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May 17, 2017

Here’s Why Elon Musk Holds the Secret to Productivity Gains

Liz Peek Articles ECONOMY, ELON MUSK

To those Americans who envy China’s grandiose multi-trillion-dollar Silk Road ambitions, console yourselves: we have Elon Musk. China may have a bigger checkbook, the U.S. may be sinking under red tape and political inertia, but we still have innovators who dazzle us by leaping ahead. Musk is one of those, and thank heavens he’s one of ours.

Most recently, Elon Musk imagined a humungous new machine that can dig tunnels underground really, really fast. Specifically, he wants his new colossus to bore through the ground five to ten times more speedily than conventional tunneling equipment.  With this monstrous (not so) boring device he aims to get LA’s famously jammed-up traffic moving again. Specifically, he plans to dig tunnels underneath the city in which sleds will whisk cars from Westwood to LAX in five minutes, at speeds of 125 miles per hour. It sounds nutty, but then so did the Tesla early on, not to mention SpaceX’ reusable rockets and Musk’s ambitions for interplanetary colonization. To allow others to share his vision, he has produced a video (complete with a warning: may produce nausea or seizures) showing the sleds rocketing through a tunnel.

Here’s why we should all pay attention to this latest from the tech guru: our economy has been stuck in slo-mo for years, partly because of sluggish to nil productivity gains. This is especially true in the public sector. The private sector, faced with competition from low-labor-cost countries and pressure from shareholders, has adapted by upgrading and automating manufacturing facilities and systems; the public sector, not so much. Here’s the bad news: spending by the government – federal, state and local – continues to eat up more and more of our GDP. That’s not good for our productivity or our economy.

Musk could begin to change that. Others could jump aboard.

Imagine the world in which roads are repaved at lightning speed or where air traffic control is guided by the very best GPS systems, instead of the 40-year-old radar apparatus still in use today. Think what the best minds and the best technologies could do with our elementary schools; how much faster could kids learn to read if provided with online classes taught by the very best instructors, instead of those who survive the low bars set by the teacher’s unions?

It boggles the mind that the best way to lay new cables underground is to tear up pavement using jackhammers invented in the 1850s and then to smooth surfaces using steamrollers not much different from those once pulled by horses. But that’s what we see about us every day.

Many years ago when I worked on Wall Street, a company showed off an amazing highly automated re-paver that ripped up asphalt and laid a new coat in one sweep. It never gained traction, reportedly because construction unions convinced municipal governments not to buy it.

The 30th year anniversary edition of Asphalt Contractor quotes one industry expert saying, “In a lot of ways, pavers 30 years ago weren’t all that different from what they are today.” The magazine notes that some improvements in controls and other features have filtered in, as contractors responded to “federal agencies [that] have gravitated toward performance-based contracts for paving work”; road-builders had to upgrade, knowing that “well-trained employees using advanced machinery gives them an edge that allows them to bid competitively and maximize awards.”  What’s the lesson here? Every industry can become more efficient and productive, but someone needs to demand progress.

That someone can be a group of taxpayers or those in charge of our public spending. Unfortunately, it is an uphill battle, with each summit protected by vested interests. Under President Obama, oversight of federal contractors focused on compliance with labor laws; the White House issued an executive order demanding that those awarding contracts look at past labor violations, putting a considerable burden on applicants to provide (and keep updated) historical data on complaints. Another law demanded contractors hire disabled workers and veterans, a worthy goal that was estimated to cost $473 per work location per year. An industry association, Associated General Contractors of America, estimated the real cost at $14, 056, and predicted that the new rules would eliminate most small businesses from competing for the work.

Under President Trump, federal contractors are being pressed to “Buy American,” another popular goal, but one that again will also require substantial compliance costs. No president, it seems, is ready to make productivity or efficiency the highest requirement, and that’s a shame. We’re talking about nearly half a trillion dollars of taxpayer-financed spending every year; it is significant, and most assuredly lowers our overall competitiveness.

Nowhere is the lack of progressive thinking more damaging than in education. The New York Times recently ran a lengthy piece about Google’s success in introducing its products to America’s classrooms. The author of the piece focuses on how Google may be serving its own interests, with little or no mention of how access to personal computers and programs might elevate our education outcomes. There’s a reason that thousands of teachers have jumped at the chance to provide their students with Google’s products; most want the best for the nation’s kids.

There’s also a reason that Mitch Daniels, Perdue head and past governor of Indiana, ruffled faculty feathers recently when the university announced it would acquire Kaplan University, a for-profit online learning company. Daniels memorably became one of the country’s most popular governors when he transformed the state’s department of motor vehicles from a mess of bureaucratic dysfunctionality to a user-friendly agency attentive to the “customer” experience. The former governor is a pragmatist; the purchase of Kaplan is another effort to give the people what they want, efficiently. As Daniels explained, “Millions of potential students are unserved by the current higher education system.” He aims to fix that, in part through offering online courses and degrees.

Elon Musk showed off a pet snail recently, named Gary, whom he claims moves 14 times faster than today’s tunneling machines. That’s why he’s inventing an upgrade, essential to his vision for conquering the traffic snarls that he calls “One of the most soul-destroying things.” Who knows if this is the answer? What is clear: Musk is at least asking the right question. Our political leaders should do the same. We cannot update our infrastructure with government spending; we do not have a checkbook as large as China’s. We must become smarter, more innovative and more demanding of those investing our taxpayer dollars.

 

Published on TheFiscalTimes.com.

The Biggest Barrier to Rebuilding America’s Infrastructure Is Red Tape Trump under attack (from all sides)—that swamp is deep, America

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Biden has betrayed America: Liz Peek https://t.co/QAoZYuG4cy via @YouTube

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@InteriorDepartment misses deadline to publish oil & gas lease schedule – more political suicide for @JoeBiden already prompting WORST-EVER approval ratings!
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you know better @Ewarren: it’s not up to the @EPA to write climate rules. Do your job & write some laws that Americans will approve!

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Our planet is on fire, and this extremist Supreme Court has destroyed the federal government’s ability to fight back.

This radical Supreme Court is increasingly facing a legitimacy crisis, and we can’t let them have the last word.

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amen

amen
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Marion Syversen@MarionSyversen·

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@dagenmcdowell awesome job. And @lizpeek. Thankful for strong, smart and wise women.

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Liz Peek

8 months ago

Liz Peek

Are you better off than you were 2 years ago?
www.foxnews.com/opinion/inflation-hurting-americans-biden-bill-worse-liz-peek
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Inflation already hurting Americans, and Biden's Build Back Better will make things even worse

Are you better off than you were two years ago? That’s what Republicans will ask voters a year from now.

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Inflation is worldwide and COVID induced.

3/7

Swamp Think

Peek's article posted today on the Fox News website did not mention one word about President Trump's accomplishment of not only leading the way to American Energy Independence but for the country to become net exporters of the energy we and our allies could really use now.

Under President Trump, oil was in the low 40s (while on the same page, oil traders are now predicting as high as $200/barrel this month!), gas in our tanks cost below two bucks, inflation was under two percent and gas station attendant Putin with an economy about the size of Italy's and who is totally dependent on the price of energy was placed in an economic cage… by President Trump.

Instead Peek gives credit to media Saint Obama for his "all the above" strategy which consistent with how he operated was all campaign talk with ZERO follow through.

Does Peek not remember that Saint Obama's response to Putin invading Crimea was to send blankets.

If you want a quick read on Swamp Think, check in with Fox News.

From the Murdoch boys and Paul Ryan on down, no one is pushing the self-serving, elite globalists agenda of running the world as their personal piggy bank harder than Fox News.

And how are the globalists doing at managing world affairs?

No Trump, No Trump Doctrine

There's a growing rumble, by the minute, from people all over the planet who are suddenly missing Trump's policies, not necessarily Trump.

First, Trump's policies, domestic and foreign, were clear and common-sense driven which is anathema to the Swamp control freaks who thrive on complication and confusion to mask their real agendas and who they're really working for.

Second, the hypocrites who are now lamenting Trump's policies are the same, domestic and foreign, who fought Trump every inch of the way to prevent the implementation of policies that clearly worked.

Third, without Trump the fighter, no Trump policies would have ever seen the light of day.

And without what is now collectively the Trump Doctrine, what clear metric would we have to truly understand the depth and devastation of the Biden/Swamp debacle?

Don't you know that the global supply chain story is done on purpose for there to be empty shelves at the grocery stores and what not to screw with the public. This is done by the world economic Forum with the likes of Klaus Schwab Bill Gates and George Soros and their ilk

YOU are the delusional personality, dear. Sticking it against the US to please 🖕trump and putin. Disgusting anti American.

Maybe Liz you would support some immigration reform , you bitch about not having enough servers in your entitled selfish world , oh and you are against mask wearing too , how trumpian of you, the pandemic is all a hoax to you , just dont get sick out there might not be any hospital beds for you . The drs and nurses are sick and tired of taking care of anti mask anti vax selfish repubs Go claim your Darwin Award .

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Liz Peek

8 months ago

Liz Peek

Progressives got hammered on Election Day- but that was only the latest big defeat. What does this mean for Dems? Can Joe pivot? (spoiler-probably not)
www.foxnews.com/opinion/progressive-drubbing-biden-pivot-changing-guard-liz-peek
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Liz Peek: Progressives' drubbing opens door to (unlikely) Biden pivot, changing of the guard

They may not know it yet, but the ultra-liberal cabal that has choked Democrat politics and humiliated spineless party leaders like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has lost its mojo.

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Liz have you not heard latest on the “russia collusion” “steele dossier” Fiona Hill???
Or are you a typical msm reporter?

Liz Peek

8 months ago

Liz Peek

Joe Biden wanted to be an historic president- and he has done that. Worst ratings slide of any president since WWII.
He (or whoever is running WH) doesn’t care about voters’ top issues – instead Team Biden obsessing about climate change, gender and race.
No wonder he’s in trouble!
www.foxnews.com/opinion/biden-polls-ignoring-voter-concerns-liz-peek
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Liz Peek: Biden vs. Americans – his priorities, like climate change, ignore top worries of most voters

Voters are worried about inflation, jobs, crime, education and our open border, while the Biden White House is laser-focused on climate change, transgender rights, racism and reducing inequality.

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The great days turned to very bad days in less than a year.
Congress needs a flip to GOP next year to stop the craziness

Climate change is important.
The GOP may not care about it now, but their children will.
He is trying to get an infrastructure bill through.
He has had issues with Afghanistan, but what else could he do
The people who are taking over Afghanistan were released by the previous administration.
I am sure that Biden is not perfect but he is better than Trump.

Your bias is ridiculous. Makes you a bad writer. Btw avg teacher pay is way above 31000. Sensationalize much?

#LetsGoBrandon

Joebama

www.facebook.com/1218170708/posts/10226625535324074/

worst ratings only from a side thats ignorant to the truth. the effects of coming off a pandemic with oil companies profitting off the pumps in order to pay their shareholders back from profits lost. inflation effects the entire world but of course your base doesnt pull their heads out their asses for one second to look around and use common sense. keep spreading bullshit and weakening our country til it no longer functions as a democracy….bc i see through your fake Christian patriotic pow wows. you are the opposite of ehat you claim and you are the definition of what you claim your rivals are. deflection, projection, hypocrisy. 3 words that sum you up

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