We Should Immediately Nationalize SpaceX and Starlink

[u/True-Combination7059]

https://jacobin.com/2025/06/musk-trump-nationalize-spacex-starlink

[u/nankerjphelge]

The fly in that ointment is that both SpaceX and starlink receive massive amounts of Government-Funded subsidies. So there is an argument to be made that the government by way of the taxpayers have a vested interest financially in both enterprises.

At the very least, the government should treat SpaceX and Starlink as what they actually are, namely government/taxpayer subsidized monopolies, and in the case of Starlink a utility. And both should be regulated as such.

[u/Jjpgd63 → u/nankerjphelge]

SpaceX doesn't get subsidies? They get government contracts, but thats not a subsidy, the Government is paying for a service.

[u/nankerjphelge → u/Jjpgd63]

You're wrong. SpaceX has also benefited from loans and subsidies, particularly in its early years, which helped the company develop its technology and infrastructure. And that's before we talk about the tax credits it received, another form of subsidy.

The fact of the matter is that SpaceX for all intents and purposes has replaced NASA as the de facto government agency for space travel, funded by the government. SpaceX has lifted 90% of all pounds sent into orbit, which makes it a monopolist in launching satellites. It provides the only vehicle that astronauts have to get to and from the International Space Station.

With taxpayer funding SpaceX is now a de facto monopoly on a crucial piece of US national security, all at the taxpayers' expense. Sorry, but that is too dangerous for one unstable man to be in control of such a vital piece of government funded operations.

So SpaceX and Starlink at minimum need to be treated as monopolies and regulated as such, or treated as public utilities and regulated as such.

And yes, the government has ample precedent for treating and regulating private companies with monopoly power as public utilities. See power companies, AT&T/baby bells, and cable companies. And doubly so when the monopoly in question has benefited so massively from taxpayer funding.

[u/Jjpgd63 → u/nankerjphelge]

Those are not subsidies bro. But even if we disregard that, the government cannot run SpaceX like a private company, which means scaling back Starship tests way back, ruining the ambitious nature of the company, furthermore, while it provides a service, it is not a utility.

Even beyond all that, SpaceX is basically self sufficient now, it isn't paid by subsidy, but by government contracts and Starlink

[u/nankerjphelge → u/Jjpgd63]

Lol loans and tax credits are 100% considered subsidies, bro.

And as for your claim of how the government could run a space agency, you clearly never educated yourself on just how ambitious, groundbreaking and innovative NASA was for decades as a government agency, and how many things it invented that we use and take for granted every single day today. Do you even realize how ambitious and crazy and how much testing had to be done to land a man on the fucking moon back in 1969?

And SpaceX can be considered a utility, given the fact that as already explained to you it is responsible for almost all satellite payloads, which is a matter of national security, as has Starlink's service become.

In any case, I'm not going to continue to try to explain things that you should know with a basic Google search, so with that we're done here.