A group of Washington Post journalists on Wednesday published what appears to be the most comprehensive readout to date of the government contracts, loans, subsidies, and tax credits that the companies of Elon Musk, who has helped carry out the Trump administration’s punishing cuts to government personnel, have secured over the past two decades.
The world’s richest man is also “one of the greatest beneficiaries of the taxpayers’ coffers,” per the Post, which reported that Musk’s various companies received at least $38 billion from the U.S. government since 2006—prompting a number of observers to argue that cutting off this spigot ought to be the focus of government saving efforts.
Tim Wu, who worked on competition policy at the National Economic Council under former President Joe Biden, shared the Post’s reporting and wrote: “Can anyone think of another way to save over $38 billion that doesn’t involve vandalizing agencies.”
Since Trump was inaugurated, Elon Musk has helped oversee personnel cuts carried out by the Department of Government Efficiency, an advisory group. Just last week, federal workers received an Musk-backed order, asking them to detail their work in an email or face termination.
So far, the Trump administration has culled some 30,000 federal employees, according to an analysis from Bloomberg Law.
In the public eye, Musk is also closely associated with the effort to slash government spending and personnel. Musk recently appeared on stage at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), brandishing a chainsaw that was given to him by Argentine President Javier Milei—a nod to Milei’s “chainsaw plan” to slash public spending and implement austerity measures.
One Democratic lawmaker used the CPAC gimmick to highlight Musk’s own hypocrisy. “Chainsaw anyone? They’re on sale at Home Depot,” wrote Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) on X. She included a link to the Post’s article and also wrote that “Musk’s business empire is built on $38 billion in government funding.’
Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas), who has previously criticized Musk for benefiting from government funds while working to scale back government, also posted the Post’s reporting and highlighted other recent reporting that, in Casar’s words, show “Trump & Elon are corrupt.”
The Post’s analysis notes that the government contracts, loans, subsidies, and tax credits helped “seed the growth” that eventually turned Musk into the world’s richest man. The $38 billion is likely an undercount because the analysis does not include classified defense and intelligence work for the government, and an additional 52 ongoing contracts with various agencies are slated to potentially pay Musk’s ventures an additional $11.8 billion over the next few years.
The electric vehicle company Tesla in particular, according to the Post, benefited from the government’s largesse in its path to profitability.
