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Democratic presidential hopeful Andrew Yang received an unexpected, though terse, endorsement on Saturday, scoring the support of none other than Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
I support Yang
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 10, 2019
That’s right, the con-man extraordinaire himself tweeted out his support for the venture capitalist’s presidential run.
Andrew Yang's 2020 Democratic Presidential Primary Odds Pop
The endorsement sent Andrew Yang’s betting odds on the real money New Zealand-based prediction exchange, PredictIt, from $0.08 to as high as $0.11 – a nearly 50 percent increase.
Yang is still a distant fifth, trailing Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris, and Bernie Sanders.
But...Why Join the 'Yang Gang?'
Why would Elon Musk support Andrew Yang, when Republicans are generally considered to be more business-friendly than Democrats?
That depends on who we ask. Elon Musk will tell us one thing, but he will never tell us the real truth.
When asked about Andrew Yang’s proposal for a $1,000 monthly universal basic income, Elon Musk replied:
https://t.co/iufbd689RR
— Harry Stoltz (@HarryStoltz1) August 11, 2019
That obviously wins points with Democrats. True to Elon Musk, however, such a policy is also impossible to implement. A $12,000 annual universal basic income for 300 million Americans would see the government literally giving away $3.6 trillion per year.
Considering the annual US budget is $4.8 trillion, the cost is prohibitive and could never be covered by Andrew Yang’s plan to pay for it with a tax of businesses that rely on innovation. For that matter, what idiot would tax innovation? Taxing anything stifles growth.
The Real Reason Why Elon Musk Loves Andrew Yang
Yet the real reason Elon Musk is endorsing Andrew Yang, and why he would likely endorse almost any Democrat over virtually any Republican, is because he's a government rent-seeker.
That is, Elon Musk sucks as much money as he can from the government to fund all his crazy ventures. The list borders on the ridiculous.
Tesla picked up a $3 billion subsidy from California for a Tesla factory and $1.3 billion to build a battery factory in Nevada. There’s the $750 million from New York to create a solar panel factor in Buffalo, which came along with a 10-year exemption from property taxes worth $250 million.
He also grabbed $500 million in solar power grants from the Treasury Department, along with $517 million in California’s emissions tax credits.
Elon Musk further scored a $45 million loan from the Department of Energy at discounted rates, $285 million in federal income tax credits to give to Model S purchasers, along with about $256 million in other incentives.
Finally, as a fellow venture capitalist, Andrew Yang will be very sympathetic to the Tesla boss pushing for new ways to waste taxpayer money.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in the article are solely those of the author and do not represent those of, nor should they be attributed to, CCN.