Posted on 12/28/2021 8:33:17 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Conservatives have enjoyed Elon Musk's behavior in recent weeks, blasting Elizabeth Warren, opposing lockdowns, and insulting CNN, but the giddiness spewing from conservatives about Musk is foolish.
To those embracing Elon Musk's political conversion, remember that Musk has been one of the most prominent advocates of the continuous scam known as climate change. Like Bill Gates and Al Gore, Musk is an extremely wealthy man who fattens his own pockets through propagating climate change. And like those other rich guys, Musk doesn't refrain from using private jets to fly around the world to save it.
In 2018, Elon Musk reportedly donated $6 Million to the Sierra Club while writing, "Thank you for fighting climate change. This affects every living creature on earth." Once merely an environmental advocacy group, the Sierra Club has since evolved to promote other left-wing issues from pushing for mass immigration and abortion.
Musk also has no reservations about whispering sweet-nothings to communists by praising China as "more responsible" than the U.S. and said that Chinese government officials could "possibly" be "more responsible" for their citizen's happiness than America is.
In May, Musk tweeted a call for a Carbon Tax and spoke with the Biden administration about implementing it. Musk demanding the government to take money from taxpayers should come as no surprise because Musk's companies received at least $4.9 billion in government subsidies – as of 2015! Therein lies perhaps Musk's most incredible skill: enriching himself with the government's help.
While government subsidies are not exclusive to one industry, what sets Elon Musk apart is not only his ability to exploit taxpayers but to use government guns to extort his competitors through "regulatory credits."
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
How long do you think earth’s reserves of lithium, cobalt, neodymium, etc will last? How long do you think earth’s supply of coal and natural gas will last since EVs are fueled mostly by coal and natural gas?
Oh let’s just face it. EV supporters and consumers are totally independent of every other method of energy suppliers and as such are way above average intelligence.
Those of us who support fossil fuel as clearly the best ability to stabilize food production and distribution, transportation, dependable energy etc are just uneducated idiots /S
Freepers often have rich envy
He takes subsidies
So do farmers
Do we hate all them
It’s a long list
Musk put all of his then 150 million and then some into Space X ..four launches ....and almost lost it all
His views on climate change are that it’s irrelevant whether it’s man made or anyone believes it
We will run out of oil at some point so why not look for alternatives with more supply
His biggest goal is Mars.....that’s his legacy.....
I’ve studied him
He’s imperfect but far more on our side than not
Ballsy
Likes pretty women
And outspoken against woke culture
His mind constantly produces ideas
If we keep burning fossil fuels at our current rate, it is generally estimated that all our fossil fuels will be depleted by 2060. New reserves will probably be found before this point, extending the deadline somewhat, but inevitably fossil fuels are going to run out one day sooner or later. We are going to have to move on to other sources one day.
The only thing that is in doubt is the time.
As for where our electric power is going to come from after that, there are plenty of other sources...hydroelectric power,solar power, even the new nuclear power etc etc.
See # 44
I don’t object to his spending HIS money on space, but since he seems to run primarily on government subsidies paid for by us I do object to where he gets his money. If all these so-called alternative energy sources had to compete in a fair market environment, Musk and his Teslas would never have gotten off the ground. A lot of people seem to forget that batteries only STORE energy (and not all that much of it) that’s produced mostly by fossil fuels.
—”biggest welfare queen in the history of the country.”
Or maybe not.
Tesla raked in $2.5 billion, mostly from states.
Boing $15.3B
GM $8.3B
Ford $5.7B
Walt Disney $2B
Foxconn Technology $4.8B Headquartered in Taiwan
https://subsidytracker.goodjobsfirst.org/top-100-parents
For example, the federal grants and contracts that were the foundation for Space-X and remain a major part of its business were to service NASA missions and other compelling federal launch needs. Lockheed-Martin and Boeing did not make a serious effort to develop new launch technology because they already had a fat, exploitive duopoly in the launch business.
Yet Musk did what few thought possible and as a newcomer applying available technology, drove down launch costs with reusable boosters, powered by small clustered engines using a cheap LOX-kerosene fuel load. Musk thereby reshaped the entire space business to the benefit of everyone except smug executives at Lockheed-Martin and Boeing.
Yup, Musk is a climate change believer, but is that really a mark against him? That is a standard belief among America's educated class, but says little about him as a businessman. Just why are Musk and Tesla to be slammed for benefitting from electric car tax credits but not the big, established auto-makers now entering that market?
To Musk's credit, he is a genuine entrepreneur and business pioneer of the first order. And, best of all, he sometimes openly says and does conservative things. Yeah, Musk is also a bit squirrelly, but I like him and cheer him on.
“In 2018, Elon Musk reportedly donated $6 Million to the Sierra Club...”
Which he probably turned around and wrote off as a business expense. The more people get hysterical about the climate, the more cars he can sell.
Musk isn’t a conservative warrior. Nope, he isn’t. But right now, given how radically dangerous (totalitarian) the left has become, I will take as many Allies of convenience as I can get. But I will count them for what they are worth.
Bill Maher? Happy to have him along in the fight against cancel culture. But I won’t be counting on him as a MAGA supporter. Still, cancel culture must be cancelled.
RFK, Jr? Happy to have him a long to end the worship of Fauci. This guy is doing the work that needs to be done. His book is a dagger. But a guy who would support your local GOP candidate for dog catcher? No.
Musk? I’ll take him on my side to fight against Lizzy Warren’s class warfare. But is Elon going to donate his millions to my side, likely not.
I wonder what the government’s ethanol requirements have cost the public. They were brought in for energy independence but are no longer needed for that purpose so the justification has switched to being “renewable” energy. But if one is lobbying for and receiving the benefits of the government’s ethanol policy, well that sounds like a welfare queen to me, regardless of ideology with respect to other issues.
Not quite. His stuff works. Spacex has saved the taxpayer far more in the cost of launch services than the value of any tax credits, etc. that Musk has gotten.
And the reason the Chinese are taking Musk on is because he has shown the moribund US aerospace industry, the AF, Space Force and NASA how technological innovation works. Without the example of SPACEX, the Chinese would have streaked way ahead of us by now.
Musk is just one of many doing this. Gates, Buffett, T. Boone Pickens and more.
Buffet publicly said he wouldn’t have touched wind farms but the subsidy guaranteed a profit so he couldn’t resist.
There’s nothing wrong with making money legally. Every person that puts solar panels up does the same thing.
“how long do you think the earth’s reserves of fossil fuels will last?”
We’ll still be driving gasoline cars when Jesus comes back, and after that it will be irrelevant.
The government money was available. I don’t blame him for taking it. Other companies are also taking it.
Elon Musk at least used it TO CREATE SOMETHING THAT WORKED.
This is far, far more bang for the buck than we usually get from taxpayer boondoggles.
If every dollar given to companies was used THIS PRODUCTIVELY we would be sitting in a utopia.
BUT I AM STILL AGAINST GOVERNMENT FUNDING. I am just saying he used it well.
Right on cue let the Hating begin.
I would rather it be a private enterprise than funneling billions of dollars thru NASA to all its century old military contractors. Rockets and high explosives are fun. The government shouldnt be the only ones who get to play them.
Elon Musk is data driven. When Climate change data eventually shows CO2 has nothing to do with temperature variations, he is going to be one of the first people to blurt it out.
Electric cars are more “efficient” than gasoline powered cars and he has stated he initially developed electric cars because he was afraid we would run out of fossil fuels. He was working on Tesla, BEFORE the frakking revolution that got us oil from rocks.
Elon is not a True Believer, he is a engineer. None of the predictions of global warming alarmists are coming true, and Elon will call out the cranks, which will cause true believer’s heads to explode.
I’m not a fanboy, but I can tell when a guy gives no F’s. Elon gives none.
And thats over half of what he actually made this year. I would be radically pissed off if I had to pay 50% tax on anything. He should have a valid say in what is done with that much free government money.
NASA had the Eruopeans launch their latest space telescope from Guyanna. I wonder what that cost the US taxpayer.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.