Elon Musk had a meltdown during Tesla's Q1 earnings call.

a reply to: Bluntone22

don't know them.

originally posted by: BotheLumberJack
don't know them.

Solyndra

a reply to: NightFlight

Big Oil is the least of Musk's problems. His company has been unprofitable from the beginning, and is only getting worse. He constantly misses his production targets. His vehicles have shoddy quality. He treats his suppliers like crap. He's got that Steve jobs-esque cult following, but he doesn't have anything remotely approaching Jobs' business acumen.

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus

originally posted by: BotheLumberJack
don't know them.

Solyndra

Solar Panels. Ok now i'm confused lol

a reply to: Bluntone22

You're being facetious aren't you.

a reply to: BotheLumberJack


It has to do with the government handing out taxpayer money to 'preferred' businesses or industries and those businesses turning out to not be viable. The government shouldn't be in the business of picking winners and losers, the free market should dictate.

Elon Musk is his own worst enemy. He doesn't need someone to sabotage Tesla because he does a fine job of that himself. He constantly over promises and under delivers. He rarely (if ever) hits the production or sales targets he sets. He is all over the place. Digging tunnels, building spaceships, selling flame throwers, working on neural networking. I get that he is probably a genius, but even the best have to focus on a business until its profitable or at least has free cash flow. I think the best compromise would be to find someone a little more disciplined to be CEO.

Plus I have never really understood why anyone would want an electric car. Who in the hell wants to wait hours for a car to recharge when you can buy a car that can be filled with gas in 5 or 10 minutes. Could you imagine taking a long trip in that thing? Every 200-300 miles (4-6 hrs of driving) you would have to stop for hours. I would lose my mind. So that means when you buy an electric car you have to own or rent a gas powered car to take any kind of long trip without losing your mind in the process.

I think for electric cars to go mainstream they would need to be able to be charged from near empty to full in around 15 minutes. I am sure that one day someone will invent the ability to do just that but i don't think that day is anytime soon. Until then fully electric cars will just be a niche product for people who want to pretend they are carbon neutral and try to convince everyone that they are generating enough electricity from their solar roof to power a car or that electric companies make electric without burning fossil fuels.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

Ah ok, thank you I appreciate it. Got it! I agree with that analysis completely.

Yikes, I hope he has a better day today. No one likes to have a negative conference call

-Alee

originally posted by: BotheLumberJack
a reply to: Bluntone22

You're being facetious aren't you.

The government gave solindra $500 million to make solar panels.
They went bankrupt.
The government wanted them to succeed so I don't think it they wanted tesla to fail.

a reply to: MRinder

I wouldn't say that, I think Musk is doing what Telsla or Einstein would have done if they'd lived during this era. Challenging authority isn't a new concept, I think he just barked up the wrong tree branch.

a reply to: MRinder

Plus I have never really understood why anyone would want an electric car. Who in the hell wants to wait hours for a car to recharge when you can buy a car that can be filled with gas in 5 or 10 minutes.

Have to agree with that. They should be putting more effort into making an actual hybrid that runs on gas /diesel/fart power/etc to top of the batteries so you don't have to plug in while on the go.

a reply to: Bluntone22

Perhaps they gave the money to the wrong Company, or they intended them to fail for unknown reasons. It's happened before. Mankind is behind on technology, not because they wanted it that way, but because someone else did.

I don't trust 90% of what the Government has to say, so I can't speculate exactly what it is they intended. I doubt Telsa would agree with your assumptions though, JP Morgan wanted him to fail, he had the cash to make it happen. Telsa died penniless, he had no say in the outcome.

originally posted by: BotheLumberJack
Perhaps they gave the money to the wrong Company...

Any company they give money to is the wrong company. Subsidies are ridiculous.

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus

originally posted by: BotheLumberJack
Perhaps they gave the money to the wrong Company...

Any company they give money to is the wrong company. Subsidies are ridiculous.

So then what is the right Establishment? Subsidies are ridiculous, agreed.

originally posted by: BotheLumberJack
So then what is the right Establishment?

Unicorns.

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus

originally posted by: BotheLumberJack
So then what is the right Establishment?

Unicorns.

That's not a valid answer.

originally posted by: BotheLumberJack
a reply to: MRinder

I wouldn't say that, I think Musk is doing what Telsla or Einstein would have done if they'd lived during this era. Challenging authority isn't a new concept, I think he just barked up the wrong tree branch.

The problem is not that he barked up the wrong tree. The problem is that he sucks at running a company. Being a technical genius or a visionary is not the same skill set needed to build a manufacturing business from the ground up. Some people, like Jeff Bezos, can run a company and be a visionary, but Musk is not made like that. Heck maybe even Bezos isn't, maybe he was just smart enough to surround himself with people that know how to build a business.

Sometimes I even wonder if Musk is that visionary or if he is just another PT Barnum. If that's the case then he is a pretty good PT Barnum. Tesla stock price would say it's worth $50 Billion, which is completely insane. So you have to give him credit for being good at selling people a bag of overpriced dog crap. Ford is only worth $43 billion and they sold 6.6 million cars last year, while Tesla sold maybe 150,000 if they are lucky.

Musk is a genius because like any good cult leader he convinced people that they are saving the planet by joining him so maybe he is more L. Ron Hubbard than PT Barnum.

originally posted by: BotheLumberJack
That's not a valid answer.

Yeah, it is. Unicorns are mythical creatures and so is the 'right establishment'. No hand outs, ever.

I have mixed feelings about this, because, I really wanted him to succeed. But, he isn't a nice guy though. He only got where he was because of massive government funding, and the same funding programs he benefited from, he is fighting to end those programs. It was an article I read about how successful people like Musk, often like to climb up the ladder, and then pull the ladder up so noone else can use it.

I don't know what it's called, but all the highest companies seem to get hundreds of millions of dollars in some form of corporate welfare. Some of the biggest most powerful companies in the world pay zero taxes. They would have a heart attack though if you or I stopped our daily contribution... Every penny you make, every day of your life is taxed before you see it. You'll never earn a tax free dollar. But the mega companies do it every single day. Every single dollar they earn, they keep. Imagine that. I earned this dollar and I'm going to keep it and do whatever I want with it...when we are alone together...and nobody is looking...








#dontjudgeme