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Because the government is completely ran by corporations and Musk isn't in "the club" (yet). Gone are the days where the consumer is uneducated and the supplier
by leetrout 13y ago
Because the government is completely ran by corporations and Musk isn't in "the club" (yet). Gone are the days where the consumer is uneducated and the supplier doesn't have a way to easily and effectively communicate with customers everywhere from anywhere.
There's a pretty good doc on Netflix, "Park Avenue: Money, Power and the American Dream", which covers some of the financial backing of congress and how it affects things (although that's not the primary focus). I'm sure this plays out at a state level, too. I witnessed it first hand growing up in Eastern Kentucky and how the coal companies threw their money and weight around.
- revelation 13y agoNo need to bring out the big conspiracy guns, this is just good olde' local corruption.
- pygy_ 13y agoYou restated his point, less dramatically.
- Symmetry 13y agoNot at all. This isn't "corporations" but a coalition of small businesses.
- Pwnguinz 13y agoHuh? "Corporation" is merely a registration status. A small-time business/startup may very well be incorporated as a Delaware C Corp.
- Symmetry 13y agoYes, some of those dealerships (but not all) are probably organized as corporations, but most people (and clearly the OP with his reference to that documentary) mean it to refer to joint stock corporations.
- hkmurakami 13y agoA union of small businesses banding together and throwing their weight around to protect their interests honestly sounds pretty analogous to a "corporation" doing the same. It's like an amoeba throwing itself around or a small multi-cell organism doing the same. The details might differ but the effect from the outside is pretty similar.
- pygy_ 13y agos/corporations/commercial interests/ It is only a matter of scale (this is a state senate, after all).
- AJ007 13y agoAs the founder of SpaceX he probably has more back door political leverage than if he was the CEO of Ford or GM (or he is about to get it.)
- danielweber 13y agoI'm on his side in this issue, but Musk definitely isn't Joe Shirtsleeve. He knows exactly who to talk to for SpaceX contracts or Tesla loan guarantees.
- sinnerswing 13y agoElon Musk reminds me of Preston Tucker. Lots of similarities between Tesla Motors and Tucker Corp. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preston_Tucker http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preston_Tucker
- CamperBob2 13y agoI don't see any, offhand. Tucker was a dilettante next to Musk.
- jumanji89 13y agoAre you telling me Space X, Tesla, and Solar City haven't had any special deals with the government? This is the funniest thing I've read on HN.
- analyst74 13y agoYou should understand that government is not a single entity. Having friends in the energy department doesn't translate to the whole government. It's not a dictatorship after all.
- jlgreco 13y agoSpecial deals? Can you point some out? All that I am aware of are programs that were offered to many companies. SpaceX's relationship with NASA is not special, other companies are/have been in the COTS program. The tax benefits/rebates/carbon trading shit that Tesla benefits from is available to any car company that wishes to participate. My understanding is that Solar City is in more or less the same situation as Tesla, though they are not really "Elon's" company.
- pdog 13y agoWell, there's the "2008 Bailout of Very, Very High-Net-Worth Individuals Who Invested in Tesla Motors Act"... http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/30/business/30digi.html http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/30/business/30digi.html
- jlgreco 13y ago"The company is requesting $400 million in low-interest federal loans as part of the $25 billion loan package for the auto industry passed by Congress last year." "The tax benefits/rebates/carbon trading shit that Tesla benefits from is available to any car company that wishes to participate." ?
- apendleton 13y agoThis article doesn't describe what actually ended up happening. They didn't get any money as part of the auto bailout. They did get a loan the next year under a separate program that funded high-efficiency vehicles under DOE, but unlike the auto bailout they had to demonstrate financial solvency to be eligible, and Musk (granted, not a neutral observer) has said they didn't need the money to keep the doors open; it just allowed them to accelerate production of the model S. For what it's worth, they've already paid it all back, ahead of schedule. In any event, given that they were neither the only green company to get loans under this program, nor the only car company to get loans of any kind in light of the bailout, this hardly strikes me as a "special deal from the government." The grant program existed, they applied for it, they got an award.
- lostlogin 13y agoThis reminds me of a movie about a car company who put seat belts in their cars and marketed them as safer. The name escapes me (and I can't see to find it via Googling). They had a hard time in court, but, I think, won. The establishment hates change.