Broken Loops: Why Elon Musk Says Government Should Do the Least

Here's Elon Musk explaining why the government should do the least.

“One way to think of the economy is in terms of feedback loops. The feedback loop for government-provided services to be excellent is weak.

If you have a government monopoly for anything, you, as a consumer, have no alternatives. If you think of the Department of Motor Vehicles, the DMV, it's very inefficient. You wouldn't want the DMV to make cars.

If you don't get good service from the government, what do you do? Who do you complain to?

Competition breeds excellence, because two organizations or more are fighting to make the end consumer happy. One will gain market share if they do a better job than the other.

That's why we really want the government to do the least, because it's just got the broken feedback loop for improvement.”

Cato Institute, June 12, 2024