[ckenst]

What's wrong with a half-billion dollar loan from the government to help out building a car company? Isn't that exactly the type of loans our government should be making - ones to companies who create high-paying jobs, become successful and then repay their loans early?

I believe Elon said Tesla will be profitable next quarter excluding carbon tax credits which is the only existing subsidy they get as a corporation. As for the buyers do you really think the $5-$7k credits the buyers get (at least in the U.S. based on the state they are in) are enough that if they were to stop getting those credits Tesla would stop selling all cars? I mean they aren't exactly selling cheap cars. What's $5-7k if you are already spending $70-90k? That's about a 10% discount.