[FRIAM] Musk’s America Party – Some Thoughts from Afar

[glen]

And ... and and and, money isn't at all zero sum. The very concept of "don't spend more than you earn" is not even wrong. It's a fundamental misunderstanding of money. And Musk is a great example! When Tesla stock dives, Musk isn't losing what he's earned. Borrowing money to buy Twitter, collateralized against estimates of Tesla stock? Did Elno spend less than what he earned? No. Has he earned whatever "we" estimate his fortune to be? No. Toss in things like quantitative easing, the value of USD as the world loses confidence in it, etc. None of that over-simplified rhetoric makes any sense whatsoever.

I'd love it if Elno stopped spending money *he* doesn't have. And if he did that, you'd see something magical happen, his name wouldn't be in the headlines every day. Just like with buying Twitter using imaginary money, the political party he wants to create is a mechanism for keeping his name in everyone's feed. He wants you to say his name every day, multiple times per day. Trump does the same thing. They want you to keep saying their name. Again. And again ... and again ... and again... all day every day.

Why? Because we (at least in very developed countries) have an *attention* economy. The more you say their names, the more money they accumulate. That "huge personal hit" is at best empty rhetoric and at worst bullshit designed to distract you with one hand and pick your pocket with the other.

On 7/9/25 10:14 AM, Marcus Daniels wrote:
> We do have the money.  We are a wealthy nation.   The problem is we are cheap.
> 
> *From: *Friam <friam-bounces at redfish.com> on behalf of Pieter Steenekamp <pieters at randcontrols.co.za>
> *Date: *Wednesday, July 9, 2025 at 10:07 AM
> *To: *The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group <friam at redfish.com>
> *Subject: *[FRIAM] Musk’s America Party – Some Thoughts from Afar
> 
> I’m not American—but I’m a big fan of the place.
> 
> What really keeps me up at night is how both major political parties in the U.S. seem to have a shared hobby: spending money like it’s going out of fashion. Year after year, the national debt grows bigger, and the interest payments grow even scarier. It’s like watching someone keep swiping a credit card with no plan to ever pay it back.
> 
> Now, let me put on my South African cap for a moment.
> 
> When South Africa became a democracy and Mandela became president, things were looking financially grim. We weren’t flat-out broke yet, but we were close. Mandela then did something very clever: he made Trevor Manuel the finance minister. Manuel, being honest, told Mandela he knew nothing about finances. Mandela basically said, “Don’t worry about the details—we’ve got smart people for that. Just make sure we don’t spend more than we earn, and I'll politically support you.” And guess what? South Africa’s finances did great for a while.
> 
> (Yes, it all fell apart later when Jacob Zuma came along, but let’s not ruin the story.)
> 
> Back to America.
> 
> No, I don’t think the U.S. is heading for an immediate meltdown—but the idea that it’s too big to fail? Not something I’d bet my pension on. Sooner or later, the debt monster will come knocking.
> 
> Which brings me to Elon Musk’s political adventure. From where I sit, his main message is: “Hey folks, maybe we should stop spending money we don’t have?” Whether his new party takes off or not, I think it’s great that someone is at least ringing the alarm bell.
> 
> Even if nobody listens, I’m 100% behind the effort. Musk is taking a huge personal hit—his companies, his wealth, all of it’s being affected. But if it helps America become more financially sensible, I say hats off to him.
> 


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