Well-known historian Ruth Ben Ghiat found himself caught in the billionaire’s crossfire Elon Musk on Saturday when she called him about his “false selflessness”.
What happened: After reports from SpaceX writing to the Pentagon asking it to foot the bill for providing Starlink internet services to Ukraine, Musk came back to clarify would continue to fund the Ukrainian government for free.
Commenting on the tweet, Ben-Ghiat said, “Feigned selflessness is one of the rudest things about @elonmusk, who himself has received almost $5 billion in government subsidies.” She also included the link to a Los Angeles Times story from 1999 2015 added that said Tesla, Inc. TSLASolarCity and SpaceX have received an estimated $4.9 billion in government support.
Musk fought back with a response, asking the historian why she “continues oil and gas industry propaganda.” According to the billionaire, the propaganda is designed to distract from the $6 trillion a year in subsidies oil and gas companies receive.
The Tesla CEO also shared an IMF report on fossil fuel subsidies, which said global fossil fuel subsidies were $5.9 trillion, or 6.8% of GDP, in 2020 and projected in 2025 will rise to 7.4% of GDP.
Why do you continue propaganda concocted by the oil and gas industry to distract you from the $6 trillion a *year* in subsidies these companies receive?https://t.co/XZxDJAPE9a
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 22, 2022
Why it matters: Although Musk’s ventures represent an alternative to non-renewable energy resources, he has said in the past that the world still needs oil and gas.
“Realistically, I think we need to use oil and gas in the short term, because otherwise civilization will collapse,” he said earlier on the sidelines of an energy conference in…
