Musk is a cunt and Tesla are shit

So, the Twitter deal is happening. Any projections on how it'll and if / how Twitter will change?

He'll unban Trump in 3, 2, 1...

Musk? Yes, he bloody gets on my nerves, and his fan club even more so. His pseudo-environmentalism is very unhelpful to actual changes being made, and his pseudo-solutions for the problem of transit in cities even has the potential to actively take away money from actually worthwhile (and proven to work) projects.

This two year old post sums the guy up

Now that would be interesting

^^ this but a meme

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Remove the block and mute functions

it'll be like that apple/U2 thing and you'll have to follow his account, and every time you unfollow it you get added back in the next day.

Just imagine the number of accidental plays the first song of that album has on a global level. I've even had my phone randomly play it when I'm trying to fall asleep with a podcast on that I accidentally paused.

And despite continually deleting it the album comes back on my iTunes.

Unless any more confirmation were needed. I'm going to give some leeway as I haven't read the full article on the FT and I think there is room for nuance but hey...

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/may/10/elon-musk-pledges-overturn-twitter-ban-donald-trump?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

Musk does nuance as much as Trump does tact.

Seems like the whole thing is available.

EDIT. I'm far from a fan of his but watching the whole thing his answers *are*more nuanced than the Guardian indicated. I do find this selective reporting rather frustrating / counter productive regardless of where I stand on what he's actually said.

https://youtu.be/VfyrQVhfGZc

It's also tricky because he's a massive edgelord.

Ezra Kleine had an interesting podcast on his purchase of twitter. On that he or his guess pointed out that Musk's desire for a fully free speech arena was a bit fantastical, and in reality legal framework (especially the UK and EU) might make it harder than he thinks.

Also interestingly they seemed to paint a picture of two Musks. The twitter trolling edgelord and the off-twitter thoughtful interesting idealist.

If there is a scandal I really hope it is known as Elongate.

Ha.

https://finance.yahoo.com/finance/news/elon-musk-tesla-boss-praises-182248534.html

Twitter ye not!

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The most interesting bit imo is

Meanwhile, VW sold the most electric vehicles in Europe in 2021 and has already sold out of electric cars in Europe and the US for 2022.

Last week the company said that it had a backlog of 300,000 orders in Western Europe alone.

Which was the point I remember arguing with some Elon fanboi on reddit years ago.

I'm pretty sure I've also heard a commentator saying something similar about this being the reason for Tesla being revalued. Previously it was assumed that Tesla would have a 3yr advantage (iirc) over any established manufacturer. While I'm not going to pretend that anyone else has the distance and infrastructure offering Tesla have, I don't think they have a 3yr advantage anymore.

It's also nice to finally see EVs with proper paint jobs, rather than something that looks like it's come off a late 90s Korean car.

Bit of a weird flex from Musk. Doesn't the US have pretty good productivity scores? Seem to remember it was close to the top ten globally.

The UK does not do so well on the same measure.

Edit: Just looked it up. US is roughly 5th in terms of GDP per hour worked (they also work above average weeks in the US). The UK is 15th.

"Induced demand is one of the single dumbest notions I've ever heard my entire life."

Says car salesman Elon Musk

I wonder how that compares to Kias. Seems to be loads of those Niros around now.

Just spouting libertarian points that the average 15 year old tory would find facile.

I seem to remember that interesting there is also normally an inverse correlation between a country's productivity and employment.

Iirc France has good productivity.

Which was the point I remember arguing with some Elon fanboi on reddit years ago

Right - I've thought that for years; the minute you can buy an electric Mercedes / BMW / VW / Honda / almost any car manufacturer, you'd likely never buy a Tesla instead. And that seems to be happening now (or possibly next year once they make enough to meet the demand - like you say, everyone seems sold out now).