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Add this to my file of “Elon & Jeff Need Gas Money”… I recently met a founder whose $100MM a year LED business was bankrupt by Jeff Bezos first cloning and the

by ada1981 5y ago

Add this to my file of “Elon & Jeff Need Gas Money”… I recently met a founder whose $100MM a year LED business was bankrupt by Jeff Bezos first cloning and then shutting down his Amazon business. Without the government extracting taxes via a violence monoploy to fund gas money for space, guys like Elon and Jeff are forced to do shit like this so that they can fill up the rockets and get off world, man.

ben_w 5y ago
Except the only connection between Tesla and SpaceX is the founder, not the money. And SpaceX is cheaper than all the other rocket companies, so it’s saving the US taxpayer a lot of money. And SpaceX isn’t even reliant on government contracts any more. Don’t get me wrong: any world where a billionaire can successfully defend himself in a defamation suit when he calls someone a pedo with no evidence, his company definitely shouldn’t be able to even pull stunts like this, let alone succeed with them. But that’s a separate issue to “oh no my spaceship”.
- hef19898 5y ago
  Didn't Tesla use SpaceX securities to guarantee bank credit lines or some such?
  - ben_w 5y ago
    That’s the first I’ve heard of that; it would certainly be an update to my general understanding of the world if so, though I don’t think it would be likely to modify my opinion of “does government money for SpaceX have anything to do with Tesla suing for defamation?”
- ada1981 5y ago
  +1 for “oh no my spaceship”. Maybe that will be the podcast series name. Basically just want a roundup of shady moves from Elon & Jeff. Thing is, earth girls are easy, and with Grimes back on Tinder, Elon is going to need some big rockets to impress the Martian ladies.
- ada1981 5y ago
  I’m also pretty sure SpaceX fired a Tesla into space.
  - ben_w 5y ago
    My Facebook background picture is one of the images of that car in near-Earth space from before it left radio contact. It was Musk’s personal property, chosen in part after being suggested on a Twitter thread by one of his fans, and the alternative was literally a concrete block as that was a test flight and none of the normal customers they went to wanted to risk their stuff for even a free ride. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elon_Musk%27s_Tesla_Roadster https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elon_Musk%27s_Tesla_Roadster

ben_w 5y ago

Except the only connection between Tesla and SpaceX is the founder, not the money. And SpaceX is cheaper than all the other rocket companies, so it’s saving the US taxpayer a lot of money. And SpaceX isn’t even reliant on government contracts any more. Don’t get me wrong: any world where a billionaire can successfully defend himself in a defamation suit when he calls someone a pedo with no evidence, his company definitely shouldn’t be able to even pull stunts like this, let alone succeed with them. But that’s a separate issue to “oh no my spaceship”.

hef19898 5y ago
Didn't Tesla use SpaceX securities to guarantee bank credit lines or some such?
- ben_w 5y ago
  That’s the first I’ve heard of that; it would certainly be an update to my general understanding of the world if so, though I don’t think it would be likely to modify my opinion of “does government money for SpaceX have anything to do with Tesla suing for defamation?”
ada1981 5y ago
+1 for “oh no my spaceship”. Maybe that will be the podcast series name. Basically just want a roundup of shady moves from Elon & Jeff. Thing is, earth girls are easy, and with Grimes back on Tinder, Elon is going to need some big rockets to impress the Martian ladies.
ada1981 5y ago
I’m also pretty sure SpaceX fired a Tesla into space.
- ben_w 5y ago
  My Facebook background picture is one of the images of that car in near-Earth space from before it left radio contact. It was Musk’s personal property, chosen in part after being suggested on a Twitter thread by one of his fans, and the alternative was literally a concrete block as that was a test flight and none of the normal customers they went to wanted to risk their stuff for even a free ride. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elon_Musk%27s_Tesla_Roadster https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elon_Musk%27s_Tesla_Roadster