There’s a story doing the rounds about SpaceX’s IPO and the growing unease among Americans who’ve realised their retirement savings may now be quietly tied to Elon Musk’s ambitions. The reaction online has ranged from resigned shrugging to genuine alarm. Both seem appropriate.

The short version: SpaceX went public, got fast-tracked into the Nasdaq 100 at a speed that bypassed the usual rules, and now sits inside index funds that millions of Americans hold in their 401k accounts. Whether they wanted exposure to Musk or not is, for many of them, beside the point. The structure made the choice for them.