Look, I’m not the biggest Elon fan but this is absolutely fucking moronic.
This doofish “analysis” lumps together three very different things. Tesla’s carbon credits aren’t tax dollars and have nothing to do with taxes. They’re paid by other automakers, including in China and the EU, that miss emissions targets. Most of the rest is SpaceX contracts, which pay for actual launches, crew flights and satellite service, very often cheaper than the alternatives. That’s no more “milking” than Boeing or Lockheed getting paid for what they build (also highly subsidized by these standards!). By any count, the total is dwarfed by the auto bailout, and fossil fuels get roughly that much in federal support every damn year. And his fortune is mostly stock in his companies, not government checks. The only fair critique is that public money was crucial to SpaceX and Tesla surviving early on, which is hypocritical when contrasted with Musk’s attacks on government spending.
And you know what, I am absolutely fine with public money going towards advancing the interests of the nation and improving tech; that makes everyone’s life better. We should have industrial policy and it should do things like this (and far, far more). Subsidies aren’t inherently bad1. They are how we get more of what we want and need.
I do agree that no one should be allowed to be as rich as Elon, but that’s not what this is talking about.
I just do not understand why otherwise-smart people wish to beclown themselves this way. It is undignified.