‘We should privatize anything that can reasonably be privatized,’ says Elon Musk, criticizing US rail system

ISTANBUL

Under fire over having to withdraw claims of government savings along with charges of reckless firings, billionaire Elon Musk doubled down, pushing to privatize both passenger railways and the US Postal Service.

"We should privatize anything that can reasonably be privatized," said Musk, US President Donald Trump’s biggest campaign donor and now head of the unofficial Department of Government Efficiency, a controversial cost-cutting team.

Making a virtual appearance at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom conference, Musk called the state of US passenger rail "embarrassing," saying it is far behind other countries and citing China’s bullet trains as an example of far superior infrastructure. Musk, who has no experience in government service, did not mention the comparative budgets of the countries’ passenger railways.

“Amtrak is a sad situation. It’s like, if you’re coming from another country, please don’t use our national rail. It can leave you with a very bad impression of America,” Musk said.

Musk argued that without the possibility of bankruptcy, there’s no effective feedback loop for improvement.

After boasting online of his team’s efforts to cut government spending, in recent weeks Musk had to take down dozens of claims amounting to billions of dollars, admitting that some were posted multiple times or were for contracts that ended before Trump came to office on Jan. 20.

Critics also charge that mass firings championed by Musk are both unlawful – as the money was allocated by Congress, which has that sole power under the Constitution – and reckless, as large numbers of workers have been fired in such critical areas as disaster relief, nuclear safety, and fighting infectious disease.