Elon Musk.....one of the richest men in the US that has never had a successful business.
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Got my respect. Trauma treatment in the ER has to be one of the most diverse tests of an overall medical professional and underappreciated. Specialties are one thing, the ability to shift the focus from one field like a broken limb, to a pulmonary issue, to a heart issue in one evening gives a broad spectrum of medical knowledge.
My aunt spent over 20 years in the ER at one of the hospitals you worked at.
Paypal worked out okay.
Forgot about that one. He is reportedly the most government financed entrepreneur that never made any of them profitable I should have said. He has used government handouts to make himself rich.
Elon Musk and his corporate empire, much of it financed by taxpayer dollars, is very much in the news. Most of it is not good. And it may be getting worse.
Tesla spends $1 million annually on Washington lobbyists. Its cars are financed by over $280 million in federal tax incentives, including a $7,500 federal tax break and millions more in state rebates and development fees. SpaceX has also received over $5 billion in government support. It has over promised and under delivered. SpaceX rockets, for example, are far less reliable than many of its competitors. This is outlined in reports from December 2017 and January 2018 in which the Department of Defense Inspector General and NASA's Aerospace Safety Advisory Council described a list of security concerns they have with SpaceX, among them 33 significant non-conformities.
Bloomberg Business News reported in November about a Tesla solar factory for which the State of New York paid $750 million based on a commitment to create 1,500 jobs. The factory had been developed for another Musk-run company, SolarCity, which Tesla bought in 2016 in a $2.6 billion deal. SolarCity had been $2.9 billion in debt. Only a relative handful of jobs have been created, and New York officials are expressing dismay. Raymond Walter, a Republican in the New York State Assembly, says he is concerned that the state "has too many eggs in the Tesla basket, which doesn't seem like a very strong basket." John Kaehny, executive director of Reinvent Albany, a nonprofit focused on government accountability, says, "It's a complete hoo-ha! These mega-subsidy deals take place in complete secrecy without scrutiny from the public."
Bloomberg News declares that this is "...a familiar playbook for Musk, start with wild promises followed by product delays, production hell, shareholder anger and finally, hopefully, redemption."
Things, however, may be even worse than they appear. Some are even speculating that Elon Musk, SpaceX and Tesla may be on their way to becoming the new Enron. Enron, the energy giant, employed approximately 20,000 people and claimed revenues of $111 billion at its peak by 2000. As it turned out, Enron used shady accounting practices to hide its losses and report profits which, in fact, did not exist. Andrew Fastow, the chief financial officer, created the scheme to falsify Enron's real financial status. In April 2001, the fraud began to unravel as analysts began to question Enron's numbers. In the end, Enron was found to have losses of $591 million and debt totaling $628 million. Stock prices declined from $90 in 2000 to less than one dollar when the scandal was exposed. Senior managers, who kept selling their stock while encouraging others to continue buying, were convicted of insider trading. In December 2001, the company declared bankruptcy.
In the view of many, Elon Musk has been engaging in similar behavior. A Bloomberg report in November suggests that SpaceX may be less than honest with its numbers, giving a false illusion of profitability. According to Bloomberg , "While SpaceX is burning through cash, disclosures to potential lenders showed the company had positive earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of about $270 million for the 12 months through September, people with knowledge of the matter said. But that's because it included amounts that customers had prepaid and because it excluded costs related to non-core research and development...Without those adjustments, earnings were negative, they said.”
According to Bloomberg , "This shouldn't come as a shock. A Wall Street Journal report from a few years ago showed that its profit margins were laser-thin. But if Musk is now going to these lengths to pad SpaceX's books to secure a loan, it appears there's a serious problem."
In the case of Tesla, the Wall Street Journal reports that, "Federal investigators are probing whether Tesla's stated information about production of its Model 3 electric sedans had misled investors about the company's business. Under examination is Tesla's public statements about Model 3 productions as compared to the number of vehicles that were actually built."
Elon Musk and his companies have a very questionable record when it comes to truth and honesty. Overstating prices to qualify for higher state tax credits seems to fit a pattern. According to a recent report in The Oregonian/Oregon Live, "The state of Oregon has recovered $13 million it paid to Tesla for solar power projects, after an investigation conclude the company inflated prices to qualify for higher tax credits."
Whether Elon Musk, Tesla and SpaceX will go the way of Enron is impossible to know, but that they should not be the recipients of taxpayer dollars seems clear. And whatever the future holds, speculation has already begun.
Marketwatch reports: "Is Tesla the next Enron? One hedge fund manager charts a gloomy path. Harris Kupperman of Praetorian Capital recently compared Tesla to one of the biggest falls Wall Street has ever seen."
Time will tell, but in the interim, the government should put its cozy relationship with Musk on a long, if not permanent, hiatus.
SpaceX has had continuous failures. I posted pics of one booster that failed and collapsed in February, and posted a report of it's successor failing for the same reason in late March. The Government tax dollars keep flowing to Boca Chica Tx Space Port.
https://mises.org/wire/elon-muskss-taxpayer-funded-gravy-train
https://economictimes.indiatimes.co...vrhsaVqkXfUw8z2K6hbXyqX54zQ5Wkgmf6o34tfaxYCOs
Probably won't see this in the media, all you hear is how the Lupus patients won't have enough supply, but no reports of anyone running out.
Probably won't see this in the media, all you hear is how the Lupus patients won't have enough supply, but no reports of anyone running out.
So he is a true DSA/dnc sociocommunist. He spends other peoples money on projects that fail, takes his ridiculously high salary out and then blames everything in the world for his failures, and of course no accountability.
DSA/dnc IS the greatest enemy of the USA in the world.
Not sure WTF you boys are talking about with Elon Musk, I sure hope none of you drive a Ford, Chevy, Chrysler, fly on one of our airlines, or bank at one of these financial institutions.... hell... we can talk all day long on energy related tax breaks. That article is intellectually dishonest. Rebates and tax incentives aren't the same as massive government bailouts.
FWIW, that hit piece article Dennis posted is outdated. There are now 1,500 employees at that plant.
Sit behind a keyboard and harumph all you want boys.... it's the OSA way..... but the man has some impressive achievements. Granted, he's not perfect but he's done a helluva lot more than most. Anyone know how to design a rocket that can take off and land on a moving platform for starters?
FWIW, that hit piece article Dennis posted is outdated. There are now 1,500 employees at that plant.
Sit behind a keyboard and harumph all you want boys.... it's the OSA way..... but the man has some impressive achievements. Granted, he's not perfect but he's done a helluva lot more than most. Anyone know how to design a rocket that can take off and land on a moving platform for starters?
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