Difference between revisions of "Elon Musk"
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==About== | ==About== | ||
===Earlier=== | ===Earlier=== |
Revision as of 00:02, 14 March 2025
About
Earlier
The following was written in 2015; Musk's outright fascism became much more apparent when he began sucking up to Donald Trump in 2024 and especially after he became instrumental in the coup regime's activities.
Although Musk self-identifies as libertarian, he does not seem to hold many of the more toxic political positions held by many libertarians (especially the American variety). In a 2013 Mother Jones article[1], the only source we have been able to find that collects Musk's known political opinions, the only "libertarian" position he expresses is that of arguing that government should not offer loans to specific businesses, but instead should encourage certain beneficial types of activities (such as sustainable energy) via tax incentives (e.g. a carbon tax).
The entirety of Musk's verbiage on the subject appears to be contained within two Tweets:
"Me & other private money funded Tesla for first 7 years, got IPO+ govt money for 3, now paid back. Yes, carbon tax would be a better way."[2]
"Yes, am arguing against subsidies and in favor of a tax on the end bad created. Market will then achieve best solution."[3]
While there is room for legitimate debate on the subject, his opinion does not seem to be an unreasonable one, and his suggestion of a carbon tax goes against the positions held by many libertarians (who have been known to argue that global warming is a hoax intended to provide an excuse for further big government interference with private business).
It should also be noted that (again, unlike many libertarian positions) this position only affects businesses large enough to receive such loans. It does not affect small businesses much less any other recipients of government aid; it is not a criticism of the social safety-net, income taxation, or any other favorite libertarian targets.
Furthermore, as far as we can tell, he expressed his opinion entirely using a democratic/meritocratic platform (Twitter): he did not lobby for his views or put money into promoting them. All of the money he put into lobbying was in support of government loans to his businesses – which, arguably, would have a knock-on effect on the idea of promoting such loans to other businesses, especially given the success of Tesla.
At worst he has some perhaps ill-considered ideas about government's role in business, but they're only questionable rather than terrible ideas, and he has in no way abused his power to promote them.
(The same cannot be said about many of his former business associates, unfortunately, but that's a different discussion.)
Hypocrisy?
Musk has been accused of hypocrisy for arguing against government loans to business while accepting such loans for his own enterprises (e.g. Tesla Motors was the recipient of one such loan, which it paid back).
This does not seem like a valid accusation, despite the apparent contradiction. First of all, he's clearly referring specifically to the fact that these are loans from which he has benefited; he makes no attempt to claim the moral high ground of having not needed or used such loans.
One may disagree with Musk as to whether government should "pick winners" by providing or backing loans to specific businesses (as in Solyndra), but there's nothing hypocritical about taking advantage of such loans while openly arguing that they're a bad idea. To say that he should reject such loans if he really believes they're evil is the same sort of logic as "if you think people aren't paying enough taxes, then why don't you pay more yourself?" The point is to change the policy, rather than admonishing individuals to behave differently.
Consider the hypothetical example of a fossil fuel company taking subsidies while arguing that such subsidies should be going to sustainable energy companies instead. This would be a praiseworthy stance – one that admits the business need to take advantage of the existing rules while still arguing that they're harmful and should be improved.
If he were saying "any business that accepts government loans is doing a bad thing", then it would be hypocrisy for him to do it as well. But he's not.
He's also not "pulling up the ladder behind him", as some have implied[4] – arguing that government should provide less assistance; he's only arguing that the assistance should be provided in a different way.
In short: while the accusations of hypocrisy are understandable on the surface, they don't hold up under examination.
Links
News
- 2025/02/17 21:25 UTC [L..T] 'No Kings on Presidents Day' Rallies Target Trump-Musk Assault on Democracy and Working Class «Democracy defenders from blizzard-bound Maine to sunny southern California and cities and towns in between took to America's streets and public spaces Monday for a "No Kings on Presidents Day" action against what organizers called the "anti-democratic and illegal actions of the Trump administration and its plutocratic allies."»
- 2025/02/17 18:58 UTC [L..T] Tesla was hit by a wave of protests over Musk, sales are crashing, insiders are waking up «Tesla was hit by a wave of protests across dozens of its stores in North America this weekend. With sales crashing and the board selling, it looks like some insiders are finally waking up. [/] As we reported last week, a grassroots movement has sprung to organize protests against Elon Musk at Tesla stores around North America.»
- 2025/02/17 16:29 UTC [L..T] (fedi post) full text: «Massive turnout in Portland, OR at City Hall to protest against Trump & Musk and the fascist American regime. Thousands of people out. A group broke away from city hall and is now marching. I cannot see where the march starts nor where it ends.» (with 4 photos)
- 2025/02/16 23:46 UTC [L..T] Washington Post backs out of 'Fire Elon Musk' ad order «"Is it because we're critical of what's happening with Elon Musk? Is it only OK to run things in the Post now that won't anger the president or won't have him calling Jeff Bezos asking why this was allowed?" she said, referring to the Post's owner, who is also the founder of Amazon and the space company Blue Origin. [/] She said the Post did not provide an explanation for why it decided not to run the wrap ad.»
- 2025/02/07 11:08 UTC [L..T] Lawmaker Quits DOGE Caucus Live On TV With 'Dynamite' Slam Of Elon Musk «Rep. Val Hoyle (D-Ore.) on Thursday announced to NewsNation's Chris Cuomo that she is leaving the fledgling, efficiency-seeking DOGE Caucus in Congress – and she directly blamed billionaire Elon Musk's actions in President Donald Trump's second term for her resignation. [..] Hoyle argued it is "just not possible" for the bipartisan group of lawmakers that make up the caucus to have any success with their mission to cut fraud and public spending waste and be "good stewards of taxpayer dollars" when Musk is just "blowing things up."»
- 2025/02/03 20:52 UTC [L..T] U.S. attorney hints at prosecutions over 'targeting' of DOGE employees «U.S. Attorney Edward R. Martin Jr. on Monday pledged his D.C. office's support to billionaire Elon Musk and his "Department of Government Efficiency," vowing to "pursue any and all legal action against anyone who impedes your work or threatens your people." [/] Martin's letter backing Musk’s White House team, which is charged with recommending overhauls to the federal bureaucracy, was posted on Martin’s personal account on X, Musk's social media platform.»
- 2025/01/27 [L..T] From Meme to Controversy: Australia's journey with Elon Musk has escalated quickly «Let me tell you about a mural in Australia that got attention for reasons far different than the artist likely intended. It was a mural of Elon Musk pointing at Doge, the Shiba Inu meme.» [...] It's not clear what brought the mural into existence, but days after Musk's Hitler-salute on national TV, the mural was first subtly altered to add what could have been a shadow under Musk's nose but was also clearly a Hitler-mustache, and then was later more obviously defaced with hastily-sprayed words including "fascist", "boo", "loser", "Nazi cunt", and "Nazis fuck off" -- words reflecting the sentiments of many in Australia and worldwide.
- 2025/01/25 06:17 UTC [L..T] Wall Street banks prepare to sell up to $3 billion in X loans next week, sources say «Wall Street banks are getting ready to sell up to $3 billion of debt holdings in X, the social-media platform controlled by Elon Musk, two people with knowledge of the matter said on Friday.» [...] «Banks expect to get 90 to 95 cents on the dollar, according to the Wall Street Journal, which first reported preparations for the sale. Musk denied the Journal report as "false," posting on X that the newspaper was "lying."»
Reference
- Wikipedia
- Conservapedia
- An existing page had been deleted as of 2015-06-01, apparently after much squabbling spanning December 2014 through March 2015.
- It was later recreated.
- archives: archive.org: 2024-09-28, archive.today
- SourceWatch: page created 2022-05-15
- (as of 2025-03-13) The California Institute of Technology page still says that "Elon R. Musk" is a trustee, but that does not yet redirect to "Elon Musk".
Sources
- ↑ 2013-09 Mother Jones: Taxpayer Subsidies Helped Tesla Motors, So Why Does Elon Musk Slam Them?
- ↑ 2013-05-24 21:25 Elon Musk: Tweet
- ↑ 2013-05-24 21:45 Elon Musk: Tweet
- ↑ Mother Jones, ibid.: "Elon is now looking at it from the point of view of a winner, and he doesn't want to see other people win because they get government money. [...] I do think there is a tendency of people, once they have succeeded, to want to pull the ladder up after them." — Jim Motavalli, who interviewed Musk for High Voltage, his 2011 book about the electric vehicle industry
Notes
This article is heavily based on comments and discussion posted on Google+ on 2015-06-01.