>>195919, >>195921, >>195922, >>195923, >>195924, >>195925, >>195926, >>195927, >>195928, >>195929, >>195930, >>195931, >>195932, >>195933, >>195934, >>195935, >>195936, >>195937, >>195938, >>195939, >>195940, >>195941, >>195942, >>195943, >>195944, >>195945, >>195946, >>195947, >>195948, >>195949, >>195950, >>195951, >>195952, >>195953, >>195954, >>195955, >>195956, >>195957, >>195958, >>195959, >>195960, >>195961, >>195962, >>195963, >>195964, >>195965, >>195966, >>195967, >>195968, >>195969, >>195970
Rothmus @Rothmus- Video: Government never built the iPhone.
“Economist” Mariana Mazzucato handed Apple’s credit to the state because the internet, GPS and touchscreens began with public money.
When Deirdre McCloskey and Alberto Mingardi answered her, they noted a pattern of cherry picking. After 1900 government spending exploded, so it would have been strange if none of it funded something useful.
Before any of this, the Soviet Union poured money into science for 70 years, put the first satellite in orbit, and still left citizens waiting years for a car or a home phone line.
After Apollo, her favorite model, NASA’s own rocket costs $4.1 billion a launch while SpaceX flew more often in 2025 than the rest of the world combined.
When Steve Jobs held up the iPhone in 2007, the parts were already there. What showed up was someone willing to risk the company on combining them into something people would line up to buy.
Quoted Post:
Rothmus @Rothmus
Chart: SpaceX went from 8 launches in 2016 to 170 in 2025.
What critics called a “subsidy scam” and a “Musk vanity project” already out-launched every other country on Earth COMBINED.
Falcon is still flying and Starship is just getting started, so by the end of the decade, the rest of the planet will be a footnote on a SpaceX chart.
---
SpaceX Out-Launched the Entire Rest of the World
Orbital launches per year. 2024: 137 vs 125. 2025: 170 vs 159. 2026 so far: 116 vs 122
SpaceX / Rest of the world combined
2016: 8 / 77