Musk's A Nut, But He's Right

Let me start off by saying that Elon Musk is simply a bit of a nutcase, which is undeniably certifiable. I cannot deny him his technological genius, of course, nor can I deny him his strong business sense. Even though, let's be fair, he does often operate outside the realm of what necessarily always makes good business sense.

The thing is, that just because a guy can be a nutcase—even a certifiable one—it does not make the guy a dummy.

Regarding President Joe Biden's horrible Build Back Better Act, Tesla's Elon Musk has publicly told the president to just "scrap the whole damn thing." And what he has said, citing his reasoning for this, makes perfect sense to me, even if it is a bit surprising to hear.

Because of course Elon Musk is in the business of building and selling electric vehicles. That's his bread and butter, so to speak. You would think that with that in mind, Musk would be all over a bill that has in it provisions that could help his business.

Like offering tax credits to buyers of electric vehicles, and offering up $7.5 billion for the build out of electric vehicle charging stations across the nation.

People certainly do consider the tax credits when they decide to go electric, and another consideration is of course where one can easily and conveniently recharge their cars. Especially on extended trips.

The more charging stations available, the farther the distance one can presumably go, making the idea of owning an electric vehicle more practical on many levels for the average consumer.

Even for a guy like me, who owns the latest player to enter the stock market, electric vehicle maker Rivian, you'd think I would also enjoy the benefits of such government participation.

But I am also a strong believer in letting the free market do the work of deciding what is best for what plays in the free market. Governments simply have a tendency to muddy the waters, so to speak, and I don't think the government should meddle with it.

If it is a good product, and a good business, and consumers want it, they will buy it, and the rest will take care of itself well enough on its own.

Elon Musk agrees with that sentiment. "Do we need support for gas stations," was the question Musk posed in his statement. "We don't," he said. And he is right.

The thing is, if there is a need for electric vehicle charging stations, someone will build them because it just makes good business sense to do so. And of course, the electric vehicle businesses themselves will also see value in building an infrastructure that supports the products they make.

In other words, there is no need for the government to step in and subsidize the network of charging stations. Consumer demand itself will do that without any help necessary from the government.

While Musk did not bring up the point in his statement, I am of the opinion that if the government wants to do anything to assist with the induction of electrifying American's primary source of transportation, it needs to focus the money on improving the power grid.

Because right now, if even just 30% of cars are electric, the power grid cannot handle the demand for it. And Biden's policies in particular are not power grid friendly, not allowing for expansion of coal fired or nuclear energy plants. His policy is actually contrary to his vision of an electrified American driver if we are not willing to revisit the idea of expansion of the power grid.

So far other automakers who have a stake in the electric vehicle market, which is virtually every single automaker now, have not weighed in on the portion of the bill Elon Musk is referring to, nor have expressed their own thoughts on the matter. It would not be surprising if most others choose to remain silent on it.

Secretly I would suspect that the other automakers probably agree with Musk's sentiment. But few people are outspoken about certain opinions where there is money concerned that could potentially put more of it in their own pockets.

I applaud Musk for being bold enough to step into the fore and sort of suggest, "Hey, don't get in my way. I've got this."

Lead image courtesy of Pixabay, user Tumisu. Elon Musk Mars - Free photo on Pixabay