Barry Ritholtz, Columnist

Elon Musk: Visionary or Rent-Seeker?

People don't mind income inequality if it results from hard work and creativity; they object if it results from government favors.

February 28, 2014 at 1:50 PM UTC

By Barry Ritholtz

Barry Ritholtz is a former Bloomberg Opinion columnist. He is chairman and chief investment officer of Ritholtz Wealth Management, and was previously chief market strategist at Maxim Group. He is the author of “Bailout Nation.”

Is this man a brilliant innovator or a master at profiting from government? Photographer: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg

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Income inequality has been a big theme in U.S. politics and economics recently. We discussed a mathematical anomaly about the 0.01 percent earlier in the month. A number of folks have offered up defenses of the wealthiest Americans, but they seem -- like this rote piece from former Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Greg Mankiw -- half-hearted and wimpy.

What got me thinking about this recently was an intriguing article by University of Houston professor Craig Pirrong. In "The Rent Seeker, Posing as Visionary,'' Pirrong criticized the long line of government-support programs that Elon Musk's many companies seem to be involved in.