He Didn't Build It Alone

Dude, that is the game. Podcaster and former actor Joe Rogan remarks

It's much more that he's a guy that is not going to play the game. Yeah. And that when he gets in there, he's going to, like one of the things he's talked about is having Elon come in and do some sort of a government efficiency agency. They're terrified of that because it's not efficient, you know, and he's going to come in with that Tesla mind set. It's like "you're working sixteen hours a day and you're sleeping on the fucking couch. We're here to get some shit done."

NEW: @joerogan says the establishment is "terrified" of @realDonaldTrump and @elonmusk's plan for a government efficiency agency.

"That's why I think they're really terrified about Trump. He's not going to play the game."

"He's talked about having Elon come in to do a… pic.twitter.com/LXOHfGWCDJ

— KanekoaTheGreat (@KanekoaTheGreat) September 27, 2024

As long ago as 2015, we learned that great, Musk-driven, government-averse, private company Tesla Motors Inc. and

SolarCity Corp. and Space Exploration Technologies Corp., known as SpaceX, together have benefited from an estimated $4.9 billion in government support, according to data compiled by The (Los Angeles) Times. The figure underscores a common theme running through his emerging empire: a public-private financing model underpinning long-shot start-ups.

“He definitely goes where there is government money,” said Dan Dolev, an analyst at Jefferies Equity Research. “That’s a great strategy, but the government will cut you off one day.”

The figure compiled by The Times comprises a variety of government incentives, including grants, tax breaks, factory construction, discounted loans and environmental credits that Tesla can sell. It also includes tax credits and rebates to buyers of solar panels and electric cars.

Moreover

Tesla, since its founding over two decades ago, has benefitted from government assistance, largely because of its role in moving the U.S. toward cleaner cars. Tesla’s first major manufacturing facility, in Fremont, California, was developed with the help of a $465 million loan from the U.S. Department of Energy, repaid three years later.

More recently, Tesla has reaped almost $9 billion since 2018 by selling what are known as “regulatory credits, opens new tab,” securities filings show. The credits, awarded in the U.S. by the federal and state governments to manufacturers who surpass increasingly strict emissions rules, can be sold to other carmakers who are unable to comply.

There was no Tesla without California’s regulatory bodies,” California Governor Gavin Newsom said at a 2022 conference, citing the importance of the state’s credits to the carmaker’s finances.

That "role in moving the U.S. toward cleaner cars" are tax subsidies to purchasers of electric vehicles. Good- barely- neoliberal strategy for reducing fossil fuel use but excellent for Musk's motor vehicle company.

Donald Trump is proposing

 a government efficiency commission to audit the entire federal government (and) claimed that in 2022 "fraud and improper payments alone cost taxpayers an estimated hundreds of billions of dollars.” He said the commission would recommend “drastic reforms” and develop a plan to eliminate fraud and improper payments within six months, which he said would save trillions of dollars.

It would be led by Elon Musk despite- no, because- he is one of America's biggest welfare queens and avatar of crony capitalism. 

Nonetheless, as a "populist" such as Joe Rogan will explain, the problem with American business and government is that workers don't toil 16 hours a day as he argues they do at Tesla. So much for the Fair Labor Standards Act and that dreaded eight-hour workday. That is not Trump "not going to play the game". It is the game- a government of, by, and for Elon Musk and his fellow oligarchs.

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