I just finished reading a biography on Musk. It was not written by Musk and he actually didn’t want it published.
Musk doesn’t take a salary. By law he’s paid minimum wage but doesn’t cash the checks. Everything he has is invested in his companies. He borrows against the stock to pay his expenses. His interest in money is so he can fund ever bigger projects to benefit mankind.
His companies are successful due to extremely enthusiastic employees and customers, not subsidies. People who only focus on subsidies to satisfy their confirmation bias are missing out on one of the greatest American success stories of all time.
Glad someone else understands.
Musk IS brilliant. Any sensible research into him shows he has a deep understanding of the science and is seriously devoted to a lofty goal which will greatly advance science, engineering, and humanity. He’s leveraging what he legitimately can to earn the ENORMOUS sums needed to pull off his large-scale goals.
Very nice electric cars are being built at reasonable costs. (If you don’t want one, don’t buy one. I want one.)
Very good rockets are being launched at reasonable costs - actually astoundingly low costs, as reusability was practically unthinkable a couple years ago.