Anyone searching for a case study to explain what is wrong with
capitalism in America today can stop looking. We have the perfect
specimen: Tesla Motors. Federal and state programs have conferred
huge advantages to help the electric-vehicle company sell its cars
— which state laws then make almost impossible to sell.
Left to its own devices, Tesla one day might have epitomized everything good about market economics. In an industry whose fundamentals have changed little since the introduction of the Model T, the California-based company, led by the visionary Elon Musk, made a long-term bet that it could prevail through disruptive innovation and superior products (Motor Trend named its Model S the 2013 Car of the Year, and Consumer Reports raved about it). Instead, Tesla now epitomizes the folly of government intervention.
Start with all the special benefits Tesla receives — including a $465 million loan from the Energy Department, conferred in January of 2010. That is two-thirds more than Tesla initially raised from private investors, and more than double the $226 million the company raised from its initial public offering five months later, even though the loan surely encouraged investors to buy.
http://reason.com/archives/2013/09/30/tesla-motors-and-the-folly-of-government
Left to its own devices, Tesla one day might have epitomized everything good about market economics. In an industry whose fundamentals have changed little since the introduction of the Model T, the California-based company, led by the visionary Elon Musk, made a long-term bet that it could prevail through disruptive innovation and superior products (Motor Trend named its Model S the 2013 Car of the Year, and Consumer Reports raved about it). Instead, Tesla now epitomizes the folly of government intervention.
Start with all the special benefits Tesla receives — including a $465 million loan from the Energy Department, conferred in January of 2010. That is two-thirds more than Tesla initially raised from private investors, and more than double the $226 million the company raised from its initial public offering five months later, even though the loan surely encouraged investors to buy.
http://reason.com/archives/2013/09/30/tesla-motors-and-the-folly-of-government
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