Elon Musk - news and discussion

[littlebabyjesus]

There are no consequences for him. He is so immeasurably rich that nothing can touch him. I think you need to have that in mind whenever you think about why he is doing things. Getting some fines, losing some share value, oh no the board aren't happy. Nobody is ever going to imprison him. He is at such an unimaginable level of wealth that it's driven him a bit mad.

You're making the mistake of talking about him like he's a normal person. He doesn't live in the world that we all do.

He supports fascists. Openly and often. He repeats things like great replacement theory. He says that Farage isn't right wing enough. He says that neo nazis are the best choice for Germany. He does this openly and often, to an audience of billions. He's started calling himself weird Latin names, you know, like those fascists do. And what? He won't pull out a fascist salute? Why not? What's going to happen to him? Cos he just did it. And nothing has happened to him. Nothing at all.

You're probably right that none of this can really touch him. And I think you are right that his absurd wealth has driven him a bit mad. Best we can hope for is that he will end his days a dribbling, friendless recluse. I think that's possible.

 

[Spymaster]

What's happened to his businesses then?

Well, Tesla shares were at $433 on the morning of the inauguration and they're at $415 now. They've been up and down but that's a hell of a lot of value gone. SpaceX isn't listed but who knows what kind of investors might decide not to bother when they do.

It's difficult to attribute the drop solely to the gesture, but that wouldn't have helped, would it?

From a purely business perspective, a CEO giving Nazi salutes on a world stage is definitely sub-optimal.

 

[Tankus]

I suspect that he's bored with tesla, as his cyber truck wasn't the g whiz that he expected his paroles to think, I suspect it's going to have a short production run.

If he gets that entitled $56 billion payout from the tesla board that's been bouncing back and fore in the delaware courts. I think he's out and sell up from tesla. Dunno

 

[two sheds]

You're probably right that none of this can really touch him. And I think you are right that his absurd wealth has driven him a bit mad. Best we can hope for is that he will end his days a dribbling, friendless recluse. I think that's possible.

I'm hoping trump will get pissed off with him and give us the old Conservative era Windfall Tax dodge of confiscating his entire fortune to pay off the National Debt. :hopeful smiley:

 

[Maltin]

There are no consequences for him. He is so immeasurably rich that nothing can touch him.

I acknowledge LBJ’s comment about drugs and agree that I don’t know whether he is or is not on drugs but just because he is the richest person ever, doesn’t mean there are no consequences for him. We are all human and money doesn’t give him immortality whatever he may believe.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Estimates of Twitter's value seem to vary a bit, but it's safe to say that it's lost at least three quarters of its value since Musk bought it. He could end up ruining every one of his businesses one by one.

 

[two sheds]

:hopeful smiley:

 

[8ball]

I'm hoping trump will get pissed off with him and give us the old Conservative era Windfall Tax dodge of confiscating his entire fortune to pay off the National Debt. :hopeful smiley:

Would make no real difference - it’s just pretend money.

 

[two sheds]

true, might make a difference to him though. Although he's clearly such a genius that it would only take him a couple of months to make all that money back again

 

[spring-peeper]

Trouble in paradise?

Elon Musk bashes the US$500 billion AI project Trump announced, claiming its backers don’t ‘have the money’

Shortly after U.S. President Donald Trump announced a new massive AI infrastructure investment from the White House, “First Buddy” Elon Musk tried to tear it down.

www.ctvnews.ca

Shortly after U.S. President Donald Trump announced a new massive AI infrastructure investment from the White House, “First Buddy” Elon Musk tried to tear it down.

“They don’t actually have the money,” Musk wrote on his social media platform X. “SoftBank has well under $10B secured. I have that on good authority.”

Trump said the investment will create a new company, called Stargate, to grow artificial intelligence infrastructure in the United States. The leaders of SoftBank, OpenAI and Oracle stood alongside Trump during the announcement. Their respective companies will invest $100 billion in total for the project to start, with plans to pour up to $500 billion into Stargate in the coming years.
...
But perhaps it should not be a surprise that Musk is going after an OpenAI initiative. Musk is in an ongoing lawsuit with OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman, who was at the White House for the announcement. Musk, who has said he “doesn’t trust” Altman, claims in the lawsuit the ChatGPT has abandoned its original nonprofit mission by reserving some of its most advanced AI technology for private customers.

The companies involved in Stargate have not publicly disclosed how they will contribute the funds, but they don’t necessarily need the money in the bank to support it — they could raise debt or sign on other equity investors.

Altman replied directly to Musk’s claim on X, writing “wrong, as you surely know. want to come visit the first site already under way? this is great for the country. i realize what is great for the country isn’t always what’s optimal for your companies, but in your new role i hope you’ll mostly put (America) first.”

A source familiar with Stargate said Musk’s assertion is not true.

No worries, though. He is probably going to be busy with his DOGE gig.

 

[smokedout]

To be fair, he couldn't have given them a better case for confirmation bias!

Stepping back though, Musk is all kinds of wrong but he's definitely not a total idiot. The potential for the immeasurable damage that this could do his businesses alone, makes me question his chucking Nazi salutes on purpose and with malice aforethought, so to speak.

Surely only a total idiot would accidentally make a nazi salute, twice, in front of the entire world, when half the planet already thinks you are a nazi, and then not apologise.

 

[Orang Utan]

He didn’t even tweet ‘oops, my bad’

 

[gosub]

Surely only a total idiot would accidentally make a nazi salute, twice, in front of the entire world, when half the planet already thinks you are a nazi, and then not apologise.

I think once the German media censordered cos they ain't allowed to show nazi salutes...then aquiri g some tact was the order of the day

 

[Spymaster]

Surely only a total idiot would accidentally make a nazi salute, twice, in front of the entire world, when half the planet already thinks you are a nazi, and then not apologise.

Well that’s just silly.

 

[8ball]

Well that’s just silly.

That it was accidental, that he did it twice, that the entire world was watching, that half the world thinks he’s a Nazi and/or that he didn’t apologise?

 

[edcraw]

Those of you who are absolutely convinced that Elon Musk stepped out on stage and deliberately performed two Nazi salutes: can you explain what you think his motivations were and why he decided to do this?

Habit, drugs, shitposting, being at a facist rally - maybe all of them.

Why wouldn't he do a nazi salute? There doesn't seem to be any downside for him and seems to have played well with the MAGA lot.

 

[Kid_Eternity]

There are no consequences for him. He is so immeasurably rich that nothing can touch him. I think you need to have that in mind whenever you think about why he is doing things. Getting some fines, losing some share value, oh no the board aren't happy. Nobody is ever going to imprison him. He is at such an unimaginable level of wealth that it's driven him a bit mad.

You're making the mistake of talking about him like he's a normal person. He doesn't live in the world that we all do.

He supports fascists. Openly and often. He repeats things like great replacement theory. He says that Farage isn't right wing enough. He says that neo nazis are the best choice for Germany. He does this openly and often, to an audience of billions. He's started calling himself weird Latin names, you know, like those fascists do. And what? He won't pull out a fascist salute? Why not? What's going to happen to him? Cos he just did it. And nothing has happened to him. Nothing at all.

Exactly. He’s on track to the first trillionaire…

 

[Yossarian]

A meteorologist at a Milwaukee TV station was fired for criticizing Musk's Nazi salute in posts on her private Instagram page - she was fired after a conservative commentator drew attention to the posts, I thought these people had been claiming to be against 'cancel culture'

CBS 58 weather reporter Sam Kuffel is out after criticizing Elon Musk arm gesture

Meteorologist Sam Kuffel criticized Elon Musk on social media for his straight-arm gesture some likened to a Nazi salute at the Trump inauguration.

www.jsonline.com

 

[Spymaster]

Why wouldn't he do a nazi salute? There doesn't seem to be any downside for him …

You mean apart from it potentially costing him billions of dollars and there being no upside?

 

[Tankus]

The land of the free ..... It's just a slogan eh?

 

[kabbes]

You mean apart from it potentially costing him billions of dollars and there being no upside?

There was upside

 

[klang]

You mean apart from it potentially costing him billions of dollars and there being no upside?

Genius marketing

 

[Spymaster]

There was upside

What was it?

 

[Tankus]

Never had considered hiltlers nazi salute as an SS marketing ploy.?? , Gobbels was way ahead of the game wasn't he?

 

[BigMoaner]

He knows deep deep within his heart that no matter what happens he can just rock up to Rogan again, throw out a few “trans something or other” and you “can’t say anything these days” and the whole circus will start up again.

 

[emanymton]

What was it?

To get you agreeing with teuchter.

 

[ska invita]

Just remembered this story from 2023....its taken on a different hew of late
Racism at Tesla: EV maker prominently showcased Nazi Swastika, KKK slogans, alleges lawsuit
Tesla’s Fremont factory showcased the Hakenkreuz,Nazi Swastika, KKK slogans and several other racist content a new lawsuit has alleged. Tesla retaliated against African-American employees at its Fremont factories who reported concerns about racist graffiti and mistreatment

https://www.firstpost.com/tech/auto-tech/racism-at-tesla-ev-maker-prominently-showcased-nazi-swastika-kkk-slogans-alleges-lawsuit-13197492.html

​

 

[Yossarian]

One of Musk's main motivations in recent years appears to be winning praise from far-right shitposters so there's his upside, maybe he had a bet with somebody called 14wordspepe88 that he could deliver a sieg heil at an inauguration event and people would still defend him

 

[kabbes]

What was it?

Isn’t it obvious?

 

[Spymaster]

One of Musk's main motivations in recent years appears to be winning praise from far-right shitposters so there's his upside, maybe he had a bet with somebody called 14wordspepe88 that he could deliver a sieg heil at an inauguration event and people would still defend him

If his motivation was previously to win praise from the far right, he’s done that and that motivation has ended. He’s just won the biggest victory imaginable. Lobbing Nazi salutes about now has only downsides.

What you suggest is possible. It’s just less likely than a load of other things.