Donald Trump will be the new President of the United States. Elon Musk He contributed significantly to his electoral campaign, both financially and with his presence at different rallies and, above all, on his social network X, the old Twitter. Donald Trump’s victory is also that of Elon Musk.
Musk, who already enjoys a enormous influence over the federal government thanks to the contracts Space X, Tesla or Starlink with more than a dozen federal agencies, could be increased even more if Trump finally puts him in charge of the “government efficiency commission.” This entity designed by Musk and that Trump promised to give him, would have the mission of monitoring, and cutting if necessary, how the federal government spends its money. That is, in their own companies, at the same time that they could cut the budget of the agencies that monitor or have sued their companies.
Who will watch the watchers?
The influence and power that Elon Musk can have from his position as the richest man in the world and with control over one of the most used social networks in the Western world is nothing compared to the influence he can have at the head of a company. federal agency with the mission of cutting federal government spending. He New York Times has detailed in a very graphic way the extent to which Elon Musk already influences the federal government.
“Elon Musk’s influence over the federal government is extraordinary and extraordinarily lucrative. Last year, their companies obtained 3 billion dollars in almost 100 different contracts with 17 agencies “federals,” they recall from the newspaper.
Space X, without a doubt, is the company that today dictates the path forward in space exploration. SpaceX has contracts worth at least 15.4 billion dollars with NASAthe Department of Defense and a dozen federal agencies. Thus, the military relies on Elon Musk to put most of its satellites into orbit, while it is Space X and not NASA that dictates the rocket launch schedule.
The contracts worth $352,000 that Tesla has with the Government are laughable compared to SpaceX, and sometimes strange, such as Tesla’s purchase of tactical vehicles for the US embassy in Iceland. However, the federal incentives for the purchase of an electric car They help sell Teslas, which have sold more than 161,000 cars in the United States in the third quarter of 2024. Let us remember that buyers of an electric car for private use in the United States enjoy a reduction in income tax of $7,500 .
The relationship of Elon Musk’s companies with federal agencies is not limited to a purely commercial relationship. There are also many agencies that investigate or have sued one of their companies.
In the case of Space Obviously, Elon Musk didn’t like it.
But of his companies, the one that is being investigated the most is, of course, Tesla. The NHTSAthe US DGT, has opened five investigations into Tesla, among other things for complaints of unexpected braking, loss of steering control and accidents while the cars were in Autopilot mode. A system that the NHTSA considers to promote accidents due to its foreseeable misuse.
Separately, Tesla has attempted to block at least two National Labor Relations Board resolutions, including one that punished Musk for tweeting that factory workers would lose their stock options in the brand if they joined a union.
Elon Musk’s companies face more than twenty lawsuits, investigations, fines and other requirements in total. Only Tesla has an open dispute with seven of them. If you controlled the budgets of all those agencies, it is likely that many of them would look the other way.
“It is entirely reasonable to believe that what Musk would bring to this federal audit his own arsenal of prejudices, resentments and financial interests“Kathleen Clark, an ethics lawyer who has served as an advisor to the Office of the Attorney General of the District of Columbia, stated in the New York Times.
Despite the rules that prevent Elon Musk from being able to direct this commission due to more than obvious conflicts of interest, if it were created, it would not be a problem for Elon Musk. In fact, he has already convinced Donald Trump to support the electric car.
After all, Musk donated more than 118 million dollars for the campaign for Donald Trump. It would be illusory to think that he did it solely out of political conviction, that too, and that he does not expect anything in return.
Source: www.motorpasion.com
