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I know, right?? I was perusing them in disbelief. They seem planted. It's just amazing to me. People focus on SpaceX's government contracts, disregarding the M
by aerovistae 11y ago
I know, right?? I was perusing them in disbelief. They seem planted. It's just amazing to me.
People focus on SpaceX's government contracts, disregarding the MASSIVE subsidies ULA receives and disregarding the fact that SpaceX is dropping the price of rocket launches like a brick off a cliff, which will (obviously??) save far, far more taxpayer money in the long run than if SpaceX had not done this.
People focus on Tesla's subsidies, but ignore the massive bailouts given to the other auto manufacturers and ignore the future potential of Tesla to bring large amounts of jobs and money into the US as the cars are exported around the world. They ignore how much money will be saved by a cleaner environment in the long run, in healthcare costs and environmental costs. They overlook that Tesla paid back all its government loans with interest, making it a solid investment. They ignore everything relevant.
And with SolarCity, people focus on it having received some small amount of subsidies while disregarding the fact that a future where we don't have to pay electric bills or gas bills will save us all far more than we might have to spend in taxes now.
These people seem to imagine that Musk's companies are taking up valuable money that could have been used elsewhere, but truly, what better use for money than to break the mold of dysfunctional legacy infrastructure?
- sixQuarks 11y agoLobbying groups are known to pay people to comment spam like this. The irony is too great though, the oil/gas industry has about $6 trillion in subsidies per year when you factor in environmental damage.
- 50CNT 11y agoWonder whether they get more than 50ct for that, or less.
- refurb 11y agoWould you say alcoholics get a subsidy as well due to the damage they cause to their health? It certainly adds to the cost of the healthcare. Your argument seems a little silly.
- maxerickson 11y agoIf they pay less for healthcare than they receive in services, what else would you call it other than a subsidy? That seems much more clearcut than who exactly benefits from various economic policies and government actions.
- aerovistae 11y agoIf the companies are creating products that do health/environmental damage that the taxpayers have to fix, how is it silly? Say a given Toyota does $500 worth of environmental damage in its lifetime, and the government pays to repair it. Is that not a $500 subsidy, a fee handled by taxpayers which the responsible party (Toyota) is somehow permitted to ignore?
- refurb 11y agoIf the companies are creating products that do health/environmental damage that the taxpayers have to fix, how is it silly? A few reasons why it's silly. You can't accurately measure it, so it's a somewhat useless metric. Also, everything is interdependent if you look at it that way. Rich people are being subsidized by landlords due to rent control! Alcohol companies are being subsidized because they don't pay for crashes caused by drunk drivers. It goes on and on and it doesn't add much value.
- Jack000 11y agoIn Canada the alcoholics example holds because we have universal healthcare. Alcohol/tobacco is actually highly taxed because of this.
- DanielDent 11y agoI've seen research indicating that tobacco users actually cost the Canadian healthcare system less overall: they die ~5 years younger, and healthcare costs go up with age.
- maaku 11y ago
- kisna72 11y agosource?
- aerovistae 11y agoKind of don't need a source to tell you that world governments are having to go to great lengths to deal with global warming, do we?
- sixQuarks 11y agothe $6 trillion figure comes from Elon Musk during a recent interview.
- taf2 11y agoThis https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=O_azyt1JhI0 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=O_azyt1JhI0 is a really impressive moment in history
- vacri 11y ago> and ignore the future potential of Tesla to bring large amounts of jobs Once Tesla stabilises, they'll be looking to move manufacturing jobs offshore, just like any other manufacturer. 'Future manufacturing jobs aplenty', without some significant social changes, is a pipe dream.
- djrogers 11y ago>Once Tesla stabilises, they'll be looking to move manufacturing jobs offshore I'm sure that some jobs will be created offshore, but I doubt that the worlds largest battery factory is just going to be shut down and moved to Shenzhen.