What’s more, Mr. Musk says he would have complied if President Biden ordered him to turn on his privately owned network for Ukraine: “While I’m not President Biden’s biggest fan, if I had received a presidential directive to turn it on, I would have done so. Because I do regard the president as the chief executive officer of the country. Whether I want that person to be president or not, I still respect the office.”
This is from Dennis Kneale, “Elizabeth Warren Owes Musk an Apology,” Wall Street Journal, September 17, 2023 (September 18 print version.)
I agree with Kneale that Elizabeth Warren owes Elon Musk an apology.
But I strongly disagree with Musk’s view of the role of the U.S. president. The U.S. president is not the CEO of the United States. Fortunately, there is, at this time, no such entity. The president is not even the head of the federal government; he’s the head of one of the three branches of the federal government.
By the way, I also agree with Musk’s decision not to put his Starlink in the service of war. Unlike Musk, though, if I had his position and had received a directive from Biden to aid in this war, I would have refused. But who knows? I’m not in his position. Musk might fear certain sanctions from Biden that I can only imagine.
READER COMMENTS
Pierre Lemieux
Sep 20 2023 at 7:37pm
David: You are making an important point. In a free society, the head of state is indeed not the CEO of the country, although he is in North Korea and in Russia. The fact that so many people ignore that, including some with an education like Musk, is very worrisome. There go all the vain reports on Musk being a libertarian!
David Henderson
Sep 20 2023 at 7:43pm
Thanks, Pierre. I’m a little more optimistic about Elon than you, but only a little. He might have been in a hurry and said the first thing that popped into his head. Still, we both agree that this was an important point to make.
Mark Brophy
Sep 21 2023 at 7:23pm
Musk is a micro-manager like Steve Jobs. He wants the President to be a micro-manager, too.
Andrew_FL
Sep 20 2023 at 10:25pm
Just out of curiosity, if hypothetically speaking the internet and Starlink had existed during the American Revolutionary War and you were in charge of Starlink, would you provide Starlink services to the American Revolutionaries?
robc
Sep 22 2023 at 11:43am
Depends if I was in the roughly 1/3 of colonists who supported the revolution.
David Henderson
Sep 22 2023 at 1:17pm
More like 40 to 50%.
Here are the facts from Jeff Hummel:
It’s from “Benefits of the American Revolution: An Exploration of Positive Externalities.” Econlib, July 2018. Of all the 100 plus articles I commissioned and edited for Econlib, this is my favorite. By the way, it was written, in part, to challenge Bryan Caplan’s assertion that the American Revolution was a mistake. Bryan has never responded, other than to repeat his claim.
David Henderson
Sep 22 2023 at 1:10pm
Yes.
vince
Sep 20 2023 at 11:54pm
In Musk’s defense, the President is at the top of the organization chart of the Executive Branch. Calling him the Chief Executive Officers is excusable.
A refreshing comment, considering the undemocratic response Trump received before he even took office.
Jon Murphy
Sep 21 2023 at 4:51pm
Yes, but that’s not what Musk said. Musk said “chief executive officer of the country.”
Furthermore, note the implication: the President issues an order; one must obey. But the President does not have that authority as the Supreme Court has noted multiple times over the past few years. I have loads of respect for the Office of the President. But part of that respect is respect for its proper place and role.
Jim Colvin
Sep 21 2023 at 11:34am
Historically, societies have desired a leader, someone to provide strength and wisdom for the good of all. This position has had many names over the years; king, emperor, czar – but the United States government is not set up this way. Yes, the president is in charge of the executive branch, but fortunately no one person has dominion over the entire US government. But given the historical nature of a society looking for an individual leader, I can see how many would view the president as CEO of the United States and label them as such.
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