this post was submitted on 21 Jul 2024
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US Authoritarianism

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 8 months ago

Musk is pumping up Trump's coffers so that he gets elected and follows through with his promise to ban EV imports from other countries, essentially cementing his monopoly on the EV market that Tesla currently dominates.

Long story short, don't buy a Tesla. They're kinda shitty anyway.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 8 months ago (2 children)

He’s trying to buy a pardon

https://gizmodo.com/elon-musks-x-is-reportedly-resisting-a-subpoena-in-jeffrey-epstein-related-legal-case-2000476538

Though if trump’s dismantling of the FBI occurs maybe he won’t need to. Either way, drops in the bucket for the most successful emerald mine offspring

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Wait until you hear what he did with the jewel money. He rented a huge mansion in college and threw huge parties charging people to enter, how many people he enabled to party and drop out including himself? He's even proud of it he thinks he's so amazing and self made for doing that. This is who this country idolizes. A ketamine addicted, crime family son. Everyone else? Fuck you, swat team raids your college mansion party, charges you for illegally running a night club among whatever other charges. It almost glows in the dark that something was protecting that family from any prosecution.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago

He’s even proud of it he thinks he’s so amazing and self made for doing that.

The real joke of these elite universities is how education has become an entirely tertiary function. Social networking with rich people and padding your resume matter so much more than attending actual classes.

Elon throwing a continuous kegger for a few years probably was what introduced him to all the children of spooks and bureaucrats and investment bankers necessary to make him into the billionaire he is today.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Ok, why dismantling FBI is bad? FSB, GRU, RKN, FBI, NSA - all of them should be dismantled

[–] [email protected] 8 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

We gotta stop getting hung up on these animals being inconsistent with themselves and each other.

While I see the humor in this, it's not the kind of thing that the right wing would care about. Both of these takes are from people that believe in strong class hierarchy, with those on top owning/controlling most everything. The contrary take on EVs doesn't even clock as dissonant if all you care about is punching down on people not like you, and want big powerful men to do the punching for you. It's not seen as dysfunction, it's toxic masculinity on display where guys are constantly jockying for their spot in the pecking order; that's normal for people like this. So, they really are on the same team in the eyes of their constituents, with Musk having some political power without being a politician per-se.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago

Musk already made his billions from government subsidies and investments. Now is the time to pull the ladder behind him.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Fascism is just capitalism when you try to say no.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)

This can't be true if Stalinism and Khmer Rouge are kinds of fascism, which they are generally agreed to be.

Fascism is "might makes right" without checks and balances. With those it would be feudalism, but those don't form overnight. With checks, but without balances it would be absolutism. With balances, but without checks it would be free-for-all. So fascism is what you have after a society has fallen to barbarism, but before it has learned to live in it.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

This can’t be true if Stalinism and Khmer Rouge are kinds of fascism, which they are generally agreed to be.

I'm not sure i see the link youre making here. Could you expand on that please?

Capitalism is (financial) might makes right, with the appearance of chacks and balances. All of which have been utterly compromised and perverted by capitalism.

History shows us that fascism is simply capitalism when you try to say no. There was 1900s capitalism. Then, there was a movement trying to say no to the workhouses, debtors prisons and wealth theft. In direct response to this, fascism arose to protect the assets of the wealthy from the people trying to say no to capitalism. You can see it in America where striking workers were gunned down by police, as one example there. In the UK too, where the Royal Hussars cavalry were set on protesting workers. So, where I say that, I mean it in a very literal way.

Most people just don't see it, as very few of us are even able to say no much less actual say it too. That doesn't make it any less true though.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)

More than one way to come into some situation.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

I meant that in case of Nazi Germany, Italy, Spain and such it was what you say (in Spain not so clear though). But Stalinist regime with very similar traits was driven by then new Soviet bureaucracy willing to increase its control over society, grow heavy industries necessary for revolutionary offensive wars their ideology then demanded, and crush political opponents.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

Spain was exactly the same and rose from putting down the Marxist and Spanish anarchist movements who were trying to say no to capitalism.

The stalinist regime evolved out of people trying to say no to capitalism.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)

So it’s free market economics when it’s not actually a free market? Fascism is the illusion of a free market?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

Very close. To me, the "free market" has never and could never exist. Its human nature to tip the scales in your own favour, be it through bribery or coercion.

The idea of a meritocratic market thats free of interference is capitalist-utopianism.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Among other things already mentioned here, he thinks trump can help him take revenge on Norway, which invested in him early on but now does not allow Tesla vehicles to be sold there.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)

What? I'm pretty sure you can buy Teslas in Norway

[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)

You can buy, but you can't get them

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

You are thinking of Sweden. There's a strike there

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Democrats: Let's give this man billions in subsidies.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Are you saying there is a law that explicitly states to give Elon Musk billions on subsidies or are you just giving a bad faith argument for the effort of Western government trying to cut dependence from petrostates?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (2 children)

They have specifically given at least one of his companies a lot in subsidies. SpaceX lives off the government teet.

Edit: People in this thread don't seem to realize that specifically over paying for something is itself a subsidy. SpaceX has been overcharging for DoD contracts, missing deadlines, and running cost overages for years now. They've also been given contracts where other competitors weren't even considered.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)

SpaceX got key govt contracts early on and is the most cost competitive launcher. The comercial space program paid off tremendously for the US.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

the most cost competitive launcher

We defunded the NASA launch program and gave it to a bunch of defense sector flakes who had to reinvent what NASA had already accomplished while still kicking back cash to their investors.

These aren't competitive bids. They're kickbacks that occasionally get us a little space technology along the way.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 8 months ago

So if you go to the supermarket and buy a carton of milk, you're subsidizing the supermarket?

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[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)

At first, I was thinking "If Trump is anti-EV and Elon owns a company that makes EV's, why would Elon support Trump?"

then I was like "ohh. Oooooohhhh"

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[–] [email protected] -1 points 8 months ago (3 children)

SpaceX/Starlink is worth much more than Tesla.

Elon is a dipshit but he’s not dumb.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago (2 children)

This is just straight up not true. SpaceX is worth 210b and Tesla is at 712b. It's not even close. I think you really need to ask yourself why you're willing to either lie or be so easily manipulated into believing a lie and then circulating it just to try and make Musk look better to Internet strangers. 2 seconds of searching to find out that this is not true but you didn't even think about it. Why is that?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

This is a fairly infamous troll account. Everything they post is demonstrably untrue and commonly inflammatory.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

I think you really need to ask yourself why you’re willing to either lie or be so easily manipulated

Totally unnecessary. You're comparing a publicly traded company running on memes and a strange cult of personality to private valuation.

Now that China and other domestic competitors have ramped up EV production Tesla's dominance of the niche is going to fall, especially considering the flop that was the Cybertruck and the brand damage Elon has committed.

We are already seeing protectionist measures being enacted for the EV sector.

In short, SpaceX and Starlink have a market to dominate (whether we want it to or not, it seems) while Tesla, a grossly overvalued company, is only going to see more competition and deepened irrelevancy.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago

The ROI on electric vehicles dwarfs the SpaceX program. Whether Tesla flounders or not, the car market is more profitable (and therefore more valuable) both by the marginal return on units and the industry market cap.

Starlink might keep an edge over Chinese and Indian programs (doubtful, since India can send a probe to Mars for $75M). But the global satellite market was $4.23B last year. The global car market was $578B.

Orders of magnitude different.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)

If you own two businesses and are putting one of them in jeopardy for no good reason, that's still quite dumb.

I don't know if it is drugs, or some neural damage caused by covid, but his recent actions didn't bring him any profits only loses. Tesla is getting less and less sales despite sales of EVs going up.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I think it's the drugs. He used to be at least somewhat sensible. In recent years he's just been acting totally bonkers. But having unchecked power will do that to you too, of course.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Well, drugs is obvious, but covid is also known to cause cognitive issues: https://theconversation.com/long-covid-puzzle-pieces-are-falling-into-place-the-picture-is-unsettling-233759

I mean there were some signs earlier (of course those who know him will say he always was an asshole, but at least he was better at masking it) it was 2020 when he went full bonkers.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 8 months ago

Your guess is as good as mine.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

He might not be dumb but he's not smart.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)

He’s dumb. He just has a lot of money.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 8 months ago

He appears dumb to me too, but to others he is a genius. I'm content with just calling him what he is... a narcissist.

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