Intermarkets' Privacy Policy
Support


Donate to Ace of Spades HQ!



Recent Entries
Absent Friends
Bandersnatch 2024
GnuBreed 2024
Captain Hate 2023
moon_over_vermont 2023
westminsterdogshow 2023
Ann Wilson(Empire1) 2022
Dave In Texas 2022
Jesse in D.C. 2022
OregonMuse 2022
redc1c4 2021
Tami 2021
Chavez the Hugo 2020
Ibguy 2020
Rickl 2019
Joffen 2014
AoSHQ Writers Group
A site for members of the Horde to post their stories seeking beta readers, editing help, brainstorming, and story ideas. Also to share links to potential publishing outlets, writing help sites, and videos posting tips to get published. Contact OrangeEnt for info:
maildrop62 at proton dot me
Cutting The Cord And Email Security
Moron Meet-Ups





















« Sunday Morning Book Thread 08-11-2013: Modern Weaponry, Good and Bad [OregonMuse] | Main | Gun Thread (8-11-2013) »
August 11, 2013

Elon Musk Unveils His Latest Taxpayer Boondoggle

It works like this: 1) He comes up with a big idea. 2) You pay for it. 3) He takes a huge cut. 4) It never becomes economically sustainable.

But that's not the point. The point is putting extremely large amounts of money in Elon Musk's pockets.

Yes, once upon a time Musk started a real business, Paypal, that proved very successful without any government help. That was then, this is now.

Musk has three ventures: Tesla, SpaceX, and SolarCity. All are heavily dependent on government largesse.

Take Tesla for starters. It received the $465 mm loan from DOE, but it also benefits from a $7500/car federal subsidy for electric cars. Moreover, it benefits from the State of California’s Zero Emissions Credit program. In its infinite wisdom, CA mandated that all the major auto companies sell a certain number of zero emissions vehicles. If they don’t they have to buy credits from companies that do make them-namely, Tesla. This was also essential in putting the company in the black in Q1, and the company is sitting on $250 mm worth of these credits.

IOW, Tesla’s profits are courtesy of you, the taxpayer-and also courtesy of the shareholders of Ford (F), GM, Toyota (TM), Honda (HMC), etc.

Next consider SpaceX. This venture provides evidence of Musk’s love for Occupy: he has promised that this private space venture will go to Mars, and wears an Occupy Mars shirt to make the point.

It is also touted as a privately capitalized space venture, which it is, I guess, but it is also almost completely dependent on government contracts. The private money is attracted by the scent of public money. Sorry, but a company that is dependent on NASA’s IV for support is not truly a private company: the company is basically a cutout between the investors and the taxpayers. . . .

Elon Musk has a plan to get rich. It involves you. The taxpayer. You pay taxes. The government gives huge dollops of that money to Elon. Elon gets rich. Who could possibly object? Who could deny Elon’s genius?

His Your latest venture? An ultra-expensive pneumatic subshuttle, like the one in Gene Roddenberry's Genesis II. Check out the article and the video at the link.

Mr Musk will not be patenting the design and it will be “open source”, meaning anyone can modify it, or try to build it.

That's nice of him not to patent a design that was essentially created in 1812. Sure, he wants this one to be a maglev (low friction magnetic levitation with magnets and superconductors) and to go much faster, but still...

It's not exactly a new idea. Recall that IBM couldn't enforce a patent for the personal computer, since it was just a collection of other familiar technologies. But Elon Musk has a big heart, and he will generously make this project open source. Just give him lots of money.

You have to give him credit for one thing: selling grandiose dreams to idiots. Maybe we shouldn't give him the money on this one? If it's such a great idea, we will be doing him a favor. We can let him develop it.

Follow me on Twitter.

Thanks to commenter J.J. Sefton for the Beach link.


digg this
posted by rdbrewer at 11:29 AM

| Access Comments




Recent Comments
Warai-otoko: "During the Italian Campaign in WWII, the army foun ..."

J. Frank Parnell: "360 Tom Noonan was a terrifying Dolarhyde A g ..."

A dude in MI: "Mule Team 6 ..."

TheJamesMadison, terrorizing teenagers with Michael Myers: "374 Might be the turning point. Posted by: whig a ..."

Ganowicz Commie Exterminators, LTD.: "Kum-dumpster is going on the Howard Stern show thi ..."

sniffybigtoe: "Funny thing about that FEMA money, they send you ..."

Sandra Fluke: "[I]What used to be a 20 ft wide stream is now 50 f ..."

Gref: "356 A new CCC might be in order, to put people bac ..."

Joe Kidd: "167 Jesus fucking Criminy... I got an iBuddy in ..."

zigggggy: "354 I still don’t believe there are any elec ..."

Rufus T. Firefly: "@211: Posted by: Puddleglum, cheer up for the wors ..."

It's me donna : "376 Kum-dumpster is going on the Howard Stern show ..."

Recent Entries
Search


Polls! Polls! Polls!
Frequently Asked Questions
The (Almost) Complete Paul Anka Integrity Kick
Top Top Tens
Greatest Hitjobs

The Ace of Spades HQ Sex-for-Money Skankathon
A D&D Guide to the Democratic Candidates
Margaret Cho: Just Not Funny
More Margaret Cho Abuse
Margaret Cho: Still Not Funny
Iraqi Prisoner Claims He Was Raped... By Woman
Wonkette Announces "Morning Zoo" Format
John Kerry's "Plan" Causes Surrender of Moqtada al-Sadr's Militia
World Muslim Leaders Apologize for Nick Berg's Beheading
Michael Moore Goes on Lunchtime Manhattan Death-Spree
Milestone: Oliver Willis Posts 400th "Fake News Article" Referencing Britney Spears
Liberal Economists Rue a "New Decade of Greed"
Artificial Insouciance: Maureen Dowd's Word Processor Revolts Against Her Numbing Imbecility
Intelligence Officials Eye Blogs for Tips
They Done Found Us Out, Cletus: Intrepid Internet Detective Figures Out Our Master Plan
Shock: Josh Marshall Almost Mentions Sarin Discovery in Iraq
Leather-Clad Biker Freaks Terrorize Australian Town
When Clinton Was President, Torture Was Cool
What Wonkette Means When She Explains What Tina Brown Means
Wonkette's Stand-Up Act
Wankette HQ Gay-Rumors Du Jour
Here's What's Bugging Me: Goose and Slider
My Own Micah Wright Style Confession of Dishonesty
Outraged "Conservatives" React to the FMA
An On-Line Impression of Dennis Miller Having Sex with a Kodiak Bear
The Story the Rightwing Media Refuses to Report!
Our Lunch with David "Glengarry Glen Ross" Mamet
The House of Love: Paul Krugman
A Michael Moore Mystery (TM)
The Dowd-O-Matic!
Liberal Consistency and Other Myths
Kepler's Laws of Liberal Media Bias
John Kerry-- The Splunge! Candidate
"Divisive" Politics & "Attacks on Patriotism" (very long)
The Donkey ("The Raven" parody)
Powered by
Movable Type 2.64