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Economist Slams Elon Musk for Making Tesla a "Tech-Bubble" Meme Stock

8 points by robblack 2y ago

gregjor 2y ago
> Analysts have long suspected that Tesla's considerable valuation vastly exceeded its actual worth. Perhaps the same analysts have long suspected that the moon orbits the earth. Musk has run Tesla as a pump 'n' dump and personal ATM for years, in plain sight, with "analysts" and investors playing along because they know they can get out before Musk tanks the company. Let's not pretend anyone got fooled or invested in Tesla and propped up the ridiculous valuation out of hopeful dreams of a better future.
- smgit 2y ago
  Why do parasites always emerge in every ecosystem nature has produced? Cause there is always some weakness to exploit. Focus goes to the scariest parasites that cause the most harm. You can collect them all and ship them off to Australia, but the list of exploitable weaknesses in the population doesn't reduce. So you want karma points? Show us how to reduce that list.
  - gregjor 2y ago
    The weakness you refer to comes down to mistaking psychopathic behavior for leadership, imagination, genius, creativity. By the time the psychopath shows himself for what he is he has too often gathered a following, gotten rich by fleecing people and fraud, accumulated power, risen to a leadership position. We enable and tolerate such people because we hope for the best -- a real leader, a real humanitarian, a real creative genius. I don't know how to reduce the list of parasites. I think we could start by enforcing consequences. Not just inconsequential fines, but serious jail time for fraud and other illegal behavior. We can stop overlooking the signs and giving these people a pass based on their lies and empty promises. That might not stop new parasites but it might let us stop them before they cause tremendous damage.
Zigurd 2y ago
Musk did it because, at first, it was brilliant. His domestic competitors were feckless. Mostly they still are. Tesla's high valuation made it possible to leap from being a specialty car maker to being a major manufacturer. His competitors have to spend billions on ads while Tesla had a referral program copied from the SaaS software industry. It was all pretty great until it wasn't.

8 points by robblack 2y ago

> Analysts have long suspected that Tesla's considerable valuation vastly exceeded its actual worth. Perhaps the same analysts have long suspected that the moon orbits the earth. Musk has run Tesla as a pump 'n' dump and personal ATM for years, in plain sight, with "analysts" and investors playing along because they know they can get out before Musk tanks the company. Let's not pretend anyone got fooled or invested in Tesla and propped up the ridiculous valuation out of hopeful dreams of a better future.

smgit 2y ago
Why do parasites always emerge in every ecosystem nature has produced? Cause there is always some weakness to exploit. Focus goes to the scariest parasites that cause the most harm. You can collect them all and ship them off to Australia, but the list of exploitable weaknesses in the population doesn't reduce. So you want karma points? Show us how to reduce that list.
- gregjor 2y ago
  The weakness you refer to comes down to mistaking psychopathic behavior for leadership, imagination, genius, creativity. By the time the psychopath shows himself for what he is he has too often gathered a following, gotten rich by fleecing people and fraud, accumulated power, risen to a leadership position. We enable and tolerate such people because we hope for the best -- a real leader, a real humanitarian, a real creative genius. I don't know how to reduce the list of parasites. I think we could start by enforcing consequences. Not just inconsequential fines, but serious jail time for fraud and other illegal behavior. We can stop overlooking the signs and giving these people a pass based on their lies and empty promises. That might not stop new parasites but it might let us stop them before they cause tremendous damage.

Zigurd 2y ago

Musk did it because, at first, it was brilliant. His domestic competitors were feckless. Mostly they still are. Tesla's high valuation made it possible to leap from being a specialty car maker to being a major manufacturer. His competitors have to spend billions on ads while Tesla had a referral program copied from the SaaS software industry. It was all pretty great until it wasn't.