As Elon Musk Becomes a Trillionaire, Report Highlights 'Darker Realities' of His Texas SpaceX Fiefdom

Elon Musk became the world's first trillionaire on Friday, as his private space exploration firm SpaceX became a publicly traded company with a market cap of $2 trillion despite reporting negative net income for two of the last three years.

To mark this occasion, The New York Times published an essay by journalist Amy Gamerman, who has spent the last several months documenting life in Starbase, Texas, a city built by Musk to house SpaceX employees.

Gamerman wrote that it's best to think of Starbase as a corporate fiefdom that has been granted extraordinary treatment by Texas' state government.

"One new Texas law makes interfering with Starbase’s operations potentially punishable with jail time," the journalist explained. "Another allows the company to shut down the highway into town and to the beach at the mayor’s discretion. Another shields SpaceX, and by extension Starbase, from lawsuits by neighbors over nuisance caused by its rockets."

While the community of nearly 600 people appears idyllic, Gamerman found there are several "darker realities" lying beneath the surface, with one resident who wished to remain anonymous saying that Starbase is "like living in a dictatorship" where people fear raising concerns will lead to retaliation by the company.

Another disturbing aspect outlined in Gamerman's essay is the way that Starbase seemingly operates outside the laws and norms of the rest of society.

For example, the city has now erected electronic gates on every single road leading to Starbase Village, the main center of the city where SpaceX employees live and that is cut off from other parts of the community.

"Those who live outside the gates of Starbase Village... often feel shut out," wrote Gamerman. "Amber Pompa said her father, Homer Pompa, a disabled veteran who lives near Starbase Village, has no access to the restaurants or any other buildings there. And as Starbase expands, new gates have gone up in other parts of town."

Gamerman also highlighted the story of Jose Luis Bautista Jr., a 25-year-old construction worker who died in an accident in Starbase last month. When the nearby city of Brownsville dispatched an ambulance to take Bautista to a hospital, Starbase officials denied it access and said their own emergency medical services were handling the situation.

The incident, noted Gamerman, is being investigated by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

Taking a look at the broader picture, Gamerman expressed concern that Musk becoming a trillionaire could allow him to expand his vision of billionaire-owned cities across the US.

"Mr. Musk’s bid for planetary reach is about to be turbocharged with billions of dollars of rocket fuel," the journalist concluded. "Who will suffer the fallout if it all blows up?"