Elon Musk is trying to slash US federal spending, but he has received
more than $38 billion (€36.2 billion) in aid, funding and government
orders over 20 years on behalf of his Tesla car company (nearly $15.7
billion) and his SpaceX aerospace company (around $22.6 billion). This
is the amount determined by The Washington Post in a lengthy
investigation published on Wednesday, February 26. Two-thirds of these
sums have been pledged over the past five years.

These subsidies, largely obtained under the presidency of Joe Biden (2021-2025), can be explained by the fact that Musk has invested in two
sectors supported by the public authorities: the electric transition of
the automobile and, above all, space, since the US wishes to return to
the conquest of the Moon.

The origins of his success are well known. In the 2000s, he pursued two projects at the same time: electric cars and space. On several
occasions, the company came close to bankruptcy and barely survived.
First, Tesla went into near-bankruptcy after the great financial crisis
of 2008, which also saw the collapse of the major Detroit automakers. On
the brink of collapse, the automaker was rescued successively by
Germany's Daimler, the federal government and Toyota. "Daimler invested
$50 million in May 2009, which saved us. Without them, it would have
been game over. I want to say thank you," Musk reminded his shareholders
in 2016.

In January 2010, the Department of Energy granted him a $465 million
repayable loan. And then the miracle happened: Toyota and General
Motors, hit by the crisis, abandoned their gigantic Fremont plant in California, on San Francisco Bay, which Elon Musk bought for $42 million
– even though it was valued at $1 billion.

During this same period, SpaceX was suffering one setback after another.
Until, in September 2008, the company finally managed to successfully
launch one of its rockets. The timing was excellent: As NASA's space
shuttle had failed so many times, the US needed new launchers, and the president at the time, George W. Bush, wanted to turn to the private
sector to cut costs.

In the midst of the interregnum between presidents Bush and Obama, and
with the financial crisis sweeping through the global economy, NASA
issued a statement just before Christmas, on December 23, 2008: SpaceX
had been awarded $1.6 billion by the space agency to carry out 12
flights to the International Space Station, based on the single
successful launch in September.

"And I just want to say that I'm incredibly grateful to NASA for
supporting SpaceX, despite the fact that our rocket crashed. It was
awesome, I'm NASA's biggest fan," Musk said, in 2016, at the
International Astronautical Congress, in Guadalajara (Mexico). "NASA
saved him," Musk's fellow traveler Jim Cantrell told Le Monde in 2021, believing that "the American taxpayer [had] got an excellent deal."
"NASA has spent $50 billion on its own launch vehicle program. That's a
ratio of 1 to 50 compared to Musk." If he succeeded and left competitors
like Jeff Bezos and the US space agency itself in the lurch, it's
because he was the most successful.

The 2010s were the years of the rise to power. Musk pocketed local
subsidies in a country plagued by deindustrialization, where everyone
was trying to attract factories with subsidies and tax credits. In
particular, the Tesla boss was building a battery factory in Nevada, and
had obtained tax subsidies of around $1.3 billion from this western US
state.

In all, the automaker has received nearly $16 billion in aid. According
to The Washington Post, around $11.4 billion of this came from the sale
of carbon credits to other carmakers, penalized by their inability to go electric – this windfall is due to the public authorities, but is not
paid for by the taxpayer. Its sales have been boosted by a $7,500
federal tax credit for buyers of electric vehicles. Musk has called for
an end to this consumer credit, claiming that his rivals need the
incentive more than Tesla.

Over the years, the man has become the undisputed leader in space, and
the preferred supplier to both the Department of Defense and NASA.

As early as 2016, his rival Bezos was annoyed. "Elon's real superpower
is getting government money," the Amazon founder was quoted as saying in
a meeting at the time, according to The Washington Post. "From now on,
we go after everything that SpaceX bids on." Except that Bezos hasn't
been able to catch up with Musk, Boeing has been unable to bring back astronauts stranded on the International Space Station, and SpaceX, led
by Gwynne Shotwell, is the most successful company in the business.
"Musk's relationships with government agencies have at times been
mutually beneficial: His ventures have pioneered new markets that have
advanced US government goals, including space exploration and the
expansion of electric vehicles," said The Post.

https://www.lemonde.fr/en/economy/article/2025/02/27/elon-musk-s-empire-has-benefited-from-38-billion-in-contracts-and-government-aid_6738618_19.html

Hmmm. No wonder Musk turned MAGA. Will DOGE scrap contracts made with
Bezos? Bezos has also kissed the ring recently.

Sounds more like Moscow than Washington. At least that's how it used to be.

--
“We need to acknowledge he let us down. He went down a path he shouldn’t have, and we shouldn’t have followed him. We shouldn’t have listened to him, and we can’t let that happen ever again”.
-- Nikki Haley

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)