While Elon Musk's efficiency department (DOGE) hit various federal agencies through budget cuts and layoffs, Tesla and SpaceX, the cornerstone of Musk's huge wealth, remained Enjoy the benefits of public funding. Without these public funds, they are likely to fail to succeed.

Original title: "Elon Musk: Billionaire Vampire Who Sucks Federal Welfare"

At Trump's instruct, the South African-born billionaire is pushing for large-scale and unruly cuts overspending. But he is one of the biggest beneficiaries of federal support ever. His business empire was built on this support.

In the past 15 years alone, Musk's $1.1 trillion Tesla and SpaceX, which is worth $350 billion, have absorbed a lot. $30 billion in public funds.与此同时，马斯克的个人财富急剧膨胀，从2012年的20亿美元激增至去年12月的超4000亿美元；如今他的身家为3930亿美元。 Thirteen years ago, the world's richest man was not even a billionaire.

In 2012, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney called Musk a "nepotential capitalist", but his company is Having received so much financial preferential treatment over a long period of time, it is hard not to recall another Republican name for those who live on public funds. In the following years, Musk's company formed a symbiotic relationship with the federal project, which made him increasingly like a "vampire."具体情况如下：

· 据SpaceX总裁格温妮·肖特韦尔（Gwynne Shotwell）称，SpaceX的火箭发射、卫星运送、将宇航员The mission of the shipment of materials to the International Space Station, as well as Starlink services, has won a $22 billion contract between the Department of Defense and NASA (but the number of reviews of public data is $20 billion. ).

· 自2008年以来，特斯拉出售了117亿美元监管积分，其中至少有40亿美元来自向那些需要遵守美国企业平均燃油经济Car manufacturers of CAFE rules.

· 200In nine years, the United States provided Tesla with $465 million in federal loan guarantees, helping the then-wrong startup obtain its first factory (transferred from Toyota).

· Tesla's charging network has received at least $31 million in federal funding under a program. Trump recently canceled the plan.

· Tesla's car buyers have been the biggest beneficiary of the $7,500 electric vehicle tax credit, and have earned about 4 billion since the Obama era Tax credits for USD. Under Trump, this part of the benefits may also be cancelled.

· Tesla was once thought to be expected to win a $400 million contract to provide armored electric vehicles to the hospital, but the agency then suspended the relevant plan.

Musk has relied on funds to develop and strengthen his company for many years, but his leader DOGE has moved the "act quickly and break the rules" approach to These two things seem a bit out of place.

DOGE claimed to have cut $55 billion in federal spending (this is unconfirmed) and fired at least 200,000 staff members, including the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) staff, as well as experts responsible for nuclear weapons security or attempts to stop the avian flu pandemic, many of them were quickly recalled. Norman Eisen, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, found the situation shocking. Eisen participated in a lawsuit filed on behalf of federal employees who tried to prevent DOGE from conducting actions that seemed unconstitutional to them.

Eisen told Forbes: "For years, Musk's company has received huge support from the federal government, and he is now hurting, which is completely虚伪至极的行为。更糟糕的是，从长远来看，他的商业企业与美国之间持续不断的合作关系会引发一系列前所未见的严重利益冲突问题。”

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, waving a chainsaw from O'Maryland The Conservative Action Conference Stage of Kersengang left. Image source: Getty Images

Musk did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the matter. DOGE also has no designated public spokesperson. "As for Elon Musk and DOGE, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in an emailed statement," President Trump has said he will not allow conflicts of interest to arise, and Elon himself promises to evade when conflicts of interest may arise. ”

Musk has established an entrepreneurial image who dares to take risks, and can be said to be one of the most successful entrepreneurs in the 21st century so far.

However, despite his creativity and fighting spirit, his business empire could not have reached its current scale without strong federal support.

Five years ago, when Tesla and SpaceX were fledgling, untested startups, federal funds helped them gain a foothold. Take Tesla as an example. The company almost filed for bankruptcy at the end of 2008, and the U.S. Department of Energy's Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing (ATVM) loan became its life-saving straw. The loan has a low interest rate, and if Tesla had only relied on private funds, it would have been impossible to build its first factory at such a low cost and quickly. Tesla was also able to launch the breakthrough Model S sedan on time in 2012, laying the foundation for its future success.

Without DOGE and the federal projects that Trump is busy canceling now, Musk is likely to not be able to accumulate such a huge amount of wealth.

SpaceX did not start sending the rocket into orbit until 2008 after many failures. If it hadn't won the $1.6 billion contract that changed fate, it wouldn't have become NASA's most important cargo and manned launch service provider. Both companies had uncertain futures at the time, but their venture capital eventually paid off. Today, Tesla has become the world's highest-capital automaker, with a market value of up to $1.16 trillion. SpaceX, estimated to be worth $350 billion, is the world's most valuable unlisted startup. So, without DOGE and the federal projects that Trump is busy canceling now, his huge $393 billion fortune (forbes estimates based on Musk's holdings in these companies) is likely to be impossible to achieve without the fact that he has done so much. .

Control spending and improving efficiency have been both parties for decadesA common concern. Although there have been many measures to address these issues, the situation seems to be getting worse over time. One big difference during Trump’s administration is that for the first time in U.S. history, the effort to save money was completely outsourced to a billionaire entrepreneur.

Trump attempts to cancel all future grants and funds from Biden's Inflation Cuts Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Act (may include for California The $4 billion federal grant provided by the state's high-speed rail project) is in addition to this, the DOGE team led by Musk is cutting staff and funding across the federal agencies. So far, there are no clear signs that they have thought through the staff and projects.

At present, DOGE has formed a style of "fire first, then ask questions", which is in line with Musk's acquisition in 2022 The same was true when 80% of the employees were laid off significantly after the special period. In the first few weeks of DOGE's inception, besides some embarrassing and ill-considered layoffs, it has also been criticized for several initiatives, including a moratorium on research grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) (which may Slowing the pace of medical breakthroughs), significantly reducing most of the USAID budget and staff (causing interruptions in food and healthcare supply to developers), canceling the Consumer Financial Protection Agency, cutting as tax season approaches The IRS staff, the layoff of parks’ seasonal staff, and may also cancel the Department of Education (including cutting key funds to the poorest school districts in the United States).

A protester in Washington opposes US President Donald Trump and Elon Musk's efficiency department is under demonstration. Image source: AFP via Getty Images

But even Trump supporters like Kash Patel (who has been confirmed by the Senate , officially appointed as the director of the FBI), also pointed out that Musk has benefited greatly from the federal contract. "We are all paying for it. That's why he's so rich," he said in an interview with Fox News in December 2021 about SpaceX's Starlink service.

退休的美国陆军中将拉塞尔·霍诺雷（Russel Honoré）告诉《福布斯》：“他本人就是个承包商，他们怎么能让他进入存放所有合同的地方呢？我觉得这肯定是违法的。”

特朗普的工作人员也表示，他们有赖马斯克自行Identify any potential conflict of interest. But for Eisen, that's not enough.艾森曾是奥巴马 的 道德专家，也是特朗普第一次弹劾案中众议院司法委员会的联合法律顾问。

他说：“尽管他宣称要行事透明，但很多问题我们都不知道答案，比如当他处理某个特定事务时采取了哪些预防措施，确保他没有与之相关的个人经济利益。”

DOGE的行动会带来怎样的影响，目前还远未明朗。 However, many institutions have been forced to make painful cuts, which may soon affect more Americans, especially low-income groups, as well as cities, states, and school programs that rely on federal funds to keep things running.到目前为止，曾经设立这些项目并批准资金投入的国会尚未出面干预。

Eisen, who served as the US ambassador to the Czech Republic, said that billionaires like Musk who have obtained huge amounts of money from the project will still be given to them in 2024. The contrast that Trump has donated at least $200 million in elections, but has now significantly reduced federal agencies with doubtful legal authority.

"The tycoons who once benefited from generous support now spend hundreds of millions of dollars to support a candidate who was successfully elected and then made They participate in decision-making and create various conflicts of interest issues. "He said, "We can describe this situation in one word - oligarchs. We are witnessing the formation of American oligarchs, which should arouse deep concerns among Americans." /p>

This article is translated from:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/alanohnsman/2025/02/21/elon-musk-is-a-bilionaire-federal-welfare-vampire/

Text: Ohnsman