The invisible hand of the market is not dead. Even Elon Musk, who has long benefited from the visible hand of government money, can still see it. And he’s using it to make an immediate change to his business. He’s taking his headquarters out of California.
Related: 90% of all Electric Vehicle Tax Credits In the US Go To The Top Income Quintile
The CEO lost it when Alameda County told him he has to remain closed until at least June 1st.
Musk … said Tesla is filing a lawsuit against the county, calling the interim health officer “ignorant.”
“Frankly, this is the final straw,” Musk said on Twitter. “Telsa will now move its HQ and future programs to Texas/Nevada immediately. If we even retain Fremont manufacturing activity at all, it will be dependen [sic] on how Tesla is treated in the future. Tesla is the last carmaker left in CA.”
The headquarters will head to Austin, Texas – assuming he’s serious. He can’t open for business, so he’s got time to pack up and move. It also means his next battery plant will be near his new headquarters in Austin and not the Golden State.
Again, assuming this is not all theater. But Musk has been pimping the idea for a while. He even changed his Twitter home location to Austin, Texas.
I’m not a fan of Musk or electric cars, but mostly because of the taxpayer handouts and prop ups (the tech is cool). I’d also like to see a whole lot more honesty about how dirty battery tech is – there is nothing “clean as in green” about any of it. But people who own them act as if they are doing us all a favor, and we should thank them for their sacrifice.
Sorry, but no. Not only did we sacrifice our incomes so you could get a federal credit for your purchase, but we’re also subsidizing the battery technology as well. Which, as I noted, has an ugly carbon footprint from beginning to end, which only looks worse when you charge them with wind and solar.
As for Musk’s move, more power to you and may California one day find itself living off Google, Facebook, and the porn industry, if and when you can separate them from each other.
