Instead of government just handing over money, they should do this the way it was done with the railroads:
With the railroads making much land useable by providing transportation to and from and a way to ship to market, the government wanted tracks laid EVERYWHERE. With pretty much EVERY railroad declaring bankruptcy in just a few years, it was going to take some creative thinking to make a railroad profitable. I guess the way to compare to battery manufacturing is that we 'Sort of' know the value of making them more readily available but we don't know a timeframe for a business model because this is so new and they're for products that haven't been developed yet.
So the railroads became land companies. The government created checkerboard maps with routes for the rails. The government kept some of the land to sell later, the railroad bought the other squares. But not in cash, with bonds. Further, some or even all the money to build came from bonds the government would hold. Eventually the railroad would sell the land they had made more valuable than when they bought it with the addition of railroad access. This would enable them to pay off their bonds.
So let's call our target city Gernsback, New Mexico. Named for Hugo AGoGo himself, somewhere in the vicinity of that little "Town" that Dogman was telling us about. The State of New Mexico tells Elon they won't GIVE him anything, but they'll provide maybe $1 billion in financing in the form of he gets the land, some hundred$ of million$, in return for owing on those bonds from the company.
They say "We need you to build more than just your plant. We need you to build the community." So in addition to his own building, he's putting in a few store locations, a gas station, enough homes, etc. If the plant itself fails, this has still been a profitable venture. The roads will be built to suit him. There's going to be chargers wherever he SAYS there'll be chargers, including in every home. These homes are build from SIPs, structurally insulated panels. There's solar roofs, insulation, the whole thing being lighter, stronger, cheaper than a conventional stick build. Wish I could remember the name, but there's this house of the future somewhere on the east coast which they periodically tear down and build a newer one because it's always supposed to be the 'Out There' technology that will be old hat before long. It would have been great to link here.
The idea is that a whole community that catches all its' rainwater runoff, etc., will take a certain mentality at the helm to build. As Ayn Rand would tell you, this would never happen if the government had a say in it. But the State of New Mexico would get this high tech community, all the jobs, all while being repaid the whole $1 billion plus interest just for staying out of the way. As well as selling the land nearby they hung onto for a higher price. Don't let anyone steer you wrong, the governments made bundles of money off those railroads in the late 19th century.
And while I'd be all for letting Dogman take charge, there's state officials who would demand it be Elon's baby. So you say this is so logical and sensible that no state would ever allow it to happy? You're probably right, go ahead and forget the whole thing. . . .
So in 1957 Disneyland opened the Monsanto sponsored 'House of the Future.' Set in 1986, it featured such outlandish predictions people just laughed. By 1967 it was closed down, it was so hokey since much of what was predicted was already on the market. Even so, it was taking time for the whole country to modernize to that level. And the wrecking ball bouced right off of itl.
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I love scum. Wine tanks scum especially.
