Elon Musk accused federal workers of 'getting wealthy at taxpayer expense' even as his companies have accepted at least $20 billion in government aid | Fortune
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BYIrina Ivanova Elon Musk speaks in the Oval Office on Tuesday, Feb. 11, about cost-cutting efforts across the federal government.JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images
His space exploration company SpaceX has received over $20 billion from the federal government over the past 15 years, according to federal spending records . SpaceX CEO Gwynne Shotwell has said that the company has $22 billion in government contracts, Reuters reported . EV company Tesla , whose stock makes up the bulk of Musk’s nearly $400 billion net worth, has benefited from $2.8 billion in tax subsidies or grants, according to subsidy tracker Good Jobs First . The Los Angeles Times calculated in 2015 that Musk’s empire of companies, which includes Tesla, SpaceX, SolarCity and The Boring Company, took in nearly $5 billion in tax breaks.
Most of the claims I see of waste, fraud, and abuse in government are really just about spending that someone disapproves of. In that vein, we present Elon Musk, who claims to be saving the country by getting rid of thousands of productive government employees, freezing foreign aid he doesn’t understand, or fretting about 1% of Social Security payments. Meanwhile, he has raked in many Billions of dollars from the federal government and I guess we are supposed to assume that none of that is wasteful (depending on how you define “waste”).
We could at least ask if this spending is a good idea. Is it necessary for the country?
Take Tesla. The Trump administration seems very motivated to attack all things “green energy” including electric vehicles, but not Tesla?
Or SpaceX. Why are we giving billions to SpaceX? SpaceX makes and launches rockets, which is super cool, but they do charge for carrying stuff into space. Do they really need the help? SpaceX actually makes most of its money on Starlink, their satellite internet service.
That’s all cool, but why is the American taxpayer paying for it? So we can go to the moon? What for? I think going to the moon is neat, but if I have to choose between that and something else - say, lower medical bills, I think I’m choosing the latter.
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Elon Musk speaks in the Oval Office on Tuesday, Feb. 11, about cost-cutting efforts across the federal government.JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images
Most of the claims I see of waste, fraud, and abuse in government are really just about spending that someone disapproves of. In that vein, we present Elon Musk, who claims to be saving the country by getting rid of thousands of productive government employees, freezing foreign aid he doesn’t understand, or fretting about 1% of Social Security payments. Meanwhile, he has raked in many Billions of dollars from the federal government and I guess we are supposed to assume that none of that is wasteful (depending on how you define “waste”).
We could at least ask if this spending is a good idea. Is it necessary for the country?
Take Tesla. The Trump administration seems very motivated to attack all things “green energy” including electric vehicles, but not Tesla?
Or SpaceX. Why are we giving billions to SpaceX? SpaceX makes and launches rockets, which is super cool, but they do charge for carrying stuff into space. Do they really need the help? SpaceX actually makes most of its money on Starlink, their satellite internet service.
That’s all cool, but why is the American taxpayer paying for it? So we can go to the moon? What for? I think going to the moon is neat, but if I have to choose between that and something else - say, lower medical bills, I think I’m choosing the latter.