Elon Musk Master Plan 2.0

Yesterday Elon Musk released Master Plan Part Deux for Tesla. No question the man is a visionary building on the intersection of science fiction possibilities and technological innovation. However, the devil is in the details.

The plan appears to confirm some of what I wrote a few years ago in my article, “Why Elon Musk is a Poor Person’s Worst Nightmare” and in chapter four of my book Liars & Whores: How Big Government and Big Business Are Working to Save Their Own Assets, Not Yours

His plan appears to need massive funding, in which he relies heavily on public subsidies. We know this partially because of the discontent over the Tesla Motors acquisition of SolarCity. We also know this because according to the Los Angeles Times, as of one year ago was over $4.9 billion, so the number continues to climb as we subsidize his cars for the wealthy, the solar panels SolarCity installs through tax and ratepayer subsidies, the cap and trade system in California, and the subsidies for his businesses (see Nevada and the Gigafactory).

While he is a brilliant engineer and the cars are amazingly cool, he isn’t succeeding without you and me subsidizing his businesses and thus him. And now his plan does not include a car for the masses, instead he wants you to ride his new electric mini-bus. If we are going to subsidize him, shouldn’t he focus on a product for all of us and not just wealthy homeowners?

What do you think?

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