Elon Musk: Inefficient Systems Kill Productivity—Just Look at North Korea or East Germany

Elon Musk: A person's net economic output will decrease if they work in an inefficient organization.

“If any given person is doing things in a less efficient organization versus a more efficient organization, their contribution to the economy, their net output of goods and services, will reduce.

You've got a couple of clear examples. In North Korea, you've got 100% government. And in South Korea, you've got probably 40% government – it's not zero.

And yet, you've got a standard of living that is probably ten times higher in South Korea, at least.

And then you also have East and West Germany.

Just in terms of cars, you had BMW, Porsche, Audi, Mercedes in West Germany. And in East Germany, the only car you could get was a Trabant, which is basically a lawnmower with a shell on it. And it was extremely unsafe. There was a 20-year wait to get it.

That's just an interesting example of the same people, different operating systems.

And amazingly, in this modern era, sometime people have this debate as to which system is better. Well, I'll tell you which system is better. The one that doesn't need to build the wall to keep people in.”

The All-In Podcast, September 9, 2024