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Obama used loan guarantees and grants, not equity stakes. Solyndra $500M loan guarantee (defaulted 2011) Tesla $500M loan (repaid early 2013 with interest)
by CGMthrowaway 1y ago
Obama used loan guarantees and grants, not equity stakes.
Solyndra $500M loan guarantee (defaulted 2011)
Tesla $500M loan (repaid early 2013 with interest)
First Solar $3B loan guarantees (currently being serviced)
SunPower $1.2B loan guarantee (bankrupt 2024 but loan repaid)
ARRA (2009) $25.6B grants disbursed
No equity positions taken. Trump's policy is direct equity stakes as condition for industrial subsidies/tariff relief. It's statist, but I wouldn't call it communist.
- guiriduro 1y agoCome come now. Elon has built Tesla on something closer to $38bn of taxpayer largesse/avoidance according to the Washington Post.0 I doubt many people would fail to create public entities with healthy casino ponzi stock trading if they had umpteen billion $ of govt funny money propping them up. Hell they might even start a rocket business as a sideline... 0. https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/interactive/2025/elon-musk-business-government-contracts-funding/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/interactive/2025/e...