Gyroscopic Investing

[quote=http://www.marketwatch.com/story/elon-m ... 2015-06-03]Meet Elon Musk, America’s new picture of a welfare queen — corporate-style. Too bad it’s such a crude, false cartoon.

This week, the Los Angeles Times totaled up what it saw as government largesse toward Musk’s companies and came up with a figure of $4.9 billion — enough, the story suggests, to offset the idea that the co-founder of Tesla TSLA, +1.31% SolarCity and SpaceX (among others) is really a major good for the economy. Rush Limbaugh piled on with a customarily moronic rant that blended insouciant economic ignorance with an offensive (and inaccurate) claim that the only Republican whose campaigns Musk has supported is disgraced ex-House Speaker Dennis Hastert.

Trouble is, the numbers and thinking are both larded with nonsense. The government’s investment in Musk Inc. has been much smaller than suggested. Most has come from tax credits and other programs available to everyone. By that standard, your mortgage tax deduction and tax-free health benefits constitute government subsidies. Finally, early returns on America’s backing of Musk have been excellent, with more to come.[/quote]

MachineGhost wrote: Trouble is, the numbers and thinking are both larded with nonsense. The government’s investment in Musk Inc. has been much smaller than suggested. Most has come from tax credits and other programs available to everyone. By that standard, your mortgage tax deduction and tax-free health benefits constitute government subsidies. Finally, early returns on America’s backing of Musk have been excellent, with more to come.

I like Elon Musk because I respect all innovators and entrepreneurs but I prefer Bill Gates' style of things. As far as I know he never received any government subsidies for Windows. Quite the opposite, I think. At some point I think the government concluded he was an enemy and went after him to protect us from Windows (they failed, BTW, in case you haven't noticed) . As a very smart person, I think he decided to step down as the CEO of Microsoft because he figured that if the government had its way he'd eventually end up in jail.  Elon might end up making the same kind of decision some day because he is very smart too even though he's gotten more in bed with the government than Gates ever did.

What has he innovated? Hasn't the electric car been around for a hundred years?

Reub wrote: What has he innovated? Hasn't the electric car been around for a hundred years?

I think its just the battery storage in terms of technology along with minor logistics and infrastructure improvements.  If they got to employ 3K-6K people just for batteries and solar panel factories, its certainly not automated factories...

Tesla will probably unleash Skynet.  I jest...