Elon Musk's baloney virtue is as bankrupt as Tesla

As a car company, Tesla is effectively bankrupt. This past quarter, Tesla’s reported profits were only $405 million, a profit shown only because he sold “emissions credits” to General Motors and other car companies to the tune of $595 million.

In other words, he’s not in the car business, but in the business of selling the right to pollute. He helps GM sell Chevy Tahoes that get 15 miles per gallon.

That is because Musk is a master of conjuring money out of thin air — or more accurately, dirty air.

So, my dear green friends, when you buy a Tesla, you’re not reducing your carbon footprint by a quarter-inch, because Musk is selling your good intentions to General Motors so they can pollute more.

It’s like when the medieval Catholic Church sold indulgences, so your relatives didn’t have to go to hell.

When you buy a Tesla, you’ve actually increased your total carbon footprint because Tesla will sell your so-called “emissions savings” while your car is still producing a huge amount of carbon.

There ain’t no such thing as an “emissions free” car, because even Musk can’t get away with violating the law — the Second Law of Thermodynamics. When you buy your Tesla, you’ve moved your pollution from the tailpipe to the electric plant smokestack. For the pinheads who operate their Teslas in Wyoming, that means your car is 100% powered by coal.

Climate change is the looming hell on Earth which no amount of pollution indulgences from Musk will change, no matter how much your friends in Beverly Hills congratulate you on your baloney virtue.

Learn more — see ‘Elon Musk: Batteries Not Included’

• Greg Palast is the author of investigative reports for outlets including the Guardian, the BBC, and Rolling Stone, and New York Times bestsellers including The Best Democracy Money Can Buy and Billionaires & Ballot Bandits. His latest film, Vigilantes Inc.: America’s New Vote Suppression Hitmen, is narrated by Rosario Dawson and produced by Martin Sheen and George DiCaprio. On Substack, he writes at Greg Palast Investigates