Twitter is better

[Wrestleknownothing]

13 hours ago, headshuck said:

 

I’m a cup 1/2 full type of entrepreneur.

This particular entrepreneur, Musk, has a little bit of experience to back it up.

 

I am not foolish enough to bet against Musk, though I am also not betting on him in this case. On the sidelines for this one. While I own Tesla stock I do not think I would buy Twitter if it were public.

I grant that a lot he has touched has turned to gold. But I also feel this is his over-reach. It did not have to be that way, but he just paid so darn much for Twitter that it was always going to be on a knife's edge. In addition to overpaying, something he freely admits, he took on a mountain of floating rate debt at exactly the wrong time to take interest rate risk. The rates on that debt now range from 9.75% and 11.75% (those are capped rates and would be higher without the caps). When rates were near zero it would be much easier to borrow to build. That is why there was so much private equity money freely available for so long. But that spigot has been closed.

We all get short tempered and irrational when we are facing the potential for financial ruin. And doesn't that description fit with a lot of his behavior lately? Has there ever, in the history of finance, been a business leader who got on stage and was recorded telling his customers, who he desperately needs, to go f*** themselves?

 

[headshuck]

We all wish he had said something along the lines of, “If your free speech values don’t align with the direction we’re going, then you’re free to take your business elsewhere. We’ll find other advertisers” instead of using a crude but commonly used phrase.

You may recall a state treasurer sided with Musk over Disney.

[jross]

X support might improve in 2025.

Targeted through minimally 2024...

 

---Biden Press Conference 2022

Jenny Leonard, Bloomberg

Q    Mr. President, do you think Elon Musk is a threat to U.S. national security?  And should the U.S. — and with the tools you have — investigate his joint acquisition of Twitter with foreign governments, which include the Saudis?

THE PRESIDENT:  (Laughs.)  I think that Elon Musk’s cooperation and/or technical relationships with other countries is worthy of being looked at.  Whether or not he is doing anything inappropriate, I’m not suggesting that.  I’m suggesting that it wor- — worth being looked at.  And — and — but that’s all I’ll say.

Q    How?

THE PRESIDENT:  There’s a lot of ways.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2022/11/09/remarks-by-president-biden-in-press-conference-8/

 

 

----DISSENTING STATEMENT OF COMMISSIONER BRENDAN CARR (Starlink)

Application for Review of Starlink Services, LLC, Rural Digital Opportunity Fund, Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (Auction 904), Viasat Auction 904 Application for Review, WC Docket No. 19- 126, OEA Docket No. 20-34, GN Docket No. 21-231, Order on Review.

Last year, after Elon Musk acquired Twitter and used it to voice his own political and ideological views without a filter, President Biden gave federal agencies a greenlight to go after him. During a press conference at the White House, President Biden stood at a podium adorned with the official seal of the President of the United States, and expressed his view that Elon Musk “is worth being looked at.”1 When pressed by a reporter to explain how the government would look into Elon Musk, President Biden remarked: “There’s a lot of ways.”2 There certainly are. The Department of Justice, the Federal Aviation Administration, the Federal Trade Commission, the National Labor Relations Board, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have all initiated investigations into Elon Musk or his businesses. Today, the Federal Communications Commission adds itself to the growing list of administrative agencies that are taking action against Elon Musk’s businesses. I am not the first to notice a pattern here. Two months ago, The Wall Street Journal editorial board wrote that “the volume of government investigations into his businesses makes us wonder if the Biden Administration is targeting him for regulatory harassment.”3 After all, the editorial board added, Elon Musk has become “Progressive Enemy No. 1.” Today’s decision certainly fits the Biden Administration’s pattern of regulatory harassment. Indeed, the Commission’s decision today to revoke a 2020 award of $885 million to Elon Musk’s Starlink—an award that Starlink secured after agreeing to provide high-speed Internet service to over 640,000 rural homes and businesses across 35 states—is a decision that cannot be explained by any objective application of law, facts, or policy.

https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/FCC-23-105A2.pdf

Edited December 13, 2023 by jross

[Plasmodium]

14 minutes ago, jross said:

X support might improve in 2025.

Targeted through minimally 2024...

 

---Biden Press Conference 2022

Jenny Leonard, Bloomberg

Q    Mr. President, do you think Elon Musk is a threat to U.S. national security?  And should the U.S. — and with the tools you have — investigate his joint acquisition of Twitter with foreign governments, which include the Saudis?

THE PRESIDENT:  (Laughs.)  I think that Elon Musk’s cooperation and/or technical relationships with other countries is worthy of being looked at.  Whether or not he is doing anything inappropriate, I’m not suggesting that.  I’m suggesting that it wor- — worth being looked at.  And — and — but that’s all I’ll say.

Q    How?

THE PRESIDENT:  There’s a lot of ways.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2022/11/09/remarks-by-president-biden-in-press-conference-8/

 

 

----DISSENTING STATEMENT OF COMMISSIONER BRENDAN CARR (Starlink)

Application for Review of Starlink Services, LLC, Rural Digital Opportunity Fund, Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (Auction 904), Viasat Auction 904 Application for Review, WC Docket No. 19- 126, OEA Docket No. 20-34, GN Docket No. 21-231, Order on Review.

Last year, after Elon Musk acquired Twitter and used it to voice his own political and ideological views without a filter, President Biden gave federal agencies a greenlight to go after him. During a press conference at the White House, President Biden stood at a podium adorned with the official seal of the President of the United States, and expressed his view that Elon Musk “is worth being looked at.”1 When pressed by a reporter to explain how the government would look into Elon Musk, President Biden remarked: “There’s a lot of ways.”2 There certainly are. The Department of Justice, the Federal Aviation Administration, the Federal Trade Commission, the National Labor Relations Board, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have all initiated investigations into Elon Musk or his businesses. Today, the Federal Communications Commission adds itself to the growing list of administrative agencies that are taking action against Elon Musk’s businesses. I am not the first to notice a pattern here. Two months ago, The Wall Street Journal editorial board wrote that “the volume of government investigations into his businesses makes us wonder if the Biden Administration is targeting him for regulatory harassment.”3 After all, the editorial board added, Elon Musk has become “Progressive Enemy No. 1.” Today’s decision certainly fits the Biden Administration’s pattern of regulatory harassment. Indeed, the Commission’s decision today to revoke a 2020 award of $885 million to Elon Musk’s Starlink—an award that Starlink secured after agreeing to provide high-speed Internet service to over 640,000 rural homes and businesses across 35 states—is a decision that cannot be explained by any objective application of law, facts, or policy.

https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/FCC-23-105A2.pdf

The grant was pulled because starlink falls short of the required bandwidth of 100Mbps down/20Mbps up.

Edited December 13, 2023 by Plasmodium

[Wrestleknownothing]

Let's talk about baselines.

All important government contractors are vetted constantly. Between Starlink, SpaceX, and the Boring Company Musk has become a very important government contractor in several highly sensitive areas with national defense implications.

At the same time, Tesla received a timely and enormous boost from the Chinese government when they built him a plant in Shanghai in under a year at a time when Tesla was struggling. Now the Suadi's are co-investors in Twitter with him.

There is just no way that someone who has become a critical defense contractor while taking investments from China and Saudi Arabia is NOT going to be subject to massive scrutiny. Add on top of that Musk's often erratic behavior, and here we are.

If you all thought for a second that a Democrat was in bed with China and Saudi Arabia you would lose your collective shit.

[jross]

Good grief! 

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA V SPACE EXPLORATION TECHNOLOGIES / SPACEX 

COMPLAINT

Complainant, the United States of America, alleges as follows:

From at least September 2018 to at least May 2022, SpaceX discriminated against asylees and refugees throughout its hiring process, including during recruiting, screening, and selection, in violation of the Immigration and Nationality Act ("INA"). Because of their citizenship status, asylees and refugees had virtually no chance of being fairly considered for or hired for a job at SpaceX.

https://www.justice.gov/media/1311656/dl?inline

[ionel]

30 minutes ago, jross said:

Good grief! 

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA V SPACE EXPLORATION TECHNOLOGIES / SPACEX 

COMPLAINT

Complainant, the United States of America, alleges as follows:

From at least September 2018 to at least May 2022, SpaceX discriminated against asylees and refugees throughout its hiring process, including during recruiting, screening, and selection, in violation of the Immigration and Nationality Act ("INA"). Because of their citizenship status, asylees and refugees had virtually no chance of being fairly considered for or hired for a job at SpaceX.

https://www.justice.gov/media/1311656/dl?inline

Its a "complaint" correct?  

Btw:  is there a hole in the fence on the southern border specifically for "steely-eyed missile men?"

[VakAttack]

6 hours ago, headshuck said:

Spoiler alert. You can’t buy everything on Amazon. Amazon is worth over 1.5 Trillion dollars. Let that sink in.

Current Amazon is just an extension of the original model.  What Elon claims he wants to do with Twitter is completely changing it's purpose.  There are already things that do what Elon wants Twitter to do.  If he truly tries that, it will fail spectacularly.  Moreso than his current attempts with Twitter.

[headshuck]

Current Amazon is just an extension of the original model.  What Elon claims he wants to do with Twitter is completely changing it's purpose.  There are already things that do what Elon wants Twitter to do.  If he truly tries that, it will fail spectacularly.  Moreso than his current attempts with Twitter.

I think you must be speaking of Zuckerberg.

[headshuck]

Side note,

Mark Zuckerberg’s $46.5 billion loss on the metaverse is so huge it would be a Fortune 100 company—but his net worth is up even more than that.

https://fortune.com/2023/10/27/mark-zuckerberg-net-worth-metaverse-losses-46-billion-earnings-stock/amp/

[Plasmodium]

4 minutes ago, headshuck said:

Side note,

Mark Zuckerberg’s $46.5 billion loss on the metaverse is so huge it would be a Fortune 100 company—but his net worth is up even more than that.

https://fortune.com/2023/10/27/mark-zuckerberg-net-worth-metaverse-losses-46-billion-earnings-stock/amp/

Is this a criticism or a compliment?

[headshuck]

It’s both! The Musketeer may experience similar results.

[Wrestleknownothing]

36 minutes ago, ionel said:

Its a "complaint" correct?  

Btw:  is there a hole in the fence on the southern border specifically for "steely-eyed missile men?"

My all time favorite quote from that movie. Imagine my disappointment when it was not included in the pinball machine.

"It's not my fault"

"Gentlemen, and that is how we do that?"

"Come on rookie, park that thing"

"We have liftoff"

"Let the moon's gravity slingshot them around"

All made the cut. But no "You, sir, are a steely-eyed missile man"? What a missed opportunity.

[VakAttack]

https://apnews.com/article/tesla-autopilot-recall-driver-monitoring-system-8060508627a34e6af889feca46eb3002

 

Hmmmm....in a story totally unrelated to the above, I'm sure, you can't click on links on Twitter right now.

[ionel]

2 minutes ago, VakAttack said:

Hmmmm....in a story totally unrelated to the above, I'm sure, you can't click on links on Twitter right now.

what is this "Twitter" you speak of?  

[Ohio Elite]

7 minutes ago, ionel said:

what is this "Twitter" you speak of?  

I have no idea..

[GreatWhiteNorth]

13 hours ago, headshuck said:

Spoiler alert. You can’t buy everything on Amazon. Amazon is worth over 1.5 Trillion dollars. Let that sink in.

Yes, Amazon has proven to be extremely successful.

Good for Bezos that he's done well for himself and his company. I'm sure he's worked hard for it.

That, of course, won't stop me from criticizing him when he makes bonehead moves.

As opposed to some others - I don't worship, idolize, or envy ultra wealthy people.

Their financial status simply doesn't impress me.

If money impresses you, that's fine. It's just one thing we don't have in common.

 

[GreatWhiteNorth]

6 hours ago, VakAttack said:

https://apnews.com/article/tesla-autopilot-recall-driver-monitoring-system-8060508627a34e6af889feca46eb3002

 

Hmmmm....in a story totally unrelated to the above, I'm sure, you can't click on links on Twitter right now.

So, basically all the Tesla's on the road in the US have been recalled - to the tune of 2 million of them.

Yet, at the close of trading today, Tesla stock was up ~1%. 

Makes me curious what will happen tomorrow...

[Wrestleknownothing]

33 minutes ago, GreatWhiteNorth said:

So, basically all the Tesla's on the road in the US have been recalled - to the tune of 2 million of them.

Yet, at the close of trading today, Tesla stock was up ~1%. 

Makes me curious what will happen tomorrow...

There are recalls and then there are recalls.

This is the other one. It is an over the air software update, which happens all the time anyway, positioned as a recall. Most owners won't even know it happened, so Tesla has to send them a letter telling them it happened.

[mspart]

Kind of spooky, you know!

mspart

[GreatWhiteNorth]

2 hours ago, Wrestleknownothing said:

There are recalls and then there are recalls.

This is the other one. It is an over the air software update, which happens all the time anyway, positioned as a recall. Most owners won't even know it happened, so Tesla has to send them a letter telling them it happened.

Meh, not really. They are all the same gig.

This is a recall. Period. Full stop. The fact that the remedy can be delivered OTA doesn't make it any less of a recall. 

It just makes the remedy easier for owners.

Which is nice. So, they got that going for them.

[Wrestleknownothing]

5 minutes ago, GreatWhiteNorth said:

Meh, not really. They are all the same gig.

This is a recall. Period. Full stop. The fact that the remedy can be delivered OTA doesn't make it any less of a recall. 

It just makes the remedy easier for owners.

Which is nice. So, they got that going for them.

I disagree. A recall that involves replacing parts on a car is very expensive for the company. Parts need to be purchased, mechanics need to be paid to install the new part, there is an opportunity cost in that the mechanic's time is not being used to generate revenue, and there will be the need to supply the occasional loaner vehicle. All in, it can be very expensive.

This is a software update. Write once, read many. The total cost and marginal cost is de minis.

Your original question was why did the stock not go down? Well, this is why.

[GreatWhiteNorth]

11 minutes ago, Wrestleknownothing said:

I disagree. A recall that involves replacing parts on a car is very expensive for the company. Parts need to be purchased, mechanics need to be paid to install the new part, there is an opportunity cost in that the mechanic's time is not being used to generate revenue, and there will be the need to supply the occasional loaner vehicle. All in, it can be very expensive.

This is a software update. Write once, read many. The total cost and marginal cost is de minis.

Your original question was why did the stock not go down? Well, this is why.

Nope.

Recalls sometimes require parts & labor. Sometimes just labor. Sometimes just firmware.

Details of the recall will vary - but the definition of a recall doesn't change. It's a recall.

C'mon WKN, you know what I'm saying here ... and you can't possibly pretend it isn't true.

[GreatWhiteNorth]

3 hours ago, GreatWhiteNorth said:

So, basically all the Tesla's on the road in the US have been recalled - to the tune of 2 million of them.

Yet, at the close of trading today, Tesla stock was up ~1%. 

Makes me curious what will happen tomorrow...

As posted, I am curious to see what happens tomorrow. 

22 minutes ago, Wrestleknownothing said:

I disagree. A recall that involves replacing parts on a car is very expensive for the company. Parts need to be purchased, mechanics need to be paid to install the new part, there is an opportunity cost in that the mechanic's time is not being used to generate revenue, and there will be the need to supply the occasional loaner vehicle. All in, it can be very expensive.

This is a software update. Write once, read many. The total cost and marginal cost is de minis.

Your original question was why did the stock not go down? Well, this is why.

That was not my original question.

Why are you acting like some kind of dummy?

That was super weak. Find a way to do better.

 

[Plasmodium]

45 minutes ago, Wrestleknownothing said:

I disagree. A recall that involves replacing parts on a car is very expensive for the company. Parts need to be purchased, mechanics need to be paid to install the new part, there is an opportunity cost in that the mechanic's time is not being used to generate revenue, and there will be the need to supply the occasional loaner vehicle. All in, it can be very expensive.

This is a software update. Write once, read many. The total cost and marginal cost is de minis.

Your original question was why did the stock not go down? Well, this is why.

I was asking myself this question.  I wondered why Tesla needed physical access to the vehicles.  Duh.  They don't.  It is a virtual recall