In all businesses, it is desirable to have the goodwill of senior members of the government. The reason is government controls many levers of influence and budgets that can ensure the government helps the company both directly and indirectly. The downside of being too close to one side of the government is all those who do not support the government may not be customers.

In an article by Chris Megerian of the Associated Press, there was something a little different than normal. President Trump had 4 Tesla vehicles on the front lawn of the White House and bought 2 cars from Elon Musk. In the past, companies have shown their products at the White House, but the President never directly bought anything.

The reason for the show of support for Tesla was the owner Elon Musk has been running DOGE, either directly or highly indirectly, to try to find waste, abuse and fraud in government spending. For political parties it is easy to find waste – both parties have things they favor over the other party, so one party’s good is another party’s waste. Abuse is close to the waste, but fraud means to convict someone in court, or the burden is much higher. However, most people believe in government there is some waste, abuse and fraud in the files as people like the government for some things and not others.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, all profitable companies will have interactions with the government, mostly to ensure the government’s regulations do not hurt them and hopefully protects them from competition or make it harder for the competition. If the company has the goodwill of the politicians, then the multiple agencies that interact with the company will tend to work together and not target the company. Working with the government is a good thing.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.