OT: Hurricanes Lounge XLI: It's August

[Navin R Slavin]

Remember, he didn't want to spend that money. The courts ordered him to do it after he tried to back out

Yes, but he did mean to buy it originally; he just didn't like the price. Once the money was committed, do you really think he decided at that point "I'm going to ruin it all bit by bit, making myself look as dumb as possible in the process" when he could have just... turned it off?

 

[Blueline Bomber]

Yes, but he did mean to buy it originally; he just didn't like the price. Once the money was committed, do you really think he decided at that point "I'm going to ruin it all bit by bit, making myself look as dumb as possible in the process" when he could have just... turned it off?

Turning it off admits failure. Having it crumble underneath his bad decisions allows him to blame the userbase.

 

[tarheelhockey]

do you really think he decided at that point "I'm going to ruin it all bit by bit, making myself look as dumb as possible in the process"

Historians will debate whether it’s dumber to do this accidentally or deliberately.

 

[Navin R Slavin]

Turning it off admits failure. Having it crumble underneath his bad decisions allows him to blame the userbase.

Sure. But none of that points to him deliberately ruining it. He thinks it's going to work. He thinks everything he does is going to work.

 

[Finlandia WOAT]

I don't think he's intentionally trying to ruin it. For one, that falls into the same trap of thinking rich people are these technocratic wizards who got their wealth through sheer genius and not dumb luck. For two, he's running it similar to running some start up in the dot com bubble of the 90's, where he cut his teeth: cut the workforce down to a bunch of hard working true believers, institute eye catching changes of dubious quality, and keep the creditors and regulatory bodies at bay for 24 more hours.

 

[MinJaBen]

I think HF should adopt that policy.

I already go by my real name.

 

[Borsig]

Except everything Musk has done up to this point, has worked.

Telsa was doomed to fail because no charging infra, and battery tech sucks.
Paypal was a bad idea.
Aerospace companies and air force brass laughed at him when he said he could land a rocket and re-use it.
Nothing he has done has actually "failed". Even the hyperloop project still exists around vegas. Some things are slow to birth then grow parabolically.

Will the twitter / X thing fail? Maybe.

Perhaps he thinks everything he does is going to work because most of it does. The most hilarious thing to me, is that he was the patron saint of the EV / Green / Anti fossil fuel climate change / green new deal lefties untiil he moved to the center around the covid thing and got tired of their shit. Now he's the anti christ lol.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

The most hilarious thing to me, is that he was the patron saint of the EV / Green / Anti fossil fuel climate change / green new deal lefties untiil he moved to the center around the covid thing and got tired of their shit. Now he's the anti christ lol.

The real reason is that as a business, he NEEDED government and the liberals who were pushing the EV/Green stuff to be successful so he played nice and acted like he aligned with certain ideals. Now, Tesla isn't as dependent on the gov't so he doesn't have to play nice. Here's why.

For many, many years, Tesla was only making a profit because he was selling his extra "carbon credits" to other automakers who weren't making enough fuel efficient cars and would have had to pay the government because of not meeting the requirements. Musk, would sell those credits to the other automakers so they could sell their low mileage vehicles and not pay a gov't fine. The manufacturing/sale operations were operating at a significant loss. For example, in 2020, Tesla had $1.6B in revenue from credits and $720M of Net Revenue from products. The company would not have been profitable without those credits and I believe it was only in the last year or so where the actual automotive part was profitable.

Up until a couple years ago, Musk knew he needed the EV/Green/new deal lefties to ensure all that carbon credit stuff remained in place otherwise, Tesla would have probably not survived. He also got a big loan from the Department of Energy early on as well.

Now, with the stock where it is, with Tesla making a profit outside of Carbon Credits, with other automakers pushing to go EV and some agreeing to use Tesla's charging system; he doesn't really need the green/new deal lefties any longer. He's got what he wanted from them. It was a smart move, get the other automakers to basically pay for Tesla to become successful, using the government (not just US government) along the way.

Frankly, part of me thinks Musk's switch to courting the right instead of the left is an attempt to get those on the right to start buying Tesla's as well. The left is going to keep buying them even if they hate the guy and for the most part, the right has had almost a hatred of EVs. I don't think the guy cares one bit about politics, I think he simply wants to dominate the automobile market, the EV charging market, and the data that comes along with all that. Even if Twitter fails, that $44B will seem like a drop in the bucket if he's successful in achieving that.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

Another aspect. The Oil and Gas industry is a half trillion dollar business in the US (or more) and 8% of our GDP. About 50% of crude oil in the US is refined to gasoline and about 30% is refined for diesel. Down the road, whoever controls EV automobile charging in the US is going to have a lot of power (pun intended), influence and money.

 

[Anton Dubinchuk]

It’s gonna take a lot for Elon Musk to pass gas

 

[Lempo]

It’s gonna take a lot for Elon Musk to pass gas

In my opinion he seems to be full of hot air.

 

[SlavinAway]

Also, Elon is clearly not in the center of the political spectrum.

 

[Chrispy]

Also, Elon is clearly not in the center of the political spectrum.

He’s not in the center, but he’s pretty clearly on the spectrum.

Oh, political. Never mind.

 

[Borsig]

Also, Elon is clearly not in the center of the political spectrum.

He is to me.

I'm not even a right winger like so many here mistake me for. I'm not anti abortion. I'm pro choice. I'm for protection of the enviornment, within reason (I'm not going to stop building a large project because we found an endangered insect, and I won't hamstring us over it either). I'm pro legalization of Mary jane even though I don't partake.

But I'm a personal liberty "extremist". I believe the 2A is absolute, period. If you can bear (hold) it, and it takes a a cartridge, you should be able to own it. I believe that carry permits are unconstitutional. Vaccine mandates are unconstitutional and those who would force it into someone else's arm are petty tyrant trash, and deserved to publicly humiliated. I think FDR should have been hung for treason, for deprivation of rights under color of law for the Japanese internment. I believe in a consumption based tax, not an income based one. I feel that able bodied people eating steak on my dime should be put to work or lose their bennies.

Starship troopers had requirements to be a citizen right. Birthright citizenship was a poor way to deal with slavery, and there are far too many stupid, worthless, lazy people who reap the benefits of the system, wreck it by voting to keep their easy life, without having to ever contribute to it. Voting by spite is the new norm, and I too, am guilty of it. The ideal of america was always to leave people alone who have harmed no one. Free to love who you want, own what you want, do what you want, etc. I'm not sure we can ever get back to that now.

 

[Chrispy]

Am I the only one who can't keep the new privacy agreemeent "Accept/Reject these 3rd parties to have access to data" pop-up from coming back on every board?

 

[Negan4Coach]

Except everything Musk has done up to this point, has worked.

Telsa was doomed to fail because no charging infra, and battery tech sucks.
Paypal was a bad idea.
Aerospace companies and air force brass laughed at him when he said he could land a rocket and re-use it.
Nothing he has done has actually "failed". Even the hyperloop project still exists around vegas. Some things are slow to birth then grow parabolically.

Will the twitter / X thing fail? Maybe.

Perhaps he thinks everything he does is going to work because most of it does. The most hilarious thing to me, is that he was the patron saint of the EV / Green / Anti fossil fuel climate change / green new deal lefties untiil he moved to the center around the covid thing and got tired of their shit. Now he's the anti christ lol.

Yeah that is the fun part for me. Have several lib friends who used to worship his prostate, one of them was early adopter of Tesla and kept trying to shame me into getting one (forgetting that I drove a Prius for 6 years despite nonstop harassment). This was also the guy who told me with a straight face he wanted SEAL Team 6 to enforce vaccine mandates. Now he's embarrassed to own a Tesla and never talks about Musk anymore, LOL. This guy owns a enviro-tech firm in the area, BTW.

Also, Elon is clearly not in the center of the political spectrum.

Well, tbh a whole lot of people who used to be centrists are not anymore. Many of us woke up one day, looked around and realized where all this trying to be being reasonable and tolerant of stuff got us.

 

[Svechhammer]

. Many of us woke up one day, looked around and realized where all this trying to be being reasonable and tolerant of stuff got us.

Yeah the horrors when being "reasonable and tolerant" is just 'dont say racist shit anymore'

 

[Canes]

I'm not even a right winger like so many here mistake me for.

...

But I'm a personal liberty "extremist". I believe the 2A is absolute, period. If you can bear (hold) it, and it takes a a cartridge, you should be able to own it. I believe that carry permits are unconstitutional. Vaccine mandates are unconstitutional and those who would force it into someone else's arm are petty tyrant trash, and deserved to publicly humiliated. I think FDR should have been hung for treason, for deprivation of rights under color of law for the Japanese internment. I believe in a consumption based tax, not an income based one. I feel that able bodied people eating steak on my dime should be put to work or lose their bennies.

 

[Borsig]

Yeah the horrors when being "reasonable and tolerant" is just 'dont say racist shit anymore'

No man.. no. Being reasonable and tolerant is not telling people exactly what you think of them.

I find most black people to be amicable cool folks. I don't get some of the culture and I wish they'd stop voting themselves into the system but...

In fact the most insufferable, pathetic garbage people I "tolerate" are people who mask and Vax shame, think they have the right to dictate to me how ill defend myself and constantly think I'm a racist because I don't have the leftist appendage down my throat.

Being tolerant is looking at those people with disdain and not getting in their fave and telling them they're not welcome here at a restaurant..... or doesn't that sound familiar?

...

I know. I know. It's so confusing that someone can have multiple positions across multiple platforms.

Quasi libertarianism really is dividing be zero to some folks.

Did you have selective reading , or just conveniently leave out the part where I'm pro choice, pro environment and pro weed?

 

[Borsig]

Well, tbh a whole lot of people who used to be centrists are not anymore. Many of us woke up one day, looked around and realized where all this trying to be being reasonable and tolerant of stuff got us.

This right here. I'll say it again. Voting by spite. Why the hell should you take the high road when the opposition is fundementally doing everything it can do to criminalize your way of life? This goes for BOTH sides.

Remember when people were arrested for going to church? I do. Remember some people wanting to make the morning after pill illegal and a felony? I do. That's how you make mortal enemies.

 

[Canes]

No man.. no. Being reasonable and tolerant is not telling people exactly what you think of them.

I find most black people to be amicable cool folks. I don't get some of the culture and I wish they'd stop voting themselves into the system but...

In fact the most insufferable, pathetic garbage people I "tolerate" are people who mask and Vax shame, think they have the right to dictate to me how ill defend myself and constantly think I'm a racist because I don't have the leftist appendage down my throat.

Being tolerant is looking at those people with disdain and not getting in their fave and telling them they're not welcome here at a restaurant..... or doesn't that sound familiar?


I know. I know. It's so confusing that someone can have multiple positions across multiple platforms.

Quasi libertarianism really is dividing be zero to some folks.

Did you have selective reading , or just conveniently leave out the part where I'm pro choice, pro environment and pro weed?

Basically everything you said is right wing or right wing adjacent in the latter original quote. I don't really see why it's hard to admit you're right wing. It's fine and you're not a bad person because of it.

 

[Blueline Bomber]

Basically everything you said is right wing or right wing adjacent in the latter original quote. I don't really see why it's hard to admit you're right wing. It's fine and you're not a bad person because of it.

But he’s pro-choice, pro-legalization of marijuana, and kind of pro-environment? Although frankly, his stance on all three of those should really be less of a “leftist“ thing and more of a “common sense” thing, because the first two are basically “Hey, it doesn’t impact you how people live their life. f*** off trying to control them“ and the last one is “Hey, remember when we had seasons and it wasn’t just a mishmash of random weather phenoms every week? It’s too late to go back, but maybe let’s not make it worse?”

 

[Borsig]

But he’s pro-choice, pro-legalization of marijuana, and kind of pro-environment? Although frankly, his stance on all three of those should really be less of a “leftist“ thing and more of a “common sense” thing, because the first two are basically “Hey, it doesn’t impact you how people live their life. f*** off trying to control them“ and the last one is “Hey, remember when we had seasons and it wasn’t just a mishmash of random weather phenoms every week? It’s too late to go back, but maybe let’s not make it worse?”

The last one is maybe don't dump toxic shit in our water and slash and burn things, and over fish.

Look I work in the energy industry. Let the free market decide on EV's. Without policy that drives furl prices to what they are in Europe (Obama). Planes can't fly on batteries, yet - and we need to plan for that.

Frankly ALL of my positions are "f*** off trying to control people". It's not your decision if I own an AR or machine gun. I own both, and they're of no threat to anyone, as long as I am left alone in peace.

Again, quasi libretarianism.

However we are going to continue down this "two sides" thing and we're going to have to choose one or the other. One side is tolerable to me, the other I consider a threat to personal liberty, which is the foundation of our republic.

You want to know why trump is 30 percent ahead of most other republicans right now? Spite. hate. rage. And the smug smirking prosecution of the guy will lead to the R's doing EXACTLY the same thing to Biden or Hunter next, or whoever the next crooked politician is. Its going to be a tit for tat that increases until someone drops a WMD. That'll be the nuclear option in the senate. Abolition of the 60 vote margin in the senate, and when that happens, the unconstitutional laws will start flying, the hate will grow and this republic will fail from inside.

These are the best we have? Biden? Trump? Congressmen who think Guam will capsize or that birds aren't real, and who screw chinese spies and ruin entire industries for insider trades.

This is a governemnt that killed an entire family over a sawed off shotgun barrel, but wants to let the president's kid off for felony straw purchase and possession by a felon and user of illegal substance.
The DOJ is weaponized against the people, as is the IRS, and the administrative state is the new local union boss that runs the town.

Rot from the inside. And the masses keep voting for it.

I'm not right wing because the right is as bad as the left at using power to impose their beliefs on others. But I'll tell you this right now, if it comes down to it? You're damn right I'd pick authoritarianism that supports the majority of my beliefs and protects my interests. Because the other side can't wait to do it to me. They've told me to my face. I'd be a fool to not believe them.

If the rule that you followed brought you to this, of what use was the rule?

 

[Navin R Slavin]

But he’s pro-choice, pro-legalization of marijuana, and kind of pro-environment? Although frankly, his stance on all three of those should really be less of a “leftist“ thing and more of a “common sense” thing, because the first two are basically “Hey, it doesn’t impact you how people live their life. f*** off trying to control them“ and the last one is “Hey, remember when we had seasons and it wasn’t just a mishmash of random weather phenoms every week? It’s too late to go back, but maybe let’s not make it worse?”

That's a libertarian. All the tech bros are libertarians.

 

[Porvari]