Mr. Government Welfare
By 
One of the ways in which Democrats joined Republicans in creating the current crisis is through investing heavily in neoliberal privatization of public goods. That goes back to the Carter administration and every Democrat since has gone all-in on this, even Joe Biden. It wasn’t hard to see that Elon Musk was becoming more and more unstable at the same time that the government was pouring enormous amounts of taxpayer dollars into his bank accounts so he could provide services that the federal government was not willing to do itself.
Over the years, Musk and his businesses have received at least $38 billion in government contracts, loans, subsidies and tax credits, often at critical moments, a Washington Post analysis has found, helping seed the growth that has made him the world’s richest person.
The payments stretch back more than 20 years. Shortly after becoming CEO of a cash-strapped Tesla in 2008, Musk fought hard to secure a low-interest loan from the Energy Department, according to two people directly involved with the process, holding daily briefings with company executives about the paperwork and spending hours with a government loan officer.
When Tesla soon after realized it was missing a crucial Environmental Protection Agency certification it needed to qualify for the loan days before Christmas, Musk went straight to the top, urging then-EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson to intervene, according to one of the people. Both people spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution.
Nearly two-thirds of the $38 billion in funds have been promised to Musk’s businesses in the past five years.
In 2024 alone, federal and local governments committed at least $6.3 billion to Musk’s companies, the highest total to date.
The total amount is probably larger: This analysis includes only publicly available contracts, omitting classified defense and intelligence work for the federal government.SpaceX has been developing spy satellites for the National Reconnaissance Office, the Pentagon’s spy satellite division, according to the Reuters news agency. The Wall Street Journal reported that contract was worth $1.8 billion, citing company documents.
The Post found nearly a dozen other local grants, reimbursements and tax credits where the specific amount of money is not public.
An additional 52 ongoing contracts with seven government agencies — including NASA, the Defense Department and the General Services Administration — are on track to potentially pay Musk’s companies an additional $11.8 billion over the next few years, according to The Post’s analysis.
Government contracts to SpaceX from NASA and the Defense Department make up the majority of funds. Tesla has earned $11.4 billion in regulatory credits from federal and state programs aimed at boosting the electric-car industry, and experts say its sales have been bolstered by a federal $7,500 electric-vehicle tax credit for consumers. Musk has called for an end to that consumer credit, arguing his competitors need the incentive more than Tesla.
What are we doing here? Why are not we not even considering locking people such as Musk out of the government entirely? Why are we relying on public-private partnerships to siphon money from taxpayers into private hands instead of doing it ourselves? Democrats of course do not deserve blame for what Musk is doing now. But Democrats do deserve blame for not even beginning to push back on the neoliberal conditions that created this moment. Instead, they were just shoveling Musk all the cash he could handle. And now we have a literal monster. Maybe there’s a lesson here about neoliberalism?