Right’s obsession with taking an axe to agencies and making them more efficient shows a dramatic and concerning lack of understanding of how the US government actually functions. It highlights their ignorance and desire for a top-down authoritarian state.
If you think something like the IRS is inefficient, you don’t make it “save money” by firing a bunch of people because ***the money is already allocated***. All you do is make it less efficient because it’s understaffed to utlize it’s funding and fulfill it’s mission. But this is always the conservative strategy. You sabotage the government, then you point at it and say “see, it doesn’t work”, then you defund it further. That’s the real feedback loop they want.
If you are a good faith actor and actually want to make positive change to an agency that you think is inefficient, then you write legislation dictating how that agency spends it’s funds, what it’s powers are, or change it’s rules. That is how government actually functions. Through legislation and representative voting.
I don’t know about the rest of you but the DMV in my area was fixed and is incredibly efficient now compared to when I first got my license.
You just go online and select what you need. Set an appointment and show up. You wait outside the door and at the time of your appointment someone comes out and calls your name. They immediately take you straight to a service window where the worker knows what you’re there for. You get it done and out the door in like 10 minutes. I’m sure they worked out this system during Covid and just kept it. Sometimes there are people waiting outside the door but you quickly realize they’re old people who naturally showed up 30 minutes early to their appointment, doesn’t stop them from staring and judging you when your name is called right on time before theirs.
Ever since this whenever I hear someone local complain about the DMV I instantly know they’re full of shit.
The reason many government programs are inefficient is lobbying efforts to carve out this and that for private gain.
He’s never been to the DMV. Mine runs very efficiently. Shout out to Ann Gannon, the tax lady in West Palm Beach. The place runs like a top and is staffed by awesome people.