TIL many US companies in the late 1800s-1938 would pay their employees in company scrip, a currency issued by the employer and can only be used in company owned stores where they upcharged exorbita...
Elon wants to build a city from scratch in Texas, basically a Tesla company town. He's reportedly purchased 6,000 acres 35 miles from Austin and already there's a factory and some cheap housing plopped down in "Snailbrook, TX"
edit for additional context, the land is in Bastrop county, which is between Austin and Houston (but much closer to Austin). I35 from San Antonio to Austin to Dallas is quickly becoming one giant strip of consumerism, and Austin to Houston will eventually go the same way. He's getting rural land just outside booming Austin and 1.5 hours from Katy in the Houston metroplex. Unfortunately it looks like an amazing business move
I was born one mornin' when the sun didn't shine
I picked up my shovel and I walked to the mine
I loaded 16 tons of number nine coal
And the straw boss said, "Well, a-bless my soul"
You load 16 tons, what do you get?
Another day older and deeper in debt
St. Peter, don't you call me 'cause I can't go
I owe my soul to the company store.
I used to think my daddy was a black man
With script enough to buy the company store
Now he goes to town with empty pockets
And his face is white as February snow
Oh it's even better. Look up the battle of Blair Mountain. Where the US government dropped bombs on protesting coal miners, whose only crime was wanting to be paid in real currency.