A Billionaire Feud That Hides a Much Bigger Lie
The U.S. tax debate has turned into a spectacle. Donald Trump promises that his proposed tax cuts will “unleash growth” and pay for themselves. Elon Musk, one of the world’s richest men, calls it madness—warning that America is marching toward bankruptcy.
The media spins it as a clash of titans: Trump the populist vs. Musk the technocrat. But this isn’t a fight about numbers. It’s a fight for symbolic dominance in a collapsing system. And while both men throw punches, the real enemy escapes untouched:
The myth that economic growth will save us.
The Dangerous Fantasy: Growth Will Pay the Bills
Trump claims that cutting taxes will supercharge business activity, create jobs, and produce enough economic expansion to offset the growing national debt. It’s a promise we’ve heard for decades—from Reaganomics to Bush-era tax cuts to Trump’s own 2017 plan. And it’s never worked.
Each time the deficit grows. Each time the benefits flow upward. Each time the burden is deferred.
Growth has become the default excuse for fiscal irresponsibility. And not just for Trump. Politicians across the ideological spectrum invoke it as a magic wand—able to justify spending, avoid difficult reforms, and dodge structural questions.
But growth is not a policy. It’s a myth that no longer fits the world we live in.
Why Growth Is No Longer the Answer
1. Demographics Have Turned
Aging populations in the U.S., Europe, and China mean slower consumption and fewer workers. You can’t grow endlessly when your core economic engine—people—is slowing down.
2. Debt Saturation
We’re in an era where more borrowing doesn’t lead to more productivity. It just inflates asset bubbles. The marginal return on debt has collapsed.
3. Ecological Breakdown
There are hard planetary limits. You can’t grow your way out of debt if the climate, soil, water, and biodiversity are collapsing under the weight of expansion.
4. Technological Decoupling
Tech growth now enriches the few without creating mass employment. GDP can rise while wages stagnate and social cohesion erodes.
5. Global Contraction of Demand
We live in a saturated, post-industrial world. More goods, more ads, and more debt don’t create stable demand. They create fragility.
The Loop of Delusion
The growth myth persists not because it works—but because it performs well.
- Trump performs power: “Only I can grow the economy.”
- Musk performs rationality: “The numbers don’t add up.”
- Congress performs optimism: “It will all work out.”
Everyone is stuck in a recognition loop, where political capital is earned by promising expansion—not truth.
But real economies don’t respond to applause. They respond to physics, demographics, and ecological feedback. And none of those are voting for growth anymore.
What Happens If We Keep Believing the Myth?
- Public debt balloons into unpayable obligations.
- Essential services erode, masked by temporary booms.
- Social inequality grows, as elites capture what little growth remains.
- Trust collapses, as promises fail and reality bites back.
- Ecological limits are breached, leading to collapse that GDP won’t fix.
In short: the longer we believe growth will save us, the more unprepared we are for the crash that follows.
What We Need Instead: A Post-Growth Transition
It’s time to stop chanting “growth” like a spell and start designing for resilience, balance, and form.
- Rethink taxation: not to punish success, but to rebalance structural contributions and end extraction without responsibility.
- Redefine prosperity: not as expansion, but as sufficiency, access, and stability.
- Invest in repair, not replacement: in public infrastructure, in ecosystems, in trust.
- Break the recognition loop: where value comes from performance, and shift toward contribution that serves the long term.
Conclusion: The Real Feud Isn’t Musk vs. Trump—It’s Truth vs. Illusion
The clash between Musk and Trump is just a ritualized conflict between two types of illusion:
- Trump still believes in symbolic dominance through empty promises.
- Musk still believes the rich can escape collapse by thinking smarter.
But the real fight is between a civilization that clings to growth—and a planet, a society, and a debt system that can’t take it anymore.
The time has come to admit it: growth won’t save us. It’s not a solution. It’s the last illusion we must break before the real work can begin.
