Musk Is The $350 Billion Rocket Man Who Fell To Earth

THE POPCORN EMOJI is out in force as the world's richest person feuds with its most powerful leader.

- Bloomberg

Even Thierry Breton, the European regulator who was a frequent target of Elon Musk's ire, is at it. Still, as entertaining as the billionaire's spat with Donald Trump may be, it also carries costly lessons for a $630 billion space economy dominated by Musk's Space Exploration Technologies Corp.—such is the danger of co-dependence between de facto monopolies and increasingly protectionist states.

This danger wasn't high on the agenda at the peak of Trump's bromance with Musk, when the President-elect described SpaceX's reusable rocket revolution in the way a Renaissance monarch might have praised a successful colonial expedition—with a mix of national pride, geopolitical influence, and financial potential: "I called Elon. I said, 'Elon, was that [landing manoeuvre] you?' He said, 'Yes, it was.' I said, '...Can Russia do it?' 'No.' 'Can China do it?' 'No.' 'Can the United States do it, other than you?' 'No, nobody can do that.' 'That's why I love you, Elon.'"