Elon Musk is the man

That article is dumb. How dare Elon Musk physically show up to try and help!!

Musk is the world's greatest welfare queen.

I think it is a fair question whether Tesla would survive without the federal or state governments

posted by SportsAndLady

That article is dumb. How dare Elon Musk physically show up to try and help!!

And behind schedule, as usual.

Why is the article dumb?  Because it criticized Musk's involvement - according to actual rescue workers -  as unwanted, unnecessary and impractical?

posted by queencitybuckeye

Musk is the world's greatest welfare queen.

I didn't want to put this in politics.  But Musk has developed quite the reputation for overpromising - WAAAAAYYYYYY overpromising - and under delivering.  And now that the media is catching on and starting to be critical, he's kind of becoming Fake News Jr.

I wouldn’t expect you to understand this gut, but you’re critical of a guy for trying to help children trapped in a cave because he has a different political agenda/perspective than you. 

Musk has a positive outlook and attempts to help and innovate. OF COURSE this would piss people off. 

The only question is:  will he go cash-flow positive in the next quarter, or will he have to tap the capital markets, which will finally crater the stock? 

posted by Automatik

Musk has a positive outlook and attempts to help and innovate. OF COURSE this would piss people off. 

I want to say it’s shocking but it’s not. People won’t like Musk’s politics and gubmit dependencies, so they’ll trash the guy trying to help kids. 

I like Musk and I hope he changes the world for the better with his ideas, but it is odd for somebody who is allegedly a libertarian, while pretty much partaking in crony capitalism.

The criticism over him trying to help out these kids is hilarious though.  Even worst case if he was trying to promote his innovations, who the fuck cares if it helps the kids? 

posted by SportsAndLady

I wouldn’t expect you to understand this gut, but you’re critical of a guy for trying to help children trapped in a cave because he has a different political agenda/perspective than you. 

LMAO...as usual, you gotta be S&L.

Has nothing to do with his political agenda.  I even said the guy has been kind of amazing, and the criticism wasn't just about this publicity stunt. Maybe if you try reading more slowly, and reading several times before posting, you won't get the "ahhh, that's S&L" reaction.

posted by like_that

The criticism over him trying to help out these kids is hilarious though.  Even worst case if he was trying to promote his innovations, who the fuck cares if it helps the kids? 

Maybe it's fake news,  but that article cited people actually involved in the rescue efforts.  He didn't help the kids - he was late to the party, and rescue workers said his "solution" was impractical.  His part in the movie will be a dramatic and emotional 15 minutes, even if he didn't actually contribute ANYTHING to the rescue.

You read about some of the stuff going on at Tesla and Musk looks more and more like "all hat, no cattle".  He's obviously brilliant, but he's kind of a unique animal in the business world in that he seems to get an endless supply of private and public capital despite an inability to turn a profit.

posted by like_that

I like Musk and I hope he changes the world for the better with his ideas, but it is odd for somebody who is allegedly a libertarian, while pretty much partaking in crony capitalism.

I had no idea what his political leanings were, although I assumed he wasn't the typical CA liberal.

Now the hyperloop, or colonizing Mars (lmfao), are the typical "you need govt support" work - maybe worthwhile, maybe not.  SpaceX, which has competitors (without the Uncle Sugar support) is practically an outsourced rocket program, but appears to be doing well enough....and in that regard, probably more efficient than NASA was.   Tesla gets all the hype (and handouts), but they didn't pioneer electric vehicles nor do they generate the best ROI.

He does big things.  He has some amazing accomplishments.  But, like Tesla, isn't a lot of it just kind of taxpayer funded boondoggles?  To be honest, I don't think Tesla had much impact on the segment - the big automakers seemed to kind of laugh at and dismiss Tesla.

posted by gut

I had no idea what his political leanings were, although I assumed he wasn't the typical CA liberal ,,,,

..... He does big things.  He has some amazing accomplishments.  But, like Tesla, isn't a lot of it just kind of taxpayer funded boondoggles?  To be honest, I don't think Tesla had much impact on the segment - the big automakers seemed to kind of laugh at and dismiss Tesla.

What I don't like about Musk - or at least the people that seem to worship at his altar - is that he he has more "miracle ideas" than actual accomplishments.  Specifically, he practically promised Puerto Rico he would have them all back on-line (and at higher standard of living) seemingly in a matter of weeks after last fall's island-wide hurricane power outage.  However, once he restored power to the one children's hospital there, he seems to have disappeared from there, and his supporters who were hailing him as the savior of Puerto Rico (and Donald Trump the cause of PR's problems) have pushed the issue aside in favor of other things to be outraged about.

I'll give him the benefit of the doubt on the PR electric issue - his proposals needed the approval and cooperation of Puerto Rican government officials, which doomed it from the start.  But it was technically doable.   

The proposals he put forward to rescue the kids in the cave were almost Obama-like in their audacity of hope - and just as ethereal:  an inflatable rescue tunnel that even he admitted would probably be punctured by the rocks, and a rigid submersible that would have had trouble navigating those tight twists and turns without getting stuck.  Free-swimming divers had enough trouble just navigating their bodies through there.

He seems to have big ideas, though.  And $5 billion in taxpayer money.  Can't go wrong with those two things.

Space X / Tesla / Solar City may all succeed, may all fail, or may land somewhere in between.  But Jesus Christ, this guy has some friggin imagination, creativity and drive - and he's thus exploring stuff that my change our world.  Without guys like this coming along once in awhile, we miss some cool opportunities.  The guy has a set of balls on him and puts himself out there - way more than most of us would every dream of doing.  Teddy Roosevelt's "in the arena" quote comes to mind.  

 

Not too many media sites are happy with Elon Musk. Ever since he suggested starting a company to rate media reliability he has been #2 on their shit list - only behind #1 Trump. 

Anyone see Musk say that he may want to take the company private? SEC now investigating because it manipulated the market. Also, I guess I don’t follow enough, but famous stock shorter Einhorn has shorted Tesla recently. He made fame shorting Lehman brothers and runs a billion dollar hedge fund (Greenlighy Capital) 

posted by iclfan2

Anyone see Musk say that he may want to take the company private? SEC now investigating because it manipulated the market. 

I saw that.  He's been having some, errr, meltdowns in pressers.  The guy handles criticism, no matter how minor, about as well as Trump.

I haven't followed, but I believe Tesla has been one of the more shorted stocks for some time.  But it's very, very dangerous to short "story" stocks like that.  But, yeah, Einhorn is no joke, and he probably sees a tipping point.

posted by CenterBHSFan

Not too many media sites are happy with Elon Musk. Ever since he suggested starting a company to rate media reliability he has been #2 on their shit list - only behind #1 Trump. 

Literally a week after multiple stories on the tech blogs, it came out that he made something like $30k in donations to Republicans.  Which, of course, is a slap in the face to his legion of followers in Silicon Valley.

It was just bizarre to see that story, and probably more to do with what you said.  Because $30k in donations, for a guy with his money....and a guy with his mouth on the gubmit teet.....is nothing.  I'd be amazingly shocked if that was all he donated, and didn't donate at least a similar amount on the other side.

Good call, though.  I completely forgot about his "media rating" and how that might have triggered some of this.

Also, I assume you guys saw the flack where he called that diver quoted in the OP article a pedophile?  I think he doubled-down before finally apologizing.

I never thought of or heard anything about him being such an asshole.  I think the pressure of Tesla's struggles are really getting to him.

posted by gut

I used to be kind of amazed by this guy, maybe still am....but Elon Musk is the poster child for corporate welfare and bullshit.

/thread

IF SpaceX is viable, and I'm not certain it will be without some fat government contracts, I'll be surprised.  Teslas are cool vehicles, but without Daddy Warbucks in Washington, we wouldn't be seeing them gain in such popularity.

Elon Musk is what happens when a tech head is also a highly competent salesman.  He understands the tech well enough to pitch it, and he's good enough at pitching it to get someone who doesn't need to worry about being profitable excited about it.

He's gotta be planning to run for President, right?

I love some of the things he does, but Musk is a weeeeeeeeird fucking dude.

I think he's definitely a robot, probably just a better model of the Zuckerbot.

So Musk was a darling of the left, but now his pay package (which was beyond excessive) is being challenged and under dispute.  And I just saw a blurb that he's being sued for $7.5B insider transactions.

Latter is interesting because I thought it's always been assumed - and legal - that insiders are often acting on material non-public information.  But Musk is a bit of a different animal the way his tweets can move markets.

Anyway, thought it was interesting how [presumably] the Left is also directing its "lawfare" at Musk.  Don't ever go against the family!