Elon Musk: 'If I cared about subsidies, I would have entered the oil and gas industry

[toddwv]

Elon Musk: 'If I cared about subsidies, I would have entered the oil and gas industry'

Elon Musk says his companies don't need the estimated $4.9 billion they enjoy in government support, but the money will help them move faster to transform the dirty business of energy.

"If I cared about subsidies, I would have entered the oil and gas industry," said Musk, the chief executive of Tesla Motors and SpaceX and the chairman of SolarCity.

Musk's remarks came in response to a Times story detailing his corporate strategy of incubating high-risk, high-tech companies with government money — estimating the total received or pledged so far at $4.9 billion, a figure Musk did not dispute. The story noted that his companies have seen a big financial upside from the incentives — helping them build billions in stock value — while taxpayers have shouldered the cost.

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[Lucky Luciano]

1. Big pharma also does this - talk about high risk biotech investments! nt

[Fumesucker]

4. Does Big Pharma also make all of their patents public domain?

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/tesla-puts-electric-car-patents-into-public-domain-1.2673617

[bananas]

2. can't read the article, it's paywalled. nt

[bananas]

3. A good interview with Musk on CNBC about this

http://www.cnbc.com/id/102723117

[bananas]

5. The subsidies should have been higher

Obstructionist Republicans cut commercial crew funding so the first crew wouldn't fly while Obama was president.
If the commercial crew program had been fully funded we'd have two carriers taking astronauts to the ISS this year.
So we continue subsidizing Russia instead.