It's an interesting question.... While SpaceX didn't start out with government funds, they certainly got contracts after a certain point. Could the private satellite market, plus perhaps a class of "space VC's" have possibly funded that in the absence of having the DoD as a main customer? Who knows...

Nah. You gotta give credit where credit is due. It’s hard to build a successful company, whether you have gov subsidizing or not. You need to have vision + execution. Almost nobody else can match him on this.

As for Tesla -- all car companies are ultimately sustained by 70 years of subsidies and regulations that enshrine the automobile as the only viable form of transportation for most Americans... c.f. "The High Cost of Free Parking"

Taking the internal combustion engine out of the equation removes the aspect of gas for fuel, (at least to the extent that the electric grid isn't ultimately powered by it), but it doesn't change the fact that Tesla was always a "sustaining" rather than a "disruptive" technology towards the American car-dominant lifestyle.

I would not even point at Elons companies. Maby it is also intresting to understand how far the US market is from a free market. And everyone who studied a bit of economy knows that every kind of state influence on the market has an influence.

I think there is interferance that is requested from the population, since it is a basic need. Like to have a local food production can be crutial for wartime. Same counts for arm production and maintenance.

But what rational being would favor a state that is financing air polution and increase the price on products which help to lower the polution. This is totally corrupt law making based on particular intrests that favor a small group of people on the shoulders of the majority.