Comment by dzonga

3 months ago

what about gvt loans that tesla got in 2008/9 for clean energy ? close to half a billion. EV subsidies ?

Elon Musk is a tenderprenuer, as we call them in africa.

Yeah, I know about that, but I was specifically talking about SpaceX winning contracts by simply being a better option than other competitors, not because of any "friends in the government". Musk wasn't even a billionaire yet, and I doubt he had government friends at the time who did him any personal favors. And in the end the government got what it wanted, Tesla did make a lot of electric cars and repaid the loan much earlier than required. While the current government that Musk helped get elected ended all subsidies for electric cars.

  • yeah true, we shouldn't negate how superior spaceX was compared to competitors.

    however what made him a billionaire was gvt contracts. I guess all i'm tryna say if you wanna be a fat cat (rich) gvt contracts is a lucrative way to do it.