ELON Musk has slammed American citizens as “entitled,” while praising the “smart” and “hardworking” people in China.
In an interview released Tuesday on the Automotive News’ Daily Drive podcast, the tech CEO compared the United States to sports teams that have won too much and get complacent.
New York and California specifically were the subject of Musk’s ire, while China won his praise.
“China rocks in my opinion,” the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX said when asked about the country’s electric vehicle strategy.
“The energy in China is great. People there – there’s like a lot of smart, hard working people, and they’re … not entitled, they’re not complacent, whereas I see in the United States increasingly much more complacency and entitlement – especially in places like the Bay Area and LA and New York.”
Musk went on to take additional digs at New York and California, even though both states have supported his businesses with considerable tax breaks and other government assistance, according to CNBC.
“When you’ve been winning for too long you sort of take things for granted,” Musk said.
“The United States, and especially like California and New York, you’ve been winning for too long. … So, just like some pro sports team, they win a championship … a bunch of times in a row, they get complacent and they start losing.”
California has given Tesla more than $220million in sales and use tax exclusions from the California Alternative Energy and Advanced Transportation Financing Authority, and has granted the company zero emission vehicle and solar renewable energy credits.
CNBC reported that the sale of the regulatory credits have been a major factor in Tesla’s profitability in recent years.
New York state spent nearly $959million on a solar-panel factory in Buffalo that is now operated by Tesla – in an effort to bring more than 1,000 high paying tech jobs to the area.
Tesla has yet to fulfill the job requirement, but was granted an extension.
The Chinese government, though, has also been incredibly supportive of Musk and his businesses.
Last year, Chinese officials helped Telsa secure around $1.6billion in loans to construct and manufacture vehicles at a new Shanghai factory.
The Shanghai government also helped Telsa get operations up and running again this year after the COVID-19 pandemic temporarily suspended manufacturing there, CNBC reported.
