Rivian secured a big win last month when the Biden administration approved a $6.6 billion loan to fund construction of its Georgia factory. The electric startup had to pause its initial plans to bring the plant online this year, and the new loan will be a key part of Rivian’s plans to expand its lineup beyond the R1T and R1S. This has, apparently, upset Vivek Ramaswamy, the viscerally repulsive moron Trump chose to co-lead the advisory committee Elon Musk is calling the Department of Government Efficiency. Apparently, helping Rivian is a direct attack on Tesla.
Over at the Nazi bar, Ramaswamy posted, “Biden is forking over $6.6B to EV-maker Rivian to build a Georgia plant they’ve already halted. One ‘justification’ is the 7,500 jobs it creates, but that implies a cost of $880k/job which is insane. This smells more like a political shot across the bow at @elonmusk & @Tesla.” That is, of course, a completely brain dead take, but in the same way that no one has ever accused Ramaswamy of being too talented of a rapper, no one has ever accused him of having good takes, either.
You’d think the problem with his argument would be obvious, but considering how many people don’t understand how tariffs work, that’s not a guarantee. So for the PragerU fans who still read this site for some reason, a loan is not a gift. You do get money from the person or institution that gives you the loan, yes, but you then you have to pay it back. With interest. The federal government isn’t spending $880,000 per job created because the deal is that Rivian will pay that money back.
Now, it’s entirely possible Rivian could fail and may not be able to pay back the loan, but you know what’s great for a company’s success? Having a second factory where it can build several new, more affordable models and significantly increase overall sales.
It’s also insane to act like a decision that helps Rivian is somehow anti-Tesla. Tesla is hilariously overvalued, but it’s still the most valuable automaker in the world and doesn’t need any help. Why should Tesla care about a little competition from a startup that will probably only sell about 50,000 vehicles this year?
Now, in addition to making every woman in his general vicinity dryer than the Atacama desert, Ramaswamy has also made a lot of money. So it’s hard to believe he doesn’t know how loans work. On the other hand, assuming he actually does know how loans work, then the only logical conclusion is that he’s just straight-up lying, which is also unthinkable. A Republican lying? That can’t be! What about those so-called “Judeo-Christian” values?
H/T: CarScoops
