Was just reading a post from a guy the other day who found that Tesla's battery swapping stations, which it was using to get over nine figures in subsidies from the state of California as part of being environmentally friendly, were actually just diesel generators recharging the batteries.
Thread from the automotive journalist who uncovered it: https://twitter.com/Tweetermeyer/sta...58189784854528
Yeah, talking about the same guy.Originally Posted by FaultyMario
This isn't just another steel or railroad or oil tycoon.
I think it's clear he is a slave driver, I've talked to some SpaceX interns who enjoyed the gig for a while, but wouldn't want to stay there long term!However, he's not even your average slave driver. The guy works as hard as his slaves! Also, this intern has the free will to choose whether to work for Elon... or not! This isn't real slavery. Desiring highly conscientious employees isn't a crime. He wants employees that can get the job done. The results speak for themselves!
When is the last time somebody succeeded in starting a car company? Let alone an electric car company?
When is the last time somebody succeeded in not only landing rockets, but also made it cheaper than well established competitors?
You can complain about Elon stealing from tax subsidies all you want, but pretty sure most of us could be stealing billions of dollars from the government and still be producing absolutely nothing. That's why I'd rather Elon legally 'steal' the money necessary and get it to work.
Anyway, main differences in Elon is that I don't see him doing this just to enrich and enjoy himself. Unlike most other billionaires. Warren Buffet is another one that lives a modest life for his net worth, but Mr. Buffet produces absolutely nothing physical in return though.
I am a bit concerned lately with Elon getting way more political than necessary... and possibly distract him from getting stuff done though.
Anyway, at least for me, this world definitely would NOT be a better place without Tesla cars and SpaceX rockets. Without Elon Musk, I'm pretty sure there won't be anyone capable of creating similar EVs or rockets.
Last edited by Crazed_Insanity; May 24th, 2022 at 02:42 PM.
Uh, our capitalist society is not about individuals doing things, it's about the sum of collective actions. For example, Vanguard and Blackrock own about 10% of Google, and those two companies are responsible for managing the pension funds of hundreds of thousands of people.
But hey, I will not divert your attention from all the big noises and shiny things...
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But I am talking about an individual who collectively slavedrives a group of like minded folks to create fancy EVs and reusable rockets.
Are you telling me you cannot tell the difference between Elon Musk and a typical private equity fund managers?
(Who typically not only created nothing, but probably also left behind bunch of financial messes. That is the kind of capitalism which I dislike. Warren Buffet is already the best example we can hopeful, but even Warren buffet contributes nothing much to the overall GDP, right?)
Just so happy to see Perdue, who Trump vehemently supported in GA for governor, just get absolutely fucking trounced.
Do you guys have NFP funds who's profits go back to members?
Us? no, we're the no-benefits generation.
it might be different for our northern brethren.
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Aww Billi! that's cute, but totally wrong.
Financial services create capital. In a world where land and labor are limited, the creation of capital is paramount.
If you think the owner of Tesla is anything like the original Tesla, there's nothing i can say to you.
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The problem with the original Tesla is that he lacked the know how to raise capital. Elon Musk is most likely smarter than me, but probably not quite as smart as the original Tesla, but Elon also has the skills needed to raise capital rather than relying on other investors/bankers.
Financial services creating capital investments is a great thing if the investments resulted in actual creation of something. Unfortunately, most of the money raised by private equity firms are probably used for speculative BS.
Just as crypto currencies could certainly be utilized to create something productive, but for the most part, crypto currencies, like any other fiat currencies are useless just sitting there. Their values going up and down makes absolutely no difference to this physical world if you don't cash out and spend it on something.
Tesla stocks are probably way over valued. However, thankfully, at least there are Tesla cars running around and influencing the rest of the auto makers to all invest more on EVs. Not to mention Elon gave up Tesla's intellectual property rights. Most billionaires probably won't do that, right?
The market is also full of companies like Enron, Theranos, based purely on BS. But thankfully BS companies eventually do go down and won't last long.
Point is, I do realize the importance of capital or capitalism; however, capitalism needs to be utilized to produce goods that can benefit people. If it's all about increasing capital and nothing else, then it just a cancerous tumor.
To me, Warren Buffet would be a benign tumor. Won't harm the body, but still kinda useless.
Elon's companies have more actual muscles, capable of actually moving our world to some place... better or worse...
If only the original Tesla had the same entrepreneur skills as Elon, our world probably would be a much better place.
Anyway, of all the billionaires in the world today, which one do you admire most? Let's forget about original Tesla. He died poor.
Or are you telling me all billionaires could just go to hell once they become that wealthy? I just thought Elon is a pretty unique kind of billionaire that's all. No, I don't think he's perfect like God, but if more billionaires could be more like him, I wouldn't mind. At least he tried to help whenever he can when he really doesn't have to. You know, like sending submarines to save kids or starlinks to help Ukrainians? Whether you agree with him or not, at least he is trying to help whenever he sees problems.
The only other billionaire that's more helpful than Elon is probably Jeff Bezos' ex-wife.
Last edited by Crazed_Insanity; May 25th, 2022 at 10:36 AM.
Looks like Raffensberger also won over the candidate Trump hand-picked to try to oust him. Hoping this will be a signal to other Republicans that you don't actually have to toe the "stolen election" line to get GOP votes.
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