Elon Musk Sounds Like Friedrich Hayek!

MUSK: I think the role of government should be that of like a referee — and, you know, like — but not a player on the field. So generally, you know, government should I think just try to get out of the way and — and not impede progress. I think that there’s a general problem not just in the U.S. but in most countries where the rules and regulations keep increasing every year. Rules and regulations are immortal. They don’t die. And there’s not really an effective garbage-collection system for removing rules and regulations. This hardens the arteries of civilization where you’re able to do less and less over time.

CLAY: “…hardens the artery of civilization.” Welcome back to the Clay and Buck Show. That was Elon Musk, the founder of Tesla, I think the richest man in the world or at least in the top two or three, right? I mean it depends on the day. But a guy who actually sounds like he’s doing an updated, extemporaneous Friedrich Hayek, Road to Serfdom, which, by the way, if you’ve never read, is essential.

It’s a little bit dense, but essential reading for being a conservative, in my opinion, understanding conservative philosophy. The Road to Serfdom is fantastic. But Elon Musk is like, “Yeah, pretty much.” Oh, and, Clay, it gets a little better. Here he is on — ’cause he’s saying, look, regulations — he’s right — they’re immortal; they stay forever.

CLAY: Yes.

BUCK: And adding more and more every year, you’re just increasing what we could call the regulatory burden. Then there’s also what we do from the spending side of things in this country, and here he is basically trashing Biden’s plan to save everything by spending money.

MUSK: Honestly, it might be better if the bill doesn’t pass, ’cause we spent so much money. You know, the federal budget deficit is insane. You know, it’s like $3 trillion… Federal expenditures are $7 trillion, federal revenues $4 trillion. That’s a $3 trillion difference. If this were a company, it would be a $3 trillion loss.

So I don’t know if we should be adding to that loss. That seems pretty crazy. Something’s gotta give. You can’t just spend $3 trillion more than you earn every year and don’t expect something bad to happen. I think, you know, this is not good. Honestly, I would just can this whole bill. Don’t pass it. That’s my recommendation.

BUCK: Don’t pass the bill, Clay. I gotta get a Tesla. (chuckling)

CLAY: Well, he’s in such an interesting spot because Elon Musk — and I’m fascinated by him — is one of the smartest people in the world. I don’t think… Sometimes you speak hyperbolically. I think Elon Musk is legitimately one of the smartest people in the world. I mean, think about what he has done. He essentially said, “I could be better at sending rockets to space than NASA,” and then proved that that was true.

He said all these rocket scientists and everybody else that NASA has been employing for 50 years, 70 years, whatever the heck it is. He said, “I can found a new company that is better at sending rockets to space than NASA,” and he did it. And then he also said, “Hey, the entire concept of an internal combustion engine being built predicated on oil doesn’t make sense, oil and gas, and so I’m gonna go build an electric automobile.”

And, oh, by the way, he’s also trying solar energy. These are the kinds of people that I believe need to get more involved, frankly — and I know he’s got so much on his plate already — in the government, because what he’s talking about, Buck, is the stultifying impact of a government that is not flexible enough to allow dynamic growth inside of industry. Business is not always efficient, but it is wildly more efficient than government. And Elon Musk could be a big way to reach younger people going forward with the fallacy of Big Government.