It seems like most of those layoffs are a rather cynical ploy to create a temporary stock boost and pay for a buyback, maybe with some labor market manipulation

It seems like most of those layoffs are a rather cynical ploy to create a temporary stock boost and pay for a buyback, maybe with some labor market manipulation (specifically, scaring developers into accepting lower wages, not unionizing, and not demanding remote work) getting done along the way. Tesla, like many tech companies and auto manufacturers, but also like most American businesses, essentially drives its decision-making around some complicated financial game the plutocrats are playing with stocks, increasingly to the detriment of anything us mere mortals can comprehend like making and/or selling goods and/or services