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The top line is debatable, it gets into the great man theory. And FWIW Tesla literally did exist before he was involved. Credit to him entirely for SpaceX being

The top line is debatable, it gets into the great man theory. And FWIW Tesla literally did exist before he was involved. Credit to him entirely for SpaceX being founded, but IIRC Gwynne Shotwell runs it day to day. To the last point: Yes, I think he could. When you have $150,000,000,000, even losing $149,000,000,000 would leave you with $1,000,000,000, which is hundreds and hundreds of times the lifetime net worth of most Americans. Meaning yes, I can completely imagine someone with his money spending a lot of money to have major influence over how the world communicates. Bloomberg spent a billion dollars of his own money trying to be president and he's still quite rich.

WalterBright 4y ago
> Bloomberg spent a billion dollars of his own money trying to be president The Clintons made around $100 million for being President. The Clinton Foundation is worth $300m, and is largely used to fund the Clintons. Obama is worth $70 million. Trump initially viewed his run for office as publicity stunt for his businesses. He was obviously surprised that he won. Being President is very, very lucrative. > FWIW Tesla literally did exist before he was involved I know. And without Musk nobody would have ever heard of it.
- terafo 4y ago
  I think it's 300 million[1], not billion. [1] https://www.clintonfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/clinton_foundation_report_public_2020.pdf https://www.clintonfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11...
  - WalterBright 4y ago
    You're right. I fixed it.
mlindner 4y ago
> The top line is debatable, it gets into the great man theory. And FWIW Tesla literally did exist before he was involved. Credit to him entirely for SpaceX being founded, but IIRC Gwynne Shotwell runs it day to day. Shotwell runs certain parts of the business day to day. Elon heads up new projects whereas daily operations goes to Shotwell, which makes sense given her position of Chief Operating Officer. For example, by her own words, she has little involvement in the Starship project, or didn't as of early 2021 when asked about it.

WalterBright 4y ago

> Bloomberg spent a billion dollars of his own money trying to be president The Clintons made around $100 million for being President. The Clinton Foundation is worth $300m, and is largely used to fund the Clintons. Obama is worth $70 million. Trump initially viewed his run for office as publicity stunt for his businesses. He was obviously surprised that he won. Being President is very, very lucrative. > FWIW Tesla literally did exist before he was involved I know. And without Musk nobody would have ever heard of it.

terafo 4y ago
I think it's 300 million[1], not billion. [1] https://www.clintonfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/clinton_foundation_report_public_2020.pdf https://www.clintonfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11...
- WalterBright 4y ago
  You're right. I fixed it.

mlindner 4y ago

> The top line is debatable, it gets into the great man theory. And FWIW Tesla literally did exist before he was involved. Credit to him entirely for SpaceX being founded, but IIRC Gwynne Shotwell runs it day to day. Shotwell runs certain parts of the business day to day. Elon heads up new projects whereas daily operations goes to Shotwell, which makes sense given her position of Chief Operating Officer. For example, by her own words, she has little involvement in the Starship project, or didn't as of early 2021 when asked about it.