SpaceX and Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk on Tuesday criticized President Joe Biden, calling his management “biased” against Tesla and saying it appears to be “controlled” through a speech by unions at the Code convention in Beverly Hills, California.

Musk, in his sometimes irreverent form, has also repeated several of his past anti-government mockery of federal monetary regulators at the Securities and Exchange Commission, reiterated his favor of cryptocurrency and nuclear power, and said he is positive about Tesla and generation in China despite recent antitrust legislation and the crackdown on cryptocurrencies there.

Code anchor and Recode editor Kara Swisher asked Musk for recent tweets in which he rebuked President Joe Biden.

Musk sighed. ” You know, Biden was the host of this electric vehicle summit, he didn’t invite Tesla. He invited GM, Ford, Chrysler and the UAW. An electric vehicle summit at the White House!EV Revolution. “

“Sounds a bit biased or something like that? And you know, it’s just not the friendliest administration. It seems to be controlled through the unions, as far as I know. “

Swisher asked him if he expected the return of former President Donald Trump or if he would be president himself, and he replied no on either point.

Swisher asked Musk, who is the world’s richest user lately, according to Bloomberg, to respond to the complaint that although his corporations have won government contracts and grants, the CEO has refrained from paying taxes on a widespread basis. in the United States through artistic creations. Fix if it is legal, accounting practices.

In June, research news site ProPublica reported on Musk’s tax bill as a component of a large investigation into billers’ finances and found that the source of Musk’s income tax was 0 in 2018.

Musk insulted ProPublica’s report, calling it “delicate” and “misleading. “

Then he said that the number is so low because he does not receive a salary, so his payment of coins is almost zero. Musk borrows coins for inventory features that are acquired over time.

As he amassed more and more shares in Tesla and SpaceX, he said, he “didn’t bother” to withdraw cash from the table by touting a stake. The good fortune of SpaceX and Tesla was far from assured, Musk said. I have overcome bankruptcy several times. But I never tried to take cash off the table. And now he seeks to reverse it and turn it into a bad thing. “

Tesla, which is publicly traded, has told shareholders it is on the verge of bankruptcy.

When Musk’s inventory expires at Tesla, the CEO said, his marginal tax rate will be more than 50 percent. “I have a lot of that that expires early next year, so Array. . . a massive block will sell out in the fourth quarter, because I have to do it or they will expire. “

“So you ended up paying a lot of taxes?” Swisher said.

“Massive, yes,” Musk said. Basically, most of what will be imposed. »

He said critics would possibly say that other wealthy people borrowing their actions are “a trick to avoid paying taxes. “But, he said, it’s not unusual and can be a difficult decision. “and bet until there’s a recession and you succeed on margin calls and then you succeed at zero, which essentially happens whenever there’s a recession. “

“I have made it clear publicly that I believe the value of our inventory is too high in my opinion, and it has done nothing to prevent the increase in the value of inventory,” he said. I intended to do, you know, I’m not the one making it happen!” The audience laughed.

“I think it’s vital to note that my actual tax rate is 53%. They realize that I am paying very low taxes, but in fact my taxes are very high. . . paid for the next 3 months due to the expiration of options,” he said.

When asked to comment on CNBC, ProPublica responded with the following from editor Stephen Engelberg:

“Elon Musk’s statements verify the accuracy of our reports, which revealed that he had not paid any federal source of income taxes in 2018. As we’ve noted in our history, Musk supported his lifestyle by borrowing money for his stocks, a classic example of the strategy known as “buy, borrow, and die. “We have noticed in our history that their government tax bills in recent years accounted for only a small fraction of their multimillion-dollar wealth gains. “

ProPublica sent detailed questions to Musk before publishing his June article, and he responded. At Tuesday’s conference, Musk said ProPublica had “no interest” in the fact of its finances.

“We remain interested in any comments you may have about the U. S. tax formula or your own methods of minimizing your tax liabilities,” Engelberg said Wednesday.

Swisher also asked Musk about his abundant, and infrequently combative, use of Twitter. “Explain to us when you should tweet,” he said.

Musk to Swisher in a sarcastic tone.

“Well, I think about it for hours. And I consult with my strategic team,” he said, laughing dumbly with the audience. “Or I’m lost and then brrrr-psshht!Finite! Let me shoot myself in the foot, bam!Now let me shoot myself in the foot, bam! This describes some of my tweets. “

In 2018, the SEC sued Tesla and Musk for securities fraud after the CEO wrote on Twitter that he was contemplating privatizing Tesla for $420 according to a steady percentage and had secured funding.

They eventually reached a settlement on the lawsuit, with Musk and Tesla paying the federal government $20 million in fines and Musk resigning his role as chairman of Tesla’s board of directors. Musk also agreed to have his tweets reviewed through a Tesla compliance officer before releasing them if they involved vital data about the company.

“Do you have any SEC involvement in your tweets in the future?”Swisher asked.

Musk said, “What does that mean yet? I know the middle word is ‘Elon,’ but not the other two. “

She suggested that he respond seriously: “Are you afraid of being told, ‘Elon, stop. . . to tweet'”?

Musk said, “Do you mean the enrichment commission for short sellers?

Both comments were allusions to insults Musk had hurled at the currency regulator on Twitter in 2020 and 2018, respectively.

Tesla caused a sensation in February when it revealed that it had bought around $1. 5 billion in bitcoins. After filtering the holdings, bitcoin’s value skyrocketed. In May, when Musk said on Twitter that Tesla would avoid accepting bitcoins as a means of payment for his money. Electric cars, the value of bitcoin plummeted.

When Musk tweets the backing of a specific coin, as he did with dogecoin, its value tends to increase, at least temporarily.

When Swisher asked about cryptocurrency regulation, Musk said the SEC backtracked.

“Let it fly,” he suggested.

The People’s Bank of China recently declared all cryptocurrency-related activities illegal. Swisher asked Musk if he had any consideration about running in China or if he was concerned about U. S. -China relations.

After praising workers at Tesla and the vehicle meeting plant in Shanghai, Musk said he’s “not particularly” concerned about China right now. As the pandemic subsides, allowing for the resumption of in-person meetings, “levels of trust” in China with tech corporations and foreign corporations “would begin to move in a more positive direction,” Musk predicted.

Musk said he believes China may not adopt cryptocurrency in its component due to the shortage of electric power there and the large amount of electrical power needed to mine bitcoins, but he also said that the prospect of cryptocurrency to lessen the strength of centralized governments may also make China suspicious.

When Swisher said that Musk could only “change the shares” of the cryptocurrency more than China, Musk said this. She asked him if that was a smart thing. ” If it’s going up, I guess it is,” he said.

Swisher and Musk discussed SpaceX, its competitors, its goal of expanding the Starlink satellite service and its ambitions to make humanity a “multiplanetary species” in detail.

During his discussion about SpaceX, Musk took the opportunity to mock the phallic of blue origin’s rocket and reprimand Jeff Bezos for his aerospace company’s contentious proceedings.

“Can you from a technological point of view why is this way?”Swisher asked.

Musk, characteristically grivois, said, “If you’re just doing suborbital, your rocket is possibly shorter, yes. “

Musk clarified that he does not communicate with the Amazon founder, however, sub-tweets him instead, meaning he posts tweets about Bezos without speaking directly to him.

Asked about SpaceX’s creation of soft pollutants that interfered with astronomers’ paintings, Musk said, “We’re very careful to make sure our satellites don’t interfere with their telescopes. “SpaceX could launch new telescopes for the Starship rover, he said, which would have a solution 10 times larger than Hubble’s. He said only amateur astronomers are complaining about SpaceX today.

At the end of the session, an audience member asked if Musk was involved in utilities being able to generate and transmit enough electric power to force electric cars to become more popular.

Musk estimated that demand for electric power would more or less double as global shifts from gasoline-powered to electric cars.

“It’s going to create a lot of demanding situations with the network,” he said. He said he considers the call “unractical” unless significant local electricity generation is added to homes through means such as residential solar products, such as those sold. through Tesla.

In charging to the force of the rooftop sun, he said, we will want to charge the grid with “great advances in generating sustainable power, basically wind and sun,” combining them with batteries to mitigate the intermittent nature of renewables.

Musk added, in conclusion:

“I’m also a bit pro-nuclear. And I’m a little surprised by the public’s sentiment against the nuclear force. I’m not saying we build a bunch of new nuclear power plants. “That in Germany and I had to create a bunch of coal-power plants, and I don’t think it’s the right decision, frankly. “

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