Elon Musk Slams Biden, Channels Milton Friedman: “Nothing is More Permanent Than a Temporary Government Program”

Elon Musk channeled Milton Friedman on Wednesday, taking to Twitter to declare that “Nothing is more permanent than a “temporary” government program,” which is a well-known saying of Friedman’s that President Reagan often used.

Nothing is more permanent than a “temporary” government program

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 8, 2021

The comment, part of Musk’s blistering campaign of tweets against the Biden Administration’s recent policies, most of all the Build Back Better bill and its massive price tag.

Earlier in the week, he had bashed the bill, saying that the Senate shouldn’t pass it, as the Daily Wire reports:

Billionaire technology entrepreneur Elon Musk reportedly trashed President Joe Biden’s “Build Back Better” proposal on Monday at The Wall Street Journal’s annual CEO Council, the Independent reported. Musk told attendees that the Senate should not pass the massive spending plan and that the bill would add an “insane” amount to the country’s deficit.

Then, later in the week, he shared a Wharton analysis of the bill. That analysis says that:

We evaluate the Act under two scenarios. In the first scenario, PWBM presents the spending and revenue provisions ‘as written’ in the legislative text where certain provisions sunset within the 10-year budget window. Under this scenario, we project that the long-run trajectory of public debt would be 1.5 percent larger and that GDP would be 0.2 percent lower in 2050 relative to baseline projections.

Under the second scenario, we assume that temporary provisions of the proposal are extended permanently. We find that, against baseline projections, government debt would be more than 24 percent larger in 2050 and GDP would be about 3 percent lower in the same year.

If “temporary” provisions in the Build Back Better Act become permanent, US national debt will increase by 24%! https://t.co/kKdpc45JoB

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 8, 2021

It was on the thread following his sharing of that analysis that he ended up echoing Friedman.

And Elon’s right. Whether they’re technically “temporary” or not, the massive cost of the bill will be a permanent burden on the American public. As the Daily Wire reports:

In its current state, the group says that the legislation will increase federal deficits by $800 billion over the next five years and $200 billion through 2031. If provisions of the legislation are made permanent, however, deficits would rise by $3 trillion over the next decade, they claim.