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Cake day: July 9th, 2023

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  • It’s because of the green energy credit swap scheme in the US, which has essentially been a taxpayer giveaway of 10s of billions to Tesla over the years. Tesla itself would have gone bankrupt multiple times over by now, if not for them being able to salvage their balance sheet by selling these credits.

    The way it works involves other auto / oil and gas industry companies buying the credits from Tesla, in order to offset their own carbon emissions which otherwise would cost them significantly in terms of pollution fines (and maybe bad PR).

    This way, Tesla gets the taxpayers’ house money for free, and can sell it off to these other companies so they can continue polluting just as they always have been. It’s the American neoliberal dream of unchecked corporate greed with a thin veneer of eco-responsible cover so that nobody really has to do anything to improve. Just don’t scratch beneath the surface if you actually give a shit about the environment. Sadly, many don’t.

    Last point on this - yes, this means Elon Musk is the biggest welfare queen in America. He rips away any assistance for those who need it (to lower his tax bill) all while gobbling up billions in free subsidies from the government. It’s grotesque.