I don't want to be rude, but I'd say if you fall for that then you're a sucker.

Tell me which of Elon's companies would exist today without heavy government subsidies or largesse?

He is a modern day Ross Perot. No more, no less. Maybe he wants to make the world a better place - but only if he can get extravagantly wealthy on US taxpayer dollars doing it.

He's obsessed with Mars because it represents the fattest international government contract that ever existed.