RE: Debunking The Elon Musk Meme
I respectfully disagree with your take on Musk. I think he would do just fine in a free market. Thing is, he's competing against subsidized interests, so we'll never know the viability of his products unless all subsidies of private industry stop. Early on I was critical of the electric car in particular. Being an automotive enthusiast, I failed to see how an all electric car could compete, from a consumer standpoint, with internal combustion powered cars. He has resoundingly proved me wrong with the Model S, which is in many ways superior to anything else available. It's not just a good electric car, it's just a great car, period. That said, it remains to be seen whether Tesla's more pedestrian products coming through the pipeline can be made profitably. Once again, I'm skeptical of their viability, but I wouldn't mind being proven wrong.
You might also want to check how he is in bed with the army yet again. I guess 5,6 billion were not enough
http://www.cnbc.com/2017/03/14/spacex-elon-musk-lands-965-million-military-contract-satellite-launch.html
At some point he did just fine but then the wheels turned and he went broke. If it wasn't for the government to bail him out he would not have succeeded. This is pretty evident.
I am not denying that he created a good product. I am simply saying that he is reproducing a given technology without using his money and the hype behind him is not justified.
Yeah, I think it's fair for you to point out that Elon Musk is no anointed one, but I just wanted to play devil's advocate a bit there and point out how he's essentially obligated legally to get in bed with the government to keep his businesses afloat, even if he worked for his opponents. If there weren't government subsidies for fossil fuel production, it's arguable that someone else would have already entered the market with alternatives and Musk wouldn't even have a chance to compete against the already saturated market. It's tough to say that for sure though because the markets have been so tampered with.
I can remember years ago spending only a couple hundred dollars for aftermarket parts on one of my own cars and I basically doubled my highway mpg. It only cost me that much because I live in California and I'm required to buy government-approved parts for my vehicles to pass inspection here. I could have done it much cheaper by making my own. Why couldn't OEMs have done that with all of the resources and expertise at their disposal? Well, maybe it's because they were incented to do the opposite. A very likely explanation is that they were just incompetent with zero incentive to improve because of their oligopoly, also likely due to the incestuous nature of the auto industry's relationship with the state, and the oil industry's relationship with the government coincides with all of that. This is what Elon Musk is up against, and he has a legal and fiduciary obligation to his shareholders to seek state funding to compete with it, and that would include government contracts.
I think the government saw a great opportunity when thy bailed him out. He had "mars dreams" and came like godsend to push their own agenda.
You could be right about that.
read this as well
http://fortune.com/2016/12/02/tesla-model-3-stock-elon-musk/
Like I said, I'm still skeptical. I think any investors interested in Tesla stock (I'm not personally) should do quite a bit of due diligence. It doesn't change the fact that all us skeptics could be wrong. He certainly disproved my original thoughts on his products that you couldn't make a viable electric car at any cost. What remains to be seen is whether he can manufacture and sell a mass market car profitably using the same types of technologies as the more expensive car. Who knows? Maybe the economies of scale will be much greater than Spiegel estimates. I'll believe it when I see it, but it would be cool to me if he pulls it off.
More than a decade ago I was possessed of a grip of stuff that tyrannized my life. Contemplating my 'empire', I counted motors.
I had around 50 (non appliances) of both electric and infernal combustion power. Of the electric motors, all of them worked all the time, and never required maintenance, except to replace the brushes (if they had brushes) when they wore out.
Of the petroleum fueled motors, only about half worked at any given time (mostly due to my own failure to maintain them), all of them required constant maintenance, and worse, they polluted my personal space in various and intransigent ways.
Ever since then I have strongly desired an electric car. Just so that I wouldn't have to continually fix it, maintain it, and suck it's fumes, like I do my 1980 VW pickup.
Last year I bolted a solar panel on the hood, and added three more batteries. Last month I found out my alternator hadn't worked in almost 6 months, but the solar panel kept my truck running - even though I have a massive stereo blasting alla time - by charging the batteries.
Electric motors just work. Infernal combustion devices just suck. While I currently stick with the (unhackable) pre-electronically controlled mechanically-fuel injected VW, I am considering moving to a fully electric motivator, but must first ensure that I can do that securely.
Current IOT technology being embedded in cars is a deal killer for me.
just a question, if elons cars are so fantastic why does he loose money on every sale? and that is after bilking the american taxpayer for 7500 per car. the shite will hit the fan if and when he rolls out the last stock bouncing jedi mind f&^k on preselling a bunch of cars without the facility to build them, and when those little jewels hit the street and start exploding like a samsung galaxy phone i sure hope our government doesnt throw the too big to fail moniker on his ponzi scheme and bilk us out of even more money.
Well, I didn't say profitable, I said that the Model S is a great car. At any price, it competes well with anything any other manufacturer has to offer.
that is my point , the market (capitalism) will make room for viable goods and services at any price , if you need to supplement those goods with taxpayers dollars to sell it technically its not a viable product.and at some point it tesla motors does turn a profit are we going to get our money back?
read this and you will understand many things
http://fortune.com/2016/12/02/tesla-model-3-stock-elon-musk/