Elon Musk makes another cut – to his time at DOGE Government fixer Elon Musk says his days steering the Trump-blessed cost-trimming, data-scouring DOGE unit are all but done. During Tesla's Q1 earnings call with Wall Street on Tuesday, Musk, in his role as CEO of the lately less popular electric car and robot corp, said he'll be spending a lot less time doing work for the …
Seeing is believing.
Initially, there were some fears that a popular rising star of Musk would draw the ire of the head narcissist which would lead to his downfall.
Those fears were unfounded. He proved to be as incompetent as everybody else in this clown car.
In the end, Muskiday failed all by himself. Even if his aim was only destruction, he not even destroyed what he promised.
> Initially, there were some fears that a popular rising star of Musk would draw the ire of the head narcissist which would lead to his downfall
Nah.
I've no doubt that many in the US government - including Trump - are at least looking askance at Musk. But at the same time, he's an incredibly convenient tool to help distract everyone while Trump's issuing a massive flurry of executive orders. 130 and counting, so far...
After all, he's a non-american billionaire with a massive ego, a love of publicity and a huge amount of hubris. He's a perfect scapegoat - and better yet, he's got all manner of flaws (e.g. how many children out of wedlock?) which can be used when Trump sorrowfully finds that it's time to disown him.
There are plenty of better EVs than Teslas. Almost all of them are better, in fact. We're long past the time where the only real alternative if you wanted an EV was Tesla. Poor build quality and now terrible resale value make Tesla about the worst option for EVs even if you're a fan of Musk.
There was a survey reported a few days ago and almost every EV owner said they would buy another EV. But well over half of Tesla owners said their next EV wouldn't be a Tesla, and most of them pegged Musk as the reason. He's destroyed the brand. Of the peopel who said their next car would be an EV they reportedly overwhelmingly that they were liberal, only a very small number were conservative. The biggest fans of what he's doing in government and his extreme right wing views are the least likely to consider an EV, so they might support him with their tweets but won't support him with their wallets.
So are they going to get a VW? Or maybe a Mercedes? Or even a BMW or Porsche? None of those brands have any negative political associations... oh wait!
I can't see anyone getting a Kia or MG as a status symbol car.
EV resale prices are rock bottom on pretty much every make and model. And it is so funny watching those liberals squirm with their mental gymnastics on how to maintain their progressive enviro-virtue signalling points along with their status symbol virtue signalling.
Just waiting for prices to drop a little more and might get myself a model S.
Pretty easy. BYD Seal & Dolphin, MG4, Geely EX5, etc. Offerings for all fits and sizes, and budgets, importantly. Oh, I forgot those aren't available in the United States. I'm sure you could come to a compromise and buy a Model 3 instead. How's this for compromise? 20 years in the United States automotive industry. I wanted electric values with good value for money. I compromised. I bought an inferior product due to geopolitics. All this is the fault of that animal Blundetto (Trump).
"All this is the fault of that animal Blundetto"
How so? I'm pretty sure all those models were available under the last administration. You know, the Democrat one. The same one that put a 100% tariff on Chinese EVs. The one that wanted EVs 'Made in Uh-Merica' with 'good union jobs'.
Look - we're not making a Western here. Neither administration has made good moves in the sphere of allowing healthy competition within the EV market, Blundetto or Little Carmine. The fact of the matter is that the American people have allowed themselves to get shafted by their politicians for the sake of "national security". So yeah, no fuckin ziti.
For a few hundred million you can cripple the last few agencies that try to keep society somewhat safe from rampant greed.
This was never about efficiency, and I don't think it's incompetence either, they went for whomever blocked whatever megacorporation, and the message is loud and clear for those who still have a job after all of this.
In that context, the more damage the better, and no town hall for Musk to answer the people's whose lives he's ruined.
In some sense it's the reverse of China where the dictatorial state made it clear to the oligarchs who was in charge.
"In some sense it's the reverse of China where the dictatorial state made it clear to the oligarchs who was in charge."
As the Orange utan is a student and fan of the Poisoner of Moscow, I think the American Oligarchs have only to look at the fate of the Russian oligarchs to see their future.
Maybe time to acquire some London real estate? Or maybe Auckland, just to be sure?
Nah, I don't think Shitler has it in him to act the same way as Putler. One is a calculating, ruthless spy and the other is a clueless ... I don't know.
Trump couldn't develop such a tight grip on his oligarchs as Putler has, even if he tried to.
-> Where's my Dicktator Guide 101?
Disinformation.
"In October 2019 he was granted a "withholding of removal" order, court documents show - a status different from asylum, but one which prevented the US government from sending him back to El Salvador because he could face harm. [...] Since 2019, when he was released with the protective order, Mr Abrego Garcia's lawyers say he has had yearly check-ins with immigration officials, which he has attended 'without fail and without incident'."
A US judge decided he could not be deported. But Trump's goons don't respect nor judges nor the US constitution.
"Disinformation"
Your disinformation claim is disinformation.
The original claim was that there had been no due process. There HAD been due process. A withholding of removal order is a temporary status.
The fact still stands that he had SIX YEARS to do something and didn't.
And I'm sure you clapped along when Biden ignored judges and the constitution.
> Your disinformation claim is disinformation.
No, your disinformation disinformation claim is disinformation.
Is not!
Is too!
Is not!!!
Yes it is and your mother wears army boots!
Your mother was a hamster and your father smells of elderberries1.
PHBBBBBTTTTTTTT!!!
PHBBBBBBBBBBTTTTTTTT!!!!!!
There. . . finished that for you.
________________
1 You knew I had to slip that one in, didn't you?
"I don't see the value of anyone posting as AC given that all of the forum names are made up."
Whilst I'd agree some people abuse it, over time our posts can create a detailed profile of us unless we actively avoid that. So there's times when I'll post AC because I don't want blowback to my employers, or because I know I'm being contentious and don't want to (further) soil my posting name.
"I don't see the value of anyone posting as AC given that all of the forum names are made up."
I can see times when posting AC might be ok, but from a registered account with a small limit on how many per time period. There should also be a suspension or ban for anon ad hominem attacks, foul language, etc. At least a suspension for 30 days to post anon.
I wouldn't mind.
The reason I prefer to post A/C is that it is ephemeral, more like real speech. Things I write do not add up to a coherent story, or paper trail.
In earlier contexts, I found my comments not being interpreted on their own weight and strength, but as following something I had written before.
That works both ways, as bad arguments interpreted as "good", and "solid" arguments dismissed as bad because of what I had written earlier.
For now, this A/C "anonymity" suits me better. But I try to be informed about what I write. Not always succeeding, though.
A lot of the shares are held by fans – yes, he still has plenty – not only did they buy the cars, they also bought shares. This was always part of the strategy of "selling the dream". A high share price reduces the cost of capital, flattering the financial performance of the company.
I dislike Musk but give him credit for choosing to invest in companies like Tesla and SpaceX. And despite his many flaws and problems, there's no doubt that his energy and drive have helped shape the companies as much as his understanding of the capital markets. He may well benefit from reduced regulation and more juicy government contracts, but he's definitely lost some of his shine and all of his businesses are facing increasingly serious competition internationally. If he cannot turn the sales decline in China around – this the foreign market that really matters to Tesla – then it will be over for the company in a couple of years.
Musk's principle skill is securities fraud. He avoided consequences once by promising to have adult supervision on the internet. The next time the prosecution spent most of their time convincing a jury he was guilty but not enough on why to award damages. His success depended on how little the capital markets understood him. That changed when the banks that paid for Twitter found they could not sell the debt. I agree a large proportion of Tesla shareholders are fans. If you are right about sales in China being essential then Tesla is toast. The market is price sensitive. Chinese companies make better electric vehicles cheaper. China's retaliation against Trump's tariffs will prioritise Tesla.
"China's retaliation against Trump's tariffs will prioritise Tesla."
Why would they need to? Most Teslas sold in China are made there, aren't they?
As you note, some Chinese makers make better cars and cheaper. Musk has crapped all over the Tesla brand, and I'd imagine that irrespective of Chinese government moves, buying a Tesla in China is probably now seen as deeply unpatriotic. Irrespective of any softening of tariffs, Tesla are toast in China.
Even before he cosied up to Trump, Musk was already sowing the seeds of ruin at Tesla. He didn't fix (to any level of adequacy) the quality issues, the aftermarket logistics issues, the essentially dull cross-range styling, the lack of an affordable model, the ageing model portfolio, or the cost. Where he has the power and entitlement of a Roman emperor but the attention span of goldfish he won't be fixing those critical issues even if he spends more time at Tesla. All we'll see are yet more lies about self driving capability, and the ridiculous claims that Tesla can make a healthy living by automating one of the lowest paid jobs in America.
Agree, and that last paragraph is important. Tesla is not in trouble because Elon went off to play Mogol. The car company is suffering because it not doing a good job of the very basic tasks a car company has to master. They are not refreshing the designs. They are not meeting their quality goals. They are not coming down to the price points that the market is starting to demand. Still no FSD after years of promises, but plenty of driver deaths. The parts market is a mess, and so on.
He can alter the priorities and rush some things through to completion in a year or three, such as a model refresh or better parts supply. But systemic stuff could be harder, and their lead in many global markets may have been thrown away for good by stupid political games and the advances the Chinese are making.
Here is the thing, many people have been saying this for YEARS about Telsa cars. Top end money with low end build quality. Many early life failures, bearings in motors, water in motors, water in batteries, flash corruption in the control unit, broken door handles... its a long list.
For a very long time any criticism of Tesla along these lines was met with a barrage of abuse and people saying how Teslas are the best cars ever made. Now the handwringing, virtue signalling enviro-numpties have decided that Elon is not one of them it has become acceptable to tell the truth about Teslas which is that they are really not all that good.
To give Musk no credit would be a great mistake. As I said, I personally dislike him, but he should be given some credit for the success of his companies and this beyond financial wizardry. I agree that the board at Tesla is a sham. But he didn't deceive capital markets – they love all the gearing and revenue growth without profit stuff. He's trousered less actual capital than, say, Uber or WeWork, which is one of the reasons he's still where he is and pension funds and the rest are probably still quite happy to give him money…
But the wheels were starting to squeak long before Twitter – the SolardWorld deal was an illustration of how useless the board was. The Twitter thing wasn't initially a problem for Tesla investors, because Musk used his own shares as collateral for the loans. Which is why, after some hiccups and presumably some private restructuring the share price continued to rise. But now we have real numbers showing that the company is failing across the board and in ways and a scale that can't simply be put down to him being a political embarassment. The company has real R&D failings and a serious problem with design and quality control.
"the Twitter thing wasn't initially a problem for Tesla investors, because Musk used his own shares as collateral for the loans."
Now that all of Elon's X holdings stuff is in one bag, Morgan Stanley has been able to flog off the hot potato they were left holding. Initially they figured they could loan Elon the money and then divest themselves of the debt, but they Elon started screaming about bots and trying to get out of the deal he signed and by the time it was obvious he wasn't going to be able to walk away, the markets changed and Morgan Stanley no longer had buyers for that debt. I expect that some of that was due to the bashing of Twitter by Elon.
"Musk threatens to return to Tesla"
That's the main point, he's said he's going to put time in at Tesla. Until he does, the threat can go in the "We're making the new Roadster now" file.
I think he's bored with it as cars aren't as easy as he thought and his initial foray has face planted to much embarrassment.
Is dwarfed by the waste, fraud, criminality, constitution trampling, self-serving, slaughter, and destruction that he and his chums have gleefully participated in so far, with much more to come.
Perhaps they'll all end up like Sutler in V for Vendetta, he'd certainly be their kind of guy.
Sutler and cronies had a monopoly on an effective cure before deploying his bio-weapon. Trump convinces people to not vaccinate their children but lacks a monopoly on snake oil. Trump is a flabby pale imitation. I would pick John Hurt to act the role of psychotic fascist over Trump any day.
@Doctor Syntax
"I thought the usual criticism of Biden was that he was the opposite of shouty. However I suppose it's standard practice - label your opponent with your principal's worst failings."
From what I would read Biden was either confused and rambling or fired up and shouty as if drugged up on something. Discussions about Biden speaking (when he was allowed) would either be about him rambling and going off track or being sufficiently dosed up to be the angry grandpa.
Trump has been bankrupt several times but, in America, this hardly matters. In fact, he used it as a tactic on building sites: contractors could either get paid less or watch him go bankrupt and get nothing. And he would boast about this. Not much of a business tactic but it kept him rich and earned him the "tough man" image he is so keen to project, and which many of his voters still believe in.
As usual, his attention span being that of a goldfish, actually having to do actual "work" (for a given value of work) and somewhat justifying it is an exhausting exercise.
Best get back to the arena where once a year he can promise whatever bullshit for next year and have investors gobble it up.
As the article actually says:
"Musk may have had little choice in terms of timing. As a "special government employee," Musk is allowed to hold his position for 130 days. If counted from the January 20 creation of DOGE, Musk's appointment would end no later than May 30."
DOGE isn't going away and will continue the good work but Musk's involvement is legally limited to 130 days.
Just a tip, if you downvote everything in say, this article or another one, it usually gets other people to upvote to compensate.
Brexit has been immensely useful in removing access to supranational courts from the population, which also facilitated the installation of charter cities https://www.thenational.scot/politics/20267661.rishi-sunaks-beloved-charter-cities-pose-huge-threat-democracy/ essentially an area where normal citizens employment and other rights are "modified".
You'll love this - guess who is the perfect worker for a Charter City - a migrant on a work visa - So Brexit gets us to increase our flagging migration figures, because we need more people coming here we can exploit, without the nasty business of earning rights as part of contributing to society - no come here, work, and fuck off. Forget about bringing your hell spawn unless they can pick crops.
Given it's removed the ability to leave for large swathes of the population whom speaking only English have zero chance of moving to any geographical close country with a language requirement, so all of them for all intents in the EU, that's made it harder to compare actual peer economies for public services and cost of living on a more casual basis, leading it to be easier to portray the experience at home as an "inevitable response to global economic conditions" or some other vague boredom Bofh "Boss mode" activator.
This is now starting to lead nicely into the waves of assert forfeitures as the overleveraged and underemployed start to be unable to pay mortgages leading to liquid property acquisitions by capital speculators, like hedge funds, https://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/nov/06/why-are-hedge-funds-supporting-brexit.
Which neatly brings us onto the EU money laundering acts which really were a step too far, to be forced to pay tax on monies dishonestly obtained in good faith, is just unacceptable, I demand we plunge the country into penury instead, let them eat, claps for Ukraine, there's a war on, don't you know?
It makes it less risky for the naked support for Genocide and the flagrant refusal to enforce international law, or uphold Treaty obligations that Britain in some cases *drafted*.
Oh, you meant for the population, sorry - as you were.
"Brexit has been immensely useful in removing access to supranational courts from the population"
Agreed, I'm sure it was the main reason, but useful to whom?
The advantage of a supranational court is that, if in place, it provides a layer of adult supervision to a government whose own legislation is to the disadvantage of the population.
If a government wishes to remove that does it not lead to a suspicion of its motives?
Indeed - it's about selling us to the the septics, essentially while in the EU you can't give a sweetheart deal to your mate in some specifically brazenly corrupt manner that turns out to be required for the grift to succeed.
I forget the exact details but I believe it's something along the lines of needing to prevent unequal state aid.
We don't really have many rights in this country, which is always a shocker to people needing to rely on them for the first time.
As Don Tariff demonstrates by pulling his neck in a little W.R.T China, there is some checks in US Empire administration but here, Keith can do as he wishes, it's an elective dictatorship without any practical means for the public to insist the police arrest and prosecute open criminals in Government, or wandering the streets of the UK.
There are armed people wandering the streets of the UK, who are active participants in crimes against humanity, and should you request your local bobby bristling with firearms to do his job and arrest said war criminal, you yourself will be arrested until such time as the criminal has shown a clean pair of heels, at which time you'll be "de-arrested" and told to piss off and pray for Ukraine. https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israeli-foreign-minister-planned-shorten-london-trip-uk-blocked-arrest-attempt
Not sure this is going to do Tesla much good.
DOGE was only the tip of the iceberg for the anti-Musk sentiment around the world. It doesn't change the fact that he did two Nazi-salutes (which he has never apologised for), nor him trying to (essentially) bribe voters in Wisconsin recently, nor of course his unwavering and very public support for the orange man-child.
But that's because Tesla had saturated the liberal hippy Portlandia types.
By pivoting to the right, he opens up the whole Oregon survivalist / militia types who are an obvious market for $100K cybertrucks with gun-racks
Assuming Tesla takes crypto, cos they don't use USD cos that's how the government tracks you and gives you autism
"By pivoting to the right, he opens up the whole Oregon survivalist / militia types who are an obvious market for $100K cybertrucks with gun-racks"
The world-wide preference is the Toyota Hillux with the third-party "Twin-50" mount in the bed. I expect one could buy them 4:1 and also not have the full-time tracking by Tesla. These are the sort of people that vigorously work to stay off-grid.
If the Orange Stool pushes for a third and fourth term, I can see secessionist pressures in certain states, and that would create a real prospect of civil war where Toyota might garner a lot of sales. A few years ago that statement would have been pure horseshit, now it's entirely conceivable.
The greatest power the world has ever known, disabled in mere weeks. I suppose the whole Donald Trump story can now be seen as merely a variant on the Trojan Horse.
Musk has all the government contracts he needs for control of communications, rockets, stolen data bases. He has neutered his competition. He has hollowed out the regulations of his "businesses", so he is mostly free to do what he wants. Of course his 'government' job is pretty much finished. He is just sticking around to make sure he doesn't lose the plunder he has stolen.
This man needs reside for the rest of his life, in a secure, walled residence in El Salvador for the damage has has done to our government. His money can be used to repair the damage he has done to innocent people's lives.
The thing is, from my perspective as a right-pondian, there doesn't seem to be a Republican Party any more, it's more the Trump party. Every member now fights among themselves to be the most obsequious to DJT through fear of being out of favour. Were historically the GOP not seen as supporters of Free Trade, what's happened then?
The mid-terms next year will be make or break, Trumps hold on the party is such that right now, nobody wants to be on the wrong end of a late night tweet or whatever. But at the same time it is probably very brittle, a disastrous result for the Republicans, they lose control of the House, possibly the Senate too, and I think the dam will burst. Someone will call out the Emperor for having no clothes and it will snowball from there.
The US needs a good, strong Republican Party; just as it needs a strong Democratic Party, maybe even the start of a third party, but not one totally being held hostage by one man.
The problem is that the two parties are essentially two sides of the same very thin coin. There is a pretence that <party> is against what <other party> is for and the reciprocal but not much else. Everything in DC is preformative and the only goal is to enrich themselves and maintain a grasp on power until the day they die.
One thing I noticed was missing. The fact they decide to lay off the folks that maintain the nuclear arsenal. Since they had no clue what they were there for. Both the DOGE boys and the physicists that maintain the nukes.
Then there was the Kiddies that had no idea about Cobol and are assuming they can rewrite the 66 million lines of code with something more modern in almost no time at all.... They were even talking about Java script at one point.
"One thing I noticed was missing. The fact they decide to lay off the folks that maintain the nuclear arsenal. "
To me that indicates a slash, burn, fix later approach. I'm sure that most government agencies could do with some trimming, but even the most moribund likely has some sort of useful function that should be preserved. It takes time to do a proper analysis to see where cuts can be made more surgically. Doctors don't amputate a leg for an ingrown toenail, but that's been the approach of the Doggie department of fresh-outs with no real world experience led by a megalomaniac that has no clue what he's doing either (when sober).
There was never any creditable justification for all this "Elon Musk is literally Hitler" drivel and it is getting so tired and boring now, please can we go back to "Biden is as sharp as a tack"?
Elon Musk was always going to gradually reduce time at DOGE, all Special Government Employees are permitted to work 130 days per year. Elon Musk worked 94 in the first quarter, so has to reduce to 1 or 2 days a week for the remainder of the year.
Tesla cars built at Fremont in the early days continuing up to 2019 had significant quality issues, mostly cosmetic relating to panel gaps and light housing leaks, and some early Model S batteries were below standard. From about 2020 onwards quality was much improved in the USA and Tesla cars built in Shanghai and Berlin have been of good quality from the start of production.
The new version of Tesla Model Y is a significant improvement on what was the world's best selling car in 2023.
People that ordered Roadster and those hoping for a cheaper low end vehicle are very disappointed and frustrated at the delays and Cybertruck, although very ambitious and different failed to deliver the range and price points that were promised and continues to have manufacturing issues due to the uncompromising design.
This year will be critical for Tesla, it will be significant if Cybercab trials in Austin start on schedule in June and are successful and more countries get supervised FSD trials as well as those in USA and China.
Currently, Tesla's share price is $284.95, more than 50% higher than 12 months ago.
