Elon Musk has earned every tax payer dollar he has received. From what I can tell by reading the news, the man works himself and his companies insanely hard. Perhaps this argument could be made about any other organizations or institutions, but not Elon Musk and his companies
"Elon Musk has earned every tax payer dollar he has received."
By definition you do not earn a handout. You merely conform to the requirements of receiving it, which he has. "Earn"? Definitely not the word to use for him. We're talking about money that he has taken from all taxpayers to fund the pursuit of his dreams. His dreams get funded because they are approved by the government. There are ~156 million adults employed full time. On average, this equates to ~$32 every single taxpayer has paid to Musk. If you are a higher earner, which I suspect is true of many here on HN, Musk has "earned" somewhere between $50 and $100 of your money.
Isn't it a little odd that every one of Musk's ventures is either heavily subsidized or directly paid for with government dollars? It's the old Ross Perot playbook. There is no greater spendthrift and hence more profitable customer than the U.S. government.
I think his companies are doing amazing technical work, but let's be honest, profit is absolutely priority number #1. Saint Musk isn't trying to kickstart an international colonization of Mars because it's a sensible Plan B (hint: it's not). I'm guessing the real motive is that it would involve more money than any project in the history of mankind.
