CMV: Elon Musk is the epitome of what's wrong with modern capitalism

Ever since I first learned about Elon Musk back in the early 2010s I've thought that he was an exemplary example of everything that's wrong with modern capitalism. <br><br>He's a billionaire, and one of the richest people in the world, because he was born into a wealthy family in a time and place that gave him excellent access to resources to pursue whatever business ventures he wanted. Through a combination of hard work, innate intelligence, and a lot of luck, he became extremely rich and even more successful at a relatively young age.<br><br> When you hear people talk about him they almost always talk about a self-made billionaire, he was actually anything but. Now, as a billionaire, he has access to a wildly disproportionate amount of capital and resources, so he can go after huge ideas and projects. He was very early to the electric car space and was able to pour gobs of capital into Tesla, and make it a successful company, but he wasn't some sort of visionary genius that created something that didn't already exist. There were already electric cars before he joined Tesla. His genius was mostly within getting filthy rich early, then doubling down and making a huge bet on an emerging space. <br><br>This also isn't the only space he invested in where he made a huge bet that paid off. By pouring capital into solar panel manufacturing he came to dominate that space, and then he was able to create a powerwall product. He also made bet after bet on Starlink and self-driving cars, and was able to hire a huge team of talented engineers, which helped those products come to market. <br><br>He has been so wildly successful at creating products that he is now worth over $200 billion dollars. He has now bet so big on Starship, which has been over budget, and so is seeking $8 billion in new funding. The reason he's going for $8 billion in new funding is because over a dozen banks have bet on him to the tune of $13 billion, he himself has personally guaranteed $7 billion, and the company is burning $1 billion per month. <br><br>This is insane to me, it's completely and utterly without precedent. There's no earthly reason that this guy should be able to raise this kind of capital. The scale is just so wildly disproportionate to what any other CEO or founder can make happen. <br><br>What really makes it "modern capitalism" to me is the way in which he manipulates the discourse. Elon Musk is so well-spoken that he is somehow able to present himself as a self-made billionaire who is taking on the establishment. His marketing and communications skills are incredible, and as a result of decades of building an image of a self-made genius who is the future we want, he has so much good-will that he is able to raise this kind of capital and have so much support for his endeavors. <br><br>So, to recap, the CMV is that Elon Musk is the epitome of what's wrong with modern capitalism. He's not a bad person, and I don't even think he's a net negative influence on society, I just think he's emblematic of problems within our global financial system. <br><br>He's a billionaire because he was born into wealth, and then had access to wildly disproportionate capital and resources at every step thereafter. He spends his time making huge bets, and is able to swing for the fences because his access to capital is so outsized. He's extremely skilled at getting a lot of people on board with his ideas, and that's why he's able to do what he does. <br><br>Please change my view.