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Tesla Short Sellers Actually Made Over $1 Billion After Musk's Taking-Private Tweet (fortune.com)

An anonymous reader quotes Fortune: Investors betting that Tesla stock will lose value -- so-called "shorts" -- have made $1.2 billion since CEO Elon Musk first tweeted about taking the company private. Much of that gain came on Friday, after the New York Times published a revealing, emotional interview with Musk that drove Tesla stock down nearly 9%. The tally comes from a report released Friday by stock analytics firm S3 Partners. The Friday collapse helped reverse a price spike after Musk's August 7 Tweet saying he was "considering taking Tesla private at $420," about 18% higher than the stock's market value at the time.

According to S3, the subsequent surge in Tesla stock cost short positions $1.3 billion. But soon after, it became clear that Musk had exaggerated the certainty of his funding, and the SEC began a probe of his statements, driving the stock back down. On Friday, the Times interview with Musk detailed his 120-hour work weeks, lack of social life, and reliance on Ambien to sleep. That sent the stock down 9% in one day, for a total drop of 19% over 10 days. That gave $2.5 billion back to the shorts, for a net gain of $1.2 billion since Musk's going-private tweet.

Tesla remains the most-shorted stock on the American stock exchanges, and the researchers note that only 4% of shorts have actually cashed in these on-paper gains.

329 comments

  1. Yes, we did. Again and again and again. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And the race to the bottom is just beginning. Thanks, longs, nice doing business with you.

    But don't blame us, ask your nerd god why can't he manage, or find a replacement who can.

    1. Re: Yes, we did. Again and again and again. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yep, you know your investment isn't in good hands when the CEO tweets and micromanages all day under influence instead of pulling his shit together and learning how to properly delegate. Too much ego, too little skill.

      And the free lunch is over. Jaguar has a very nice electric car, Porsche, BMW and Mercedes will deliver in numbers and quality Tesla cannot and the $35k car isn't even on the horizon.

    2. Re:Yes, we did. Again and again and again. by asackett · · Score: 2

      ask your nerd god why can't he manage

      Money != brains. If you can't get rich by running an unregulated bank, one of your parents was not a primate.

      --

      Warning: This signature may offend some viewers.

    3. Re: Yes, we did. Again and again and again. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There's no bottom after the lies that Musk used to prop the stock price. It will not stop at $90.

    4. Re:Yes, we did. Again and again and again. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "On Friday, the Times interview with Musk detailed his 120-hour work weeks"

      120 hours? Doing what? He has people who run his various companies. No matter how much he may want to micro-manage everything, there's nothing that would require 120 hours a week.

      He's starting to get a little too full of his own bullshit.

    5. Re: Yes, we did. Again and again and again. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I love the bitter armchair ceo's on /. Go do something.

    6. Re: Yes, we did. Again and again and again. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I love the butthurt of the lemmings that fucked themselves over Musk.

    7. Re: Yes, we did. Again and again and again. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You sound like a jealous loser. Musk never did anything to you guys. Get a life.

    8. Re: Yes, we did. Again and again and again. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Musk never did anything to you guys

      He tried to "squeeze" me. Not by doing a good job managing the money people gave him, mind you, but by lying about his company to hurt me, because he didn't like my opinion of his incompetence. And you longs jumped on the hate bandwagon.

      I'm sorry I don't have a small enough violin to play a sad song for those of you who trusted a liar and an addict and bought at $370 the other day.

    9. Re: Yes, we did. Again and again and again. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Every ceo says this abput their working hours

    10. Re: Yes, we did. Again and again and again. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's a lot of work sitting on twitter all day!

    11. Re:Yes, we did. Again and again and again. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Are you kidding? How he manages to run SpaceX and Tesla and all his other projects at the same time is way way way beyond me.
      My after hours home projects move at a snail's pace and I only work a standard 40 hour week Monday to Friday.
      AND he's fucking Grimes and hanging out with Azalea Banks. Mother fucker is living my dream life I swear to dog.

    12. Re:Yes, we did. Again and again and again. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      To be fair, if you're "working" 120 hours a week that means that you're getting at most 48 hours of rest during the course of that same week. The result is that you may be "working" but I doubt very much that the work is particularly productive or well thought out work. In general a lot of bad things start to happen when people work more than 60 hours a week as fatigue starts to creep in as does stress.

      There's a reason why sane people seek out some sort of work/life balance as it's necessary if you're going to sustain yourself for very long. It doesn't take that much time before you're running on empty and causing trouble for yourself that you then have to fix.

      Most of Tesla's issues have been self-inflicted due to incompetent managerial practices. They could have continued to pursue a luxury brand model while figuring out how to scale things up without the massive overspending. But, Musk made a series of uninformed comments about how many cars they'd be shipping and nobody was there to tell him, not just no, but hell no, and they've flushed a huge amount of cash down the crapper trying to meet his self-determined production goals.

    13. Re: Yes, we did. Again and again and again. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      LOL you donâ(TM)t drive a German car if you think bmw, Mercedes, and Porsche are going to be problem-free compared to Tesla. Letâ(TM)s not forget theyâ(TM)ve been doing electric cars for five years now and the i3 and model b (RIP) are nowhere near as good as a Tesla, even though they cost more than a 3 LR.

    14. Re:Yes, we did. Again and again and again. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Musk doesn't "manage" SpaceX, it has a manager. And when in a few months Tesla fails and Musk starts to actually manage SpaceX, it will go down the drain like Tesla.

    15. Re: Yes, we did. Again and again and again. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I don't know about BMW and M-B, but Porsches are pretty goddamn solid these days. They have been breathing down Lexus's neck in reliability surveys.

      Of course, those surveys treat Bluetooth dropouts the same as bumpers falling off, but still... Porsche is doing some great work.

    16. Re: Yes, we did. Again and again and again. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Every CEO has to say this by law. If you fail to make your staff believe that dedication, slavery, and long hours don't pay the bills then your staff will look to...family, and life balance.

      Sorry, work-life HARMONY.

    17. Re: Yes, we did. Again and again and again. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      LOL, my 2016 Cayenne is still miles ahead in quality and comfort compared to the P100D X the neighbors have. And you've not even been close to either.

    18. Re: Yes, we did. Again and again and again. by Mr+D+from+63 · · Score: 0

      Shorts did not lose or gain unless they closed out their position. So they didn't 'make' over a billion as the ignorant headline states.

    19. Re: Yes, we did. Again and again and again. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, it is only the longs that make "profits" without selling, right? There's no reason to close, buddy, TSLA is going nowhere, but down.

    20. Re: Yes, we did. Again and again and again. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It probably had more to do with the publication of the teardown which stated the model 3 is a decade ahead of the industry in terms of design and engineering, and that it's not likely going to be able to ever sell for less than $47k.

    21. Re: Yes, we did. Again and again and again. by Computershack · · Score: 1

      Tesla is a relative newcomer. Volkswagon were producing and selling an electric car in the 1970s. And whilst Tesla may have been doing electric cars for 5 years now, BMW, Mercedes and Porsche have been designing and producing high end cars for almost a century and to them all this is is a change in the drivetrain. The rest of the stuff such as mirrors, door handles and everything else Tesla seem incapable of getting right is run of the mill.

      --
      I only please one person per day. Today is not your day. Tomorrow isn't looking good either. - Scott Adams
    22. Re: Yes, we did. Again and again and again. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Uh hello? The model 3 tesla everyone put money down on DOES NO EXIST so my kids tricycle is better than your $35k model 3 Tesla because I can actually buy the tricycle.

      You can not compare real existing buyable cars without Nerd God fantasies or how good the model 3 â"mightâ" be If it ever ships at that price.

      And the trike costs $34950 less and requires no electricity.

      Tricycle >>> model 3 Tesla

    23. Re: Yes, we did. Again and again and again. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nerd God Musk can easily run all those companies and many more all at the same time... into the ground.

      As far as who he is fucking goes, money does that when you hang out with hookers. If he lost everything the girlie sluts would be in someone elses bed before the open bell the next day.

      Find someone worthy of your worship or better yet improve yourself and become the worthy person you want to admire.

    24. Re: Yes, we did. Again and again and again. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How did he try to squeeze you???

      I very much like that Mr. Musk has had the stones to try to make a practical electric car, and has succeeded 3 times in doing so. If he succeeds in scaling up production of the model 3, which is the next goal, he will have changed the automobile landscape forever. Some would argue he has already done so. Before Tesla, electric car options were limited. Now every car manufacturer is working on one.

      I don't have cash to risk right now, but a lot of people have some spare and believe the world would be much better off if he succeeds. Thus they buy stock. If you don't believe he can do it, then put your money elsewhere. But, please, stop the endless whining and hate. The guy is a billionaire who has chosen to take on an impossible task from which we all benefit. He could just go roll around in his money and tell the world to go away. But he hasn't. Even he thinks this next challenge is impossible without sacrificing his social life and taking some drugs to sleep at night. We should cut him some slack and do what we can to help, even if all that means is saying "Thanks, keep up the good work, we believe in you".
       

  2. It Doesn't Matter by DatbeDank · · Score: 1, Insightful

    What Musk did over Twitter is first and foremost unbecoming of a CEO and is outright manipulation of the stock price.

    It's clear that he didn't have a buyer to bring the firm public. This was him Tweeting up late at night buzzed out of his mind on Ambien or tripping balls on LSD.

    He's become dysfunctional, has allowed women of ill repute to pollute his life, and is allowing his ego to be propped up by his cult of personality who believe he is the second coming.

    The whole thing is quickly becoming like Theranos and it's a complete and utter shame given what he is capable of.

    1. Re: It Doesn't Matter by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, it IS what he's capable of. Otherwise it would have been different.

    2. Re:It Doesn't Matter by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The whole thing is quickly becoming like Theranos and it's a complete and utter shame given what he is capable of.

      Right now, he is demonstrating *EXACTLY* what he is capable of, which is, not much, other than having a giant ego.

      He got lucky, and rich, with the PayPal scam, but now he's gotten into businesses that require actual management skills, something that he has none of.

      Fortunately for him, the SEC is much more "business friendly" these days, so his obviously illegal stock market manipulation probably won't get him a room in the Martha Stewart Wing of the local federal prison.

    3. Re:It Doesn't Matter by phalse+phace · · Score: 4, Informative

      It's clear that he didn't have a buyer to bring the firm public.

      Doesn't need one. The company is already public.

    4. Re:It Doesn't Matter by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      What is "informative" about a crappy comeback to an obvious typo?

    5. Re:It Doesn't Matter by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    6. Re:It Doesn't Matter by Njovich · · Score: 0

      The whole thing is quickly becoming like Theranos and it's a complete and utter shame given what he is capable of.

      Yep, it's exactly like Theranos if Theranos didn't commit fraud, delivered on their promised products, etc etc. In what sense are they even remotely alike? Both overvalued stocks? Elon is nothing like Holmes.

    7. Re: It Doesn't Matter by Mr+D+from+63 · · Score: 1

      Tesla's problem now is the $360 strike price for the convertible bond payment in February. While it looked like they'd be on track to be above $360 before the tweet, it is not looking as good right now. It would be painful for them to have to part with that $920m in cash.

    8. Re:It Doesn't Matter by pnutjam · · Score: 1

      Wait... you talking about Trump or Musk?

    9. Re:It Doesn't Matter by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      tell me more about these women of ill repute

    10. Re: It Doesn't Matter by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Rei? Is that you?

      Delivered product? Like the $35k car everyone gave a zero interest unsecured loan to their Nerd God Musk which will NEVER HAPPEN?

      Sounds EXACTLY like Theranos.

    11. Re: It Doesn't Matter by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The longs are grasping at straws. That's what.

  3. In your opinion by Okian+Warrior · · Score: 5, Insightful

    What Musk did over Twitter is first and foremost unbecoming of a CEO and is outright manipulation of the stock price.

    In your opinion.

    That's the problem with all the Tesla news nowadays - there's actually very little going on, what we see in the media is opinion dressed up as news. And if it's bad, the shorts will run with it.

    .) The Saudis had approached Musk multiple times about taking Tesla private over the past two years
    .) During that time, Musk has been telling shorts to get out
    .) The Tesla board was informed about Musk's intent before the infamous tweet, and discussed the merits
    .) The board decided the next step was to contact and discuss with the largest shareholders
    .) Musk decided that he couldn't legally contact *only* the largest stockholders, so he publicly announced on twitter
    .) Stock goes up
    .) Stock goes down

    (source)

    Really, there's nothing in the news anyone can trust about Tesla nowadays. After the NYT interview I saw these competing headlines:

    "Musk says Tesla had an excruciating year, and the worst is yet to come" (one source, among many)

    "Musk says Tesla had an excruciating year, and the worst is over" (one source, among many)

    Which of these is an accurate portrayal of Tesla's future?

    Don't believe any of it. Given the timeline above, it's really hard to see how Musk could be charged with a crime - SEC is civil, not criminal, the FBI would have to get involved for that. It's also hard to see how the SEC could impose a fine. There *might* be an issue with the exact definition of "secured", but it's a) moot, b) can be argued either way, and c) it took the SEC 5 years to bring down [Theranos CEO] Elisabeth Holmes for much more severe problems, they aren't likely to move any faster with Tesla. Five years from now we can worry whether this has made any difference to Tesla.

    It's clear that Tesla only has to weather the next 4 months or so, and then be clear of all this nonsense.

    Until then, just ignore the rabble - it's only noise anyway.

    1. Re:In your opinion by gravewax · · Score: 2, Interesting

      No, actually it is in the opinion of the law and SEC. behaviour of CEO statements are strictly enforced to a common standard. Given what has happened I would say it is almost a certainty at this point that Tesla/Musk will face at a bare minimum a large fine, whether they end there will be dependent on whether they perceive any malice in his actions (e.g. going after the shorts) or if potentially he, other board members or family of his profited from the surge.

    2. Re:In your opinion by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      He needs to drop the 120 hour work weeks. The stress and lack of sleep can only hinder his mental performance. I would _love_ to see Elon Musk do all the things he sets out to do but it's worrying (to me) that he has to micro-manage everything so much (otherwise why would he put in such hours).

    3. Re:In your opinion by cheesybagel · · Score: 4, Insightful

      He basically needs a COO for Tesla much like he had one at SpaceX (Gwynne Shotwell). Someone with industry experience who can handle most of the day to day affairs of the business.

    4. Re:In your opinion by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Well, let's see.

      .) The Saudis had approached Musk multiple times about taking Tesla private over the past two years
      Says Musk, and noone else.

      .) During that time, Musk has been telling shorts to get out
      Musk has been trying desperately to pump his stock, you mean. Instead of, you know, actually doing the required work.

      .) The Tesla board was informed about Musk's intent before the infamous tweet, and discussed the merits

      Says Musk, post the SEC investigation start. The board members said the opposite.

      .) The board decided the next step was to contact and discuss with the largest shareholders

      Says Musk, and no one else.

      .) Musk decided that he couldn't legally contact *only* the largest stockholders, so he publicly announced on twitter

      After lacing himself up with a drug cocktail, and coordinating it with nobody.

      .) Stock goes up .) Stock goes down a little

      And in the weeks after, Musk goes scrambling to find "investors" who would backdate his Twitter lies, so to avoid SEC trouble.

      This becomes known, stock crashes.

    5. Re:In your opinion by avandesande · · Score: 1

      We could continuing parsing what he said, or ask ourselves what is the point of saying anything? No other CEO acts like this.

      --
      love is just extroverted narcissism
    6. Re:In your opinion by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 1, Insightful

      ... (source) ...

      The bullet points you pulled from that “source” are just requotes of Musk’s after-the-fact explanation regarding his “going private” tweet. It’ll certainly satisfy the Kool-aid drinkers, but the article doesn’t provide any sort of independent confirmation of anything Musk said. In fact, it seemed to me the article writer wasn’t entirely convinced regarding some of those points.

      --
      #DeleteChrome
    7. Re:In your opinion by BigDukeSix · · Score: 1

      Let's just go by the words and actions of Elon himself. He's accused someone, apparently without merit, of being a 'pedo guy.' He tweets bizarre shit at odd hours that make me think he should be drug tested. He went all in on this 'funding secured' thing, and the subsequent behavior is a clear case of frantic bullshit in action. All of these things are going to land him in court. And for fuck's sake: Tesla makes one of the most advanced machines in the history of mankind. It should be assembled in a goddamn clean room and it's being built in a TENT. And you are saying it's only noise?

    8. Re: In your opinion by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I don't know why this is modded up. When you have a large stake in a public company there are very strict rules you must follow.

      Look at billionaire Richard Branson who said it was ridiculous having to watch everything he said so he bought his entire company back and made it private again.

      Anyone owning a public company should know how serious it can be to say things like that. It's really not something to take lightly and this is why people taking their companies public is happening less and less.

    9. Re:In your opinion by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Had?

    10. Re:In your opinion by rtb61 · · Score: 0

      Fuck all the bullshit about all the bullshit celebrity CEOs or Chairmen, the reality. You measure a leader ability in reality, by their skill at selecting the people needed to do the thinking and the actual work and then you take public credit for all their successes, whilst blaming the new guy for any failures. You pay the various main stream media companies to promote you. Voila genius at business, reality more just skilled at economic bullshit.

      The shorts are stuck because to trade out they have to actually buy stocks, sending the price back up, to pay back the stocks they pretended to have and pretended to sell. Everyone knows it was the shorters who did the most to drive down the stock price and there are a whole bunch of them and the big money houses can target them to gut them financially, by buying up stock beyond the ability of shorters to cover the loses. The market is entirely corrupt, and the decision is not down to company performance but statistics and which generated the most profit, supporting the shorters or gutting them. That it has dragged on so long is really quite troubling from the short perspective, it is an indication they are holding it there to draw in more of them to sustain the shorting effort before snapping that rat trap shut and wiping out the shorters (the higher the price goes, the greater the debt of the shorters and the more they have to pay, asset strip mining).

      --
      Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
    11. Re: In your opinion by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It’s being voted up because /. consists of financially illiterate server admins who get their education from forty year-old science fiction books.

    12. Re: In your opinion by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0


      The shorts are stuck

      As in, about to make a killing.


      Everyone knows the shorts...

      Are guilty of not being able to scale production, of burning through cash, of bailing out Musk's failing business, of ignoring competent advice, of insulting people, of tweeting BS from Musk's twitter, damned shorts...

    13. Re:In your opinion by mlyle · · Score: 1

      Hey, I'm pretty skeptical of TSLA. But A) general assembly of something that is subsequently gonna go on dirty, dirty roads doesn't belong in a clean room, (hell, we don't build circuit board assemblies in clean rooms) and B) Sprung buildings are really cool and are not what I'd call a tent. :P

    14. Re:In your opinion by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    15. Re: In your opinion by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Seriously - we know about this stuff multi levels down from cxo level and get warnings about stock market impact of any thing we say or do.

      Anyone that's worked anywhere in even a relatively high level should be aware of this.

      Reminds me of Hillary "just not knowing the rules" - either incompetent or lying.

    16. Re:In your opinion by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      He said "funding secured."
      No, it wasn't.

    17. Re:In your opinion by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

      The tent magically makes bumpers stick less?

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    18. Re:In your opinion by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, but the thinking that you can build an assembly line without space to service the equipment does.

    19. Re:In your opinion by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

      Possibly, but I don't even see any evidence that this particular car was build in a tent. It could have easily come from the older production lines as well. It's not like those haven't had any manufacturing problems on their own.

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    20. Re:In your opinion by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "This particular car" is a graphic example of how bad Tesla is at manufacturing. The "Tesla tent" is an example of the same thing. It isn't too unreasonable to imagine that one was built in the other, but as you say, it doesn't really matter.

      Bottom line: Tesla cannot manufacture quality cars in volume and at cost that turns a profit.

      Sad.

    21. Re:In your opinion by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There is a 1 to 1 correlation between manufacturers who's bumpers fall off manufacturers who build cars in tents.

    22. Re:In your opinion by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually, most of what you outline is false. He was telling shorters to get out. But the board said to real media organizations that they knew nothing of his announcement. Second, according to real media organizations, the Saudi investment group had offered to cover about 5% of the share cost, nowhere near what was needed for Musk to make the kind of announcement he made. The stock went up on his lie. It's now gone down because the lie has been rapidly exposed and because he's now under investigation by the SEC. The SEC doesn't open an investigation up on you because they're bored, they do so because there's strong evidence of a crime being committed.

      Also, if you want a source for everything, google it. Take off your binders and read it; it's all over the news.

    23. Re:In your opinion by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

      And your tacit assumption is that this situation is permanent?

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    24. Re:In your opinion by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, it has been the situation in the past 15 years, and there are no indications that Musk is learning anything. In fact, the people around him who knew how to build a car factory have left or are leaving.

      So yeah, it looks like the amateur hour hasn't even started yet.

    25. Re:In your opinion by cheesybagel · · Score: 1

      Well Gwynne has since been promoted to President as well I think although she still retains the COO position.

    26. Re:In your opinion by cheesybagel · · Score: 1

      Also the problem with Tesla is that it's like 3-4 companies into one. It's basically a conglomerate. Were it not Elon the CEO it would likely use a different management structure. There's the battery operation, which manufactures and sells batteries for cars, utilities, and homes. There's the solar panel division. Then there's the car division which is how they started the company. Last but not least there's the Tesla supercharger network operation. Although there are relations between these operations they should probably be managed separately.

    27. Re:In your opinion by cheesybagel · · Score: 1

      The previous Tesla CEO and COO were fired by Elon. He originally was just the President at Tesla. So he caused this overwork problem to himself. Arguably the problem with both of them is that they had an Electrical Engineer background when he probably need more people with Mechanical Engineering backgrounds in the leadership positions. This meant they had issues reaching design and production targets. Those are not exactly easy to find in California though I guess. Lately they have had issues with mass production. So he probably needs someone with mass production experience in a vertically integrated company. His company more or less operates like Toyota. So someone with credentials in the traditional US automotive industry (especially someone that's really veteran at it) which have mostly changed to outsourcing production models will likely be the wrong choice.

    28. Re:In your opinion by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's clear that Tesla only has to weather the next 4 months or so, and then be clear of all this nonsense.

      Until then, just ignore the rabble - it's only noise anyway.

      2 Days since you posted this. Today, the stock has plummeted below $300, and no investors yet have shown they are seriously interested in taking TSLA private. At this point, the danger of going into Feb 2019 with stock below $360 looks very real. If that happens, Tesla will have to pay $900m cash to cover the convertible bond due on Feb 27. It seems institutional investors are easing their positions, so I'd say the risk is quite uncomfortably high.

      Meanwhile, TSLA is expected to pump out a lot of sales in Q3 and Q4. That is already priced into the stock, so there seems more risk of disappointing than outperforming.

      That tweet might have been more damaging than I expected it would be.

    29. Re:In your opinion by Lord_Jeremy · · Score: 1

      The guy you're replying to actually provided sources. Where are your citations, AC? How did this get upmodded?

  4. Only If They Covered by crow · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Has the short interest in Tesla decreased? If so, then shorts have cashed out, having a much better position than a week ago. But I'm not under the impression that the shorts have been exiting. It seems that there is a large contingent that really expects Tesla to outright fail, and they want to ride the stock down to zero.

    There is a contingent that deeply wants to see Tesla fail because they view it as part of the environmental movement, and they see the whole movement as a leftist attack on free enterprise and their way of life. A company like Tesla being successful is counter to their worldview, and they desperately want to see electric cars fail. I have no evidence to prove that there's a connection to the Tesla shorts, but I suspect there is. I suppose that's part of the reason I so desperately want to see the shorts get bankrupted.

    1. Re: Only If They Covered by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      The environmental movement hinges on Tesla being successful? That's like saying capitalism hinges on Bank of America being successful

    2. Re:Only If They Covered by 110010001000 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      BS. Shorts don't care about the "environmental movement". You guys are nuts: Tesla isn't "green". They are producing $60,000+ EVs! Are you out of your mind? There are other manufacturers who are actually producing affordable EVs. Why not invest in them? It is like you guys are brainwashed. The only thing shorts care about is making money. Tesla is priced way too high. It isn't personal. He isn't attacking your god.

    3. Re: Only If They Covered by 110010001000 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Exactly. rich guys driving around in $60,000 EVs is NOT environmental movement.

    4. Re:Only If They Covered by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What a load of horseshit. Shorters don't give a fuck about the environmental movement, they care about making money. Secondly Tesla is hardly a big environmentally friendly company, selling expensive vehicles to the rich isn't going to help the environment, if they cared about environmental movements they would be attacking the car makers focusing on affordable EV's.

    5. Re:Only If They Covered by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1
      I've bought TSLA puts. It's not because I hate the environment and want them to fail -- heck, next time I buy a car, a used model S will be on the short list. It's because Tesla isn't a $60 billion company. I don't believe they'll hit their manufacturing or profit margins. I do believe their is, if not accounting fraud then something pretty damn close to it. They are full of debt and running out of money. Meanwhile, build quality on the model 3 is attrocious. Tesla forums are full of true believers that report serious build problems on their cars. Simple repairs take months because parts aren't available. Maybe it has something to with that $3 Billion in accounts payable?

      And what about the solar city bailout? There's nothing left to solar city except the debt.

      Please, don't confuse hating the environment with recognizing TSLA is on the verge of bankruptcy and that Musk's reality distortion field is really too much ambien and acid.

    6. Re:Only If They Covered by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The second paragraph is the most retarded shit I’ve read this week.

    7. Re:Only If They Covered by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      by crow (16139):

      I suppose that's part of the reason I so desperately want to see the shorts get bankrupted.

      So you're saying you want them to see them eat crow (and possibly eat their own shorts)? :)

    8. Re: Only If They Covered by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    9. Re:Only If They Covered by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The shorts care about money and they saw how massively overpriced Tesla is and tried to cash in on it. Tesla has been on the verge of bankruptcy for a while now. Expecting that people aren't going to try and take advantage of that is rather naive.

      Personally, I don't short companies because it's very hard to determine when to do it, shareholders can bid up the price of a stock for quite a while before realizing, much like Wile E. Coyote, that they've run out of road and are about to crash into a deep gorge. Meanwhile, shorts would be paying interest on the shares they borrowed to short.

    10. Re:Only If They Covered by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The only thing shorts care about is making money.

      Exactly! Same motivation with anyone going long. Same motivation with someone selling a neutral Iron Condor.

      Why do people who know nothing about investing always try to "read into" investor's motivations?

    11. Re:Only If They Covered by Solandri · · Score: 1

      There is a contingent that deeply wants to see Tesla fail because they view it as part of the environmental movement, and they see the whole movement as a leftist attack on free enterprise and their way of life. A company like Tesla being successful is counter to their worldview, and they desperately want to see electric cars fail. I have no evidence to prove that there's a connection to the Tesla shorts, but I suspect there is. I suppose that's part of the reason I so desperately want to see the shorts get bankrupted.

      This just demonstrates how out of touch you (and many environmentalists) are about the EV market. Tesla's success doesn't counter anyone's worldview, because EVs are not succeeding due to Tesla. They're succeeding because CARB (California Air Resources Board - the regulatory agency which sets emissions standards in California) has set a Zero Emissions Vehicle (ZEV) mandate.

      The mandate basically requires that a certain percentage of each automaker's unit sales each year be ZEVs. Right now that's mostly EVs (Toyota is selling a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle which qualifies). The percentage is gradually increased each year. The formula is a bit complex, but the target is roughly 2.5% ZEVs for 2018, ramping up to 8% by 2025. If an automaker fails to meet the mandated percentage, they must buy credits from another automaker which exceeded it (usually Tesla since they always have excess credits). This is the route most niche car manufacturers like Ferrari have taken. If they fail to buy enough credits, they are banned from selling cars in California. And since about a dozen states automatically adopt CARB's guidelines, that automaker would be banned from selling cars in about a third of the U.S. by population. No automaker wants to be cut off from a third of the U.S. market, so they're all busy tripping over themselves releasing EVs. And if the market doesn't want enough EVs to meet the mandated percentage, they offer sales in incentives on the EVs to manufacture demand.

      Destroying Tesla would have absolutely no effect on the success of EVs, because their success is being dictated entirely by CARB. It doesn't matter if Tesla makes them, or some other automaker makes them, or all the automakers make them. The percentage of EVs which will be sold each year has already been decided by CARB decree. So shorting Tesla stock or destroying its reputation via fake news will make zero difference to the number of EVs sold each year. And in fact all the other automarkers want Tesla to stay solvent, because Tesla provides a consistent and readily available supply of ZEV credits should they happen to fail to meet their mandated percentage in a year. Without Tesla, each automaker would have to make sure they sell too many EVs each year, to provide a safety buffer against accidentally slipping below CARB's mandated percentage.

    12. Re:Only If They Covered by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It has nothing to do with the environmental movement and the main reason is financial. The shorts are betting against Tesla because their forecasts and promises always fall well short of the expectations that Elon Musk himself has put out there. Investors understand that companies with great potential (especially in the tech sector) will lose money in the beginning and are willing to overlook that, but as with any other situation patience eventually runs out and it will soon be time to pay the piper. If Tesla is doing well or has the potential to do well then why all of a sudden is it better for Tesla to be a private company? They will probably have less funding than they currently have access to trading as a public company. The reason for going private is because the stock will be worth far less in the future than it is now. It might not go to zero but I think it will be trade less than $20/share. I really don't think the stock will ever reach zero because another company will be happy to buy them at some point. Keep in mind that all the other car manufacturers will start coming out with their own versions of EVs this year and next, and I can guarantee you that their bumpers won't be falling off, the paint work will be pristine, and they won't have an autopilot that crashes into things (the list of negatives could be much longer!). Tesla's $7,500 tax credit will also start to 'sunset' late this year or early next year when all the other manufacturer's will just be starting. It's now simply a race for Tesla, profitability or insolvency, and right now they are much closer to insolvency.

    13. Re:Only If They Covered by quantaman · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Has the short interest in Tesla decreased? If so, then shorts have cashed out, having a much better position than a week ago. But I'm not under the impression that the shorts have been exiting. It seems that there is a large contingent that really expects Tesla to outright fail, and they want to ride the stock down to zero.

      There is a contingent that deeply wants to see Tesla fail because they view it as part of the environmental movement, and they see the whole movement as a leftist attack on free enterprise and their way of life. A company like Tesla being successful is counter to their worldview, and they desperately want to see electric cars fail. I have no evidence to prove that there's a connection to the Tesla shorts, but I suspect there is. I suppose that's part of the reason I so desperately want to see the shorts get bankrupted.

      It's nothing that conspiratorial. Tesla has a bigger market cap than GM. I mean Tesla has a cooler brand, and they're currently dominating the EV market, but GM builds almost 100x as many cars, has about 15x the revenue (not sure how that math works), and has an operating income almost as large as Tesla's total revenue.

      Sure Tesla has some serious potential around self driving cars and EV, but so does GM.

      The idea that Tesla is worth more is just plain dumb. People are pricing it like an Apple or a Google, but car companies don't get those giant semi-monopolies that generate outrageous profits the way tech companies do. Tesla becoming as big as GM is their potential, but there's a good chance they won't reach that potential.

      I don't trade stocks, but I can understand why people would short Tesla, it can't really go any higher and you have to think as some point it's going to go down.

      --
      I stole this Sig
    14. Re:Only If They Covered by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Thing is, though, LiIon electrics aren't ZEVs. Tons of CO2 are generated by making the batteries. Now they Fuel Cell/H2 cars? Those can be ZEVs once we stop getting H2 from natural gas and instead from water, and there's a comparatively minimal CO2 footprint to manufacture one.

    15. Re: Only If They Covered by that+this+is+not+und · · Score: 1

      once we stop getting H2 from natural gas and instead from water

      Indeed. Once electricity becomes free. Don't stay up at nights waiting.

    16. Re:Only If They Covered by crow · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Yes, Tesla is priced like a tech company. Or more specifically, it's priced like a growth company. Automakers are like the weather: the best forecast for tomorrow is that it will be the same as today. Sometimes they do better, sometimes the do worse, but people don't generally expect them to make huge changes in their market share.

      Tesla is growing rapidly. While traditional auto makers are constrained by sales, as evidenced by factories operating below capacity and massive marketing campaigns, Tesla is constrained by manufacturing, as evidenced by massive reservations and no significant marketing efforts.

      Tesla also has their energy business, which is also constrained by capacity. They've proven the value of utility-scale battery storage in Australia and elsewhere. The potential growth here is huge.

      The Tesla solar business is less clear. Personally I think the visual stigma with traditional solar panels has passed as home solar has become more common, so most people who want solar are happy with regular panels. Outside of historical districts and the like, I'm not sure how large their solar roof market will prove to be once they reach full production.

      But back to cars, they're looking at a production rate of 500,000 Model 3s next year. They're also going to be starting production of the Semi and announcing the pickup and Model Y next year. Their growth could easily reach over a million vehicles a year as quickly as they can build the factories, probably two million or more.

      And don't ignore their Supercharger network. Tesla is the only option for road trips. Independent charging networks are focusing on the higher-density markets (i.e., California), though that may improve a bit over the next decade, but without support from auto manufacturers, they price charging well above what Tesla charges. In short, most people are happy buying an electric car as a second vehicle, but only consider Tesla if looking for an electric vehicle as their first car.

      I don't see any other manufacturer providing serious competition for Tesla in the next five years, which will let them continue to grow rapidly to become a major player in the industry.

      The short story seems to boil down to "Elon Musk is lying about Tesla being profitable for Q3 and Q4 this year." If they are profitable, then the story that they're going to run out of cash before being able to expand as described above falls apart.

    17. Re:Only If They Covered by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I don't see Tesla as promoting a leftist agenda. They promote free enterprise by competing with Toyota Prius. If alt-fuels is associated with leftism, then this country is already in deep shit.

    18. Re:Only If They Covered by quantaman · · Score: 1

      Yes, Tesla is priced like a tech company. Or more specifically, it's priced like a growth company. Automakers are like the weather: the best forecast for tomorrow is that it will be the same as today. Sometimes they do better, sometimes the do worse, but people don't generally expect them to make huge changes in their market share.

      Tesla is growing rapidly. While traditional auto makers are constrained by sales, as evidenced by factories operating below capacity and massive marketing campaigns, Tesla is constrained by manufacturing, as evidenced by massive reservations and no significant marketing efforts.

      That's all true, but that magical growth goes away when they start to become the next GM, so why should they be worth more than GM?

      Tesla also has their energy business, which is also constrained by capacity. They've proven the value of utility-scale battery storage in Australia and elsewhere. The potential growth here is huge.

      The Tesla solar business is less clear. Personally I think the visual stigma with traditional solar panels has passed as home solar has become more common, so most people who want solar are happy with regular panels.

      They bought the solar for $2.5 billion in stock, so it can't be responsible for much of the valuation, as for the batteries maybe there's something there. But now you're pretty much arguing that their stock is due to their viability as an electric company, not a car company.

      Outside of historical districts and the like, I'm not sure how large their solar roof market will prove to be once they reach full production.

      But back to cars, they're looking at a production rate of 500,000 Model 3s next year. They're also going to be starting production of the Semi and announcing the pickup and Model Y next year. Their growth could easily reach over a million vehicles a year as quickly as they can build the factories, probably two million or more.

      And don't ignore their Supercharger network. Tesla is the only option for road trips. Independent charging networks are focusing on the higher-density markets (i.e., California), though that may improve a bit over the next decade, but without support from auto manufacturers, they price charging well above what Tesla charges. In short, most people are happy buying an electric car as a second vehicle, but only consider Tesla if looking for an electric vehicle as their first car.

      I don't see any other manufacturer providing serious competition for Tesla in the next five years, which will let them continue to grow rapidly to become a major player in the industry.

      The short story seems to boil down to "Elon Musk is lying about Tesla being profitable for Q3 and Q4 this year." If they are profitable, then the story that they're going to run out of cash before being able to expand as described above falls apart.

      You still need people to buy those cars. You have a waiting list when you make ~100k vehicles, but not when you make 1 million vehicles. The risk to Tesla isn't that it runs out of money, it's that one or several of Ford, GM, Honda, or Toyota make a really awesome EV and Tesla gets capped at a market share of 1 million.

      The bigger risk is the big auto-makers to the above but also agree on an open spec so you can have Mom & Pop charging stations that serve any vehicle and it's incompatible with Telsa's superchargers. If that happens Tesla might be really screwed.

      I'm not saying either will happen, but it's a mistake to price Tesla like they're already experiencing the best case scenario.

      --
      I stole this Sig
    19. Re:Only If They Covered by Actually,+I+do+RTFA · · Score: 1

      There is a contingent that deeply wants to see Tesla fail because they view it as part of the environmental movement

      There is a huge difference between wanting the company to succeed or fail, and considering it appropriately priced. It's why people long on Tesla "because they think it's the best car they've ever driven" are insane. I mean, yes, don't buy stock in a company if you think they make a shitty product and are likely to suffer in the marketplace. But that's separate from thinking its correctly or underpriced.

      I think Tesla is overpriced, not because I want them to fail, but because I think it's not worth that much. I also doubt that I can maintain a short position until the market corrects, because there is a lot of emotion involved.

      --
      Your ad here. Ask me how!
    20. Re:Only If They Covered by crow · · Score: 1

      They're worth a lot more than GM if they sell the same number of cars as GM but at a significantly higher profit margin, which is completely possible. Combine that with their energy business, which could be another multi-billion-dollar business, and the valuation makes more sense. Of course, at some point the growth does slow down, and then it may become an issue, though that's happened to Apple, and their stock is still going up.

      I'll agree that the Solar City buyout doesn't appear to have been worth the money. Unless the solar roof business turns out to be a runaway success over the next few years, they won't make back their investment. But at this point, it's a sunk cost that has nothing to do with today's valuation; it's just a historical artifact that partially explains the number of outstanding shares. (Though it does say that Tesla isn't always making the right business decisions.)

    21. Re:Only If They Covered by crow · · Score: 1

      If you listen to the more public shorts, they're talking about the company failing, not about it being overpriced.

    22. Re:Only If They Covered by Actually,+I+do+RTFA · · Score: 1

      Even in that case, there's a huge difference between "I think the company will fail" and "I hope the company will fail."

      --
      Your ad here. Ask me how!
    23. Re:Only If They Covered by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Regarding "only if they covered". It appears about 4% did close their positions.
      From the article,

      All of these numbers, as S3 notes, are mark-to-market — that is, they are based on current prices, whether or not traders actually closed their positions to cash out. According to S3, only 4% of shorts have done so, despite their big short-term paper gains.

    24. Re:Only If They Covered by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      but at a significantly higher profit margin,

      LOL. Losing thousands of dollars on every car sold isn't called a "profit margin", it is called a "loss".

    25. Re:Only If They Covered by crow · · Score: 1

      But they aren't losing money on every car sold. They are making a marginal profit. They are losing money due to overhead and fixed costs. So as sales increase, the overall financial picture changes from loss to profit.

    26. Re: Only If They Covered by Lord_Jeremy · · Score: 1

      Have you forgotten that nearly all of Tesla's energy is being poured into $30,000 EVs?

  5. wild speculation about what happened here: by slashdot_is_fake · · Score: 1

    Some of Tesla's well-connected investors had some one make him an offer he couldn't refuse to tank the stock price with this embarrassing interview.

    1. Re:wild speculation about what happened here: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It is the "big oil", no? The same "big oil" that was about to "save" Tesla just a week ago, no? Do you people even remember your own bullshit from last week?

  6. Re:Rei's shares by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    One wonders if Rei will be more tolerant of posts by people with real but inconvenient Tesla information when the share price hits $200 over the coming months.

    A part of me sees Rei remembering Tesla the same way people remember the Dreamcast. Wonderful technology before it's time that ultimately was a waste of money, lost to the past.

  7. I agree by Okian+Warrior · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    Back when I frequented Drudge Report, if a link took me to infowars.com I would navigate away. It's a little crazy over there.

    I agree with you completely. After the ban, I've been looking at his site occasionally to see what all the fuss is about, and just can't get interested in any of it.

    Problem is, free speech means everyone gets to have their say. Banning Infowars was wrong, it was the 3rd click of the censorship ratchet, and it needs to be discussed in the arena of civil rights.

    I think the second one(*) was taking away DailyStormer's domain registration and not letting them use it.

    Even the Electronic Freedom Foundation worried over censoring DailyStormer.

    We're well into the 3rd line of that "first they came for..." poem, and we really need to get this sorted out before the internet turns into a leftist utopian playland, where everyone agrees and speaking out is prohibited.

    We really need to get this sorted out.

    Maybe the government will step in and impose regulations.

    It seems like we're headed that way.

    (*) First one was MasterCard and Visa dropping Wikileaks simultaneously after posting the "collateral murder" video, isolating Wikileaks from $11 million in donations that were coming in.

    1. Re: I agree by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah god forbid Visa and MasterCard chose to stop servicing a foreign propaganda outlet distributing misinformation design to promote donestic unrest.

    2. Re: I agree by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Free speech absolutely. But just my 2c Jones isnt a nut job, he does t actually believe what he says, but people do and those are most vulnerable to hear conspiracy and accept unquestionably. He is a major problem and people should know.

    3. Re: I agree by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

      Yeah god forbid Visa and MasterCard chose to stop servicing a foreign propaganda outlet distributing misinformation design to promote donestic unrest.

      First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
      Because I was not a Socialist.

      Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
      Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

      Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
      Because I was not a Jew.

      Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

    4. Re: I agree by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Jones is cheer leading the actual Nazis out to suppress all dissent and difference from their fantasy perception of how the world "should be".

    5. Re: I agree by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nazis? Who?

    6. Re: I agree by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wow. That was so deep and beautiful and heartfelt. Thanks for sharing.

    7. Re: I agree by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      When 'they' in the government come after someone in the US for free speech, then come talk to me. Last I checked, Alex Jones is still a free man despite encouraging violence against Robert Mueller

    8. Re: I agree by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Socialists, trade-unionists and jews never have spoken for me anyway. I would be seriously offended if they did.

    9. Re: I agree by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      When it's LGBTQ sites peddling sex changes to kids, you people scream Free Speech bloody murder. When it's anything Conservative you call them Nazi Apologists and handwave it away.

      You're a bunch of fucking hypocrites.

    10. Re: I agree by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Did you just call Nazis advocating racial hatred and violence towards black people, and Infowars, who literally peddles ludicrous conspiracy theories about lizard people and gay frogs, "conservative"? Presumably you'd be surprised by a liberal rejecting violent communists or anti-vax bullshit and lobbying private companies not to promote such BS.

  8. Bad Math by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Informative

    The price of Tesla is still above what it was when Elon did the tweet. Major price gap filled to the downside and gaps left to the upside. I do not have a position in Tesla.

    1. Re:Bad Math by gravewax · · Score: 4, Informative

      When Elon Tweeted it was in the 340's, it is now 303.

    2. Re:Bad Math by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Same AC here. Bottom of gap is at $303. So it gapped up before he tweeted? Wonder what caused that then. Please see https://www.barchart.com/stocks/quotes/TSLA/interactive-chart. Not saying I'm right and you are wrong, wondering what caused the large gap to the upside before he tweeted.

    3. Re:Bad Math by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      You are misreading the chart. The tweet was august 7. The previous rise was post the August 2 quarterly numbers release. post that their was no trading below 320 prior to the tweet.

  9. Let me be the first to thank by Snufu · · Score: 5, Funny

    both the short sellers and the flip speculators for their contribution to improving society. If enough people dedicate their lives to short term stock market speculation, most of the world's pressing problems will soon be a thing of the past.

    1. Re:Let me be the first to thank by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No one buying/selling stocks care about improving society. People who say they want to improve society profit by never solving it.

    2. Re:Let me be the first to thank by inking · · Score: 1, Troll

      The shorts are literally the only group who has an economic interest in scrutinizing an asset. Without this kind of rigor you get more money being thrown at fantastic enterprises like Theranos. Nobody cares that they are holding lemons as long as the price keeps rising. So, yeah, I don’t know what “flip speculators” are, but short sellers are very much beneficial to the market’s well-being and by extension our resource allocation as a society.

    3. Re:Let me be the first to thank by Tom · · Score: 2

      The shorts are literally the only group who has an economic interest in scrutinizing an asset.

      That's a total bullshit statement.

      Any investor has an interest in doing that, because even if you assume that in general the economy will go up, so long is always profitable, it doesn't mean that a) this specific company is not bancrupt next year or b) it isn't growing slower than some other stock that you could put your money in or c) it isn't growing slower than the inflation rate.

      Without this kind of rigor you get more money being thrown at fantastic enterprises like Theranos.

      Says who?

      Nobody cares that they are holding lemons as long as the price keeps rising.

      But the price doesn't rise by magic. Plus, see above. Also, opportunity costs.

      short sellers are very much beneficial to the marketâ(TM)s well-being and by extension our resource allocation as a society.

      Short sellers have their place.

      Speculators, however, are debatable. The volatility of some stocks clearly has nothing at all to do with the underlying company. And that is a clear sign that something in the system is broken.

      --
      Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
    4. Re:Let me be the first to thank by inking · · Score: 1

      (I am not going to engage in this tree of quotes battle. Address the key argument and don’t waste our time. I also still don’t know what “speculators” we are talking about.)

      That is all fantastic layman common sense argumentation that is so distant from the lived reality we could put it in the science fiction section of Slashdot. The fact that longs are perpetually euphoric about whatever it is they longing to the point that investment bankers have to account for a certain amount of bias based on different valuation methods (e.g. present transaction vs. market valuation) conducted by the investment bankers from across the desk does not strengthen your case. We have case after case of short sellers exposing fraudulent or semi-fraudulent practices that your “any investors” somehow ignored entirely to the point we could probably write a several tome encyclopedia about it. The most recent example you have probably heard of being Ackman and Herbalife. I am very sorry if it seems like “total bullshit” to you and you imagine these long-only valuation specialists picking apart companies left and right to account for concepts taught in first year economics, but some of us don’t have the keyboard philosopher luxury of living in your hypothetical reality.

    5. Re:Let me be the first to thank by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, let's divert all our money to the world's pressing problems. No more fun or even sleep until every problem is solved.
      Step 1. Create list of "World's Pressing Problems".
      Step 2. Pump all cash in the world at those problems until they no longer exist.
      Step 3. Return to doing other things.

    6. Re:Let me be the first to thank by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Short sellers have their place.

      Yes. Which is primarily providing stock for those who want to go long and, thereby, increasing liquidity (very important!).

      I don't understand the negativity towards short sellers (which should also apply to those who buy puts or sell calls). There is always two sides to a trade. Without anyone going short, no one can go long!

    7. Re:Let me be the first to thank by inking · · Score: 2

      Strictly speaking, they also decrease volatility. A short seller who is profitable opens positions when the stock price is higher than it should be and closes when the price drops. This means they execute a sell order at a high valuation thus pushing the price down and a buy order at a low valuation thus pushing the price up. The result is lower volatility. If the short seller doesn’t do this, they just lose money and go out of business.

      The amount of regulation related to short selling is quite hefty too, so one should really be careful when making wild conjectures about how much market manipulation there is going on. Let’s not get delusional about the fact that longs, particularly the executives, the press and the governments, manipulate the market much more than some fund could ever dream of. This whole rhetoric of evil shorts who “benefit from others’ misfortune” is getting rather trite.

    8. Re:Let me be the first to thank by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Any investor has an interest in doing that, because even if you assume that in general the economy will go up, so long is always profitable, it doesn't mean that a) this specific company is not bancrupt next year or b) it isn't growing slower than some other stock that you could put your money in or c) it isn't growing slower than the inflation rate.

      Interest in doing something is a different animal from ability to do it. Let me introduce you to a few notions that might have escaped your notice. The first one is asymmetric information - companies that actively distort financial reports will try really hard to hide that from investors, unless and until they are caught. The second is financial forensics - ferreting out signs of distortion of financial results is a non-trivial exercise that requires real knowledge and skill. The third is availability of time. Unless this is your actual profession, you don't have time to deeply scrutinize all your investments - and neither has your broker. Hence trusting investment analysts' recommendations (and praying they don't have an incentive to sell you bullshit too often). Even if that is your job, you can only cover in depth so many companies in however many (less than 24) hours a day you do it. So in-depth analysis is a scarce commodity and it should pay. Some people however do it on an independent basis, so they make money by acting on their work. Shorting overvalued companies is a riskier value investing proposition than buying undervalued ones, but it's something that one might want to do to diversify a portfolio.

      Without this kind of rigor you get more money being thrown at fantastic enterprises like Theranos.

      Says who?

      Really? Says the damned history of the stock market. Theranos is only one of the last examples, but the past is littered with it and the future will be no different. But to answer your question, Says human greed. Look up LTCM, Enron, WorldCom, Allied Capital, Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, the list is huge. Fraud happens, investors will be mislead, it's part of the predator side of the human nature feasting on the greed side, and pretending it is not so only marks you as potential prey.

    9. Re:Let me be the first to thank by djinn6 · · Score: 1

      The number of people who actually evaluate the stocks they buy is minimal. By far the largest investments are retirement funds, many of which are unmanaged. Every person with a retirement account is putting a few hundred dollars every month towards all stocks. Now multiply it by a few hundred million people and you have a recipe for extremely overvalued stocks.

    10. Re:Let me be the first to thank by Tom · · Score: 1

      That may well be true, but has nothing to do with the argument that short sellers are somehow magically better people.

      --
      Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
    11. Re:Let me be the first to thank by Tom · · Score: 1

      Shorting overvalued companies is a riskier value investing proposition than buying undervalued ones, but it's something that one might want to do to diversify a portfolio.

      Absolutely. However both positions require analysis and both positions exist and there is nothing in what you said that supports the GP position that short sellers are somehow magically checking better.

      Really? Says the damned history of the stock market.

      People are greedy, yes. And of course many stocks are sold on a hunch because something thinks something. But many stocks are shorted on the same flimsy basis. I'm still looking for an argument that explains why short sellers are all deligent careful analysts and long buyers are all idiots acting on a whim.

      --
      Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
    12. Re:Let me be the first to thank by inking · · Score: 1

      No, they are better scrutinizers. Stop making crap up, buddy.

    13. Re:Let me be the first to thank by Tom · · Score: 1

      You keep repeating that statement. Unlike the Trump echo chamber, repetition is not equal to truth.

      It is true that a lot of long buyers are fonds that don't scrutinize individual stocks and simply rely on a portfolio to gain on average an increase over time.

      The only reason that there is no equivalent to them in the short market is that on average, the stock market rises and the portfolio strategy actually works, and wouldn't work on short.

      Let's exclude those people and look at those people who either short or long individual, selected stocks. Do you really think that just because I buy instead of sell I don't look at the underlying company? I know that I do and I don't believe I'm a unicorn.

      --
      Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
    14. Re:Let me be the first to thank by Tom · · Score: 1

      One thing I forgot: Just because long buyers don't make headlines with the issues they uncover doesn't mean they don't. But as a buyer if I spot a problem, I simply don't invest there and move on to the next stock to check. As a short seller, it is to my advantage to invest there and make my findings as public as possible.

      Long buyers don't publish issues they spot simply because there's no advantage for them doing it.

      --
      Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
    15. Re:Let me be the first to thank by inking · · Score: 1

      Pray tell, how many accounting irregularities have you uncovered in your long long-buying career?

    16. Re:Let me be the first to thank by Tom · · Score: 1

      I'm a small investor with a limited time and money budget. I do my due dilligence but I don't go into the accounting.

      That is why you may have noticed, no obviously you haven't, that I didn't write the previous comment in first person.

      --
      Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
    17. Re:Let me be the first to thank by inking · · Score: 1

      Heh, no, you could have fooled me. I was sure you were a principal at a bulge bracket bank given your expert opinion on short sellers that just coincidentally runs against that of the professional consensus.

  10. Mine. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Which of these is an accurate portrayal of Tesla's future?

    Mine.

    I know. I knew of his meltdown because I have seen it before. Musk, like all of his ilk, melts down eventually. Narcissism does not last long.

    I see Tesla's financial statements and I know exactly what's in store. I SOLD at $365.

    I don't argue with fools.

    Suck it. I can't stand you fanboys nor will I argue with your blind stupidity.

    If Tesla is to survive, it means Musk goes. Period.

  11. No, it ain't that easy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    There is absolutely no need to cover. Tesla's stock is going down, it will be going down for a while, and there's nothing that can stop it, especially if the board doesn't replace the wacko on top.

    The stock price does not affect the operations directly, and since Musk desperately needs new investors and billions of new cash, the investors can and will wait patiently until the stock goes down to $100 or $50 or $25 or whatever before they buy it up. Because with every dollar the stock goes down, their costs go down.

    Hell, the way Musk set it up, they could even jump on the short bandwagon it and make enough to buy the company.

  12. Re:Rei's shares by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Rei" is a group of paid Tesla shills. They don't buy, don't sell, don't hold, they just repost from the talking points memo.

  13. Re:Never understood the admiration by SlaveToTheGrind · · Score: 1

    I never understood why people are so entranced by Musk.

    Entrancement is irrational by definition. He has a big personality, talks about big things people like to dream about, and makes flashy things happen by splashing around lots of OPM that he gets them to willingly hand over by combinations of the above. Confirmation bias supports the belief that he's actually doing amazing things. But stripped down to brass tacks, the emperor has no clothes. It was clear the music would have to stop at some point, but I'm gratified it's happening as soon as it is.

    (The NYT article probably was the final straw. An entrepreneur whining (no, *choking up*) that he had to work all day on his birthday? That should tell any rational investor everything they need to know.)

  14. Re:Never understood the admiration by thrich81 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    He's not just "shooting military and communication satellites to LEO". He's doing that in such a way that it is breaking up the entrenched, fossilized existing launch providers, most notably ULA, Arianespace, and the Russians. That by itself is a service to the world. His other grandiose plans, it is too early to judge. Tesla, whether it survives or not, seems to have at least set an expectation for EVs and the infrastructure to support them which is pushing the other automakers to compete, and not just build bigger and bigger pickup trucks which cost more than a loaded up Tesla Model 3.

  15. Bullshit. Liar!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What Musk did over Twitter is first and foremost unbecoming of a CEO and is outright manipulation of the stock price.

    In your opinion.

    That's the problem with all the Tesla news nowadays - there's actually very little going on, what we see in the media is opinion dressed up as news. And if it's bad, the shorts will run with it.

    .) The Saudis had approached Musk multiple times about taking Tesla private over the past two years .) During that time, Musk has been telling shorts to get out .) The Tesla board was informed about Musk's intent before the infamous tweet, and discussed the merits .) The board decided the next step was to contact and discuss with the largest shareholders .) Musk decided that he couldn't legally contact *only* the largest stockholders, so he publicly announced on twitter .) Stock goes up .) Stock goes down

    (source)

    Really, there's nothing in the news anyone can trust about Tesla nowadays. After the NYT interview I saw these competing headlines:

    "Musk says Tesla had an excruciating year, and the worst is yet to come" (one source, among many)

    "Musk says Tesla had an excruciating year, and the worst is over" (one source, among many)

    Which of these is an accurate portrayal of Tesla's future?

    Don't believe any of it. Given the timeline above, it's really hard to see how Musk could be charged with a crime - SEC is civil, not criminal, the FBI would have to get involved for that. It's also hard to see how the SEC could impose a fine. There *might* be an issue with the exact definition of "secured", but it's a) moot, b) can be argued either way, and c) it took the SEC 5 years to bring down [Theranos CEO] Elisabeth Holmes for much more severe problems, they aren't likely to move any faster with Tesla. Five years from now we can worry whether this has made any difference to Tesla.

    It's clear that Tesla only has to weather the next 4 months or so, and then be clear of all this nonsense.

    Until then, just ignore the rabble - it's only noise anyway.

    Musk is a narcissist.

    This buyout was just him bullshitting. It IS a LIE!!!

      This lame excuse of "Ambien" and lack of sleep is total horseshit. His LAME-ASS excuse.

    I KNEW it. ALL of you fanboys are idiots.

    And YOU Okian are full of shit!

    YOU are a complete liar.

  16. There's also this. by presidenteloco · · Score: 0

    We have to go all electric/hydrogen cars and trucks, like, as fast as we technically can at this point. That much is crystal clear.

    Tesla valuation question is whether they can figure out high volume manufacturing execution in a sustainable, profitable way, and how long it will take to discount their technology lead.

    In other words will Tesla end up with 5% or 10%, or closer to 30% or whatever, of 90% of all car and truck transport on the planet.

    That's the valuation question.

    The other factor in the valuation is whether our current (climate change policy) insanity can be cured, and the morons who are slowing down and reversing the change to a zero-carbon economy can be driven out of positions of influence. That will affect the timing of the transition to electric transportation.

    --

    Where are we going and why are we in a handbasket?
    1. Re:There's also this. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      We have to go all electric/hydrogen cars and trucks, like, as fast as we technically can at this point. That much is crystal clear.

      Nothing of the sort. We have to go to public transportation and curbing the US suburbia spread, which creates the illusion that electric cars and trucks are somehow "necessary".

      Cutting down on useless display of wealth is what is needed, and not electric version of the gasoline social model that fucked up Earth.

    2. Re:There's also this. by 110010001000 · · Score: 1

      Exactly. It is like people have gone insane: they think people driving around in individual EVs is somehow "green". Even if it were true, a Tesla is unaffordable for 99.999% of the planet. How is that possibly going to help?

    3. Re:There's also this. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No worries, after "delivering" the $35k EV, Musk is on track to deliver the $25k one... In just "three years".

      https://www.yahoo.com/news/elon-musk-says-tesla-could-165900401.html

      Tesla will either fire Musk and reduce itself to a niche maker, shafting its public investors, or file for bankruptcy before the year is over.

    4. Re:There's also this. by whoever57 · · Score: 2

      We have to go all electric/hydrogen cars and trucks

      What do you mean by this? Hydrogen cars are electric cars.

      Do you mean:
      1. We need to go to FCEVs (Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles) OR
      2. We need to go to B(Battery)EVs and FCEVs.

      Hydrogen is not viable. It won't reduce CO2 emissions without some new breakthroughs. It requires a massive sudden investment in infrastructure, whereas most of the infrastructure for BEVs already exists (the electrical grid) and can be expanded on an as-needed basis.

      --
      The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
    5. Re:There's also this. by whoever57 · · Score: 1

      they think people driving around in individual EVs is somehow "green".

      EVs are not as green as public transport, but they are certainly greener than individual ICE vehicles. Thank the Koch Brothers for the lack of public transport in the USA [yes, they are putting money into campaigns to oppose public transport projects.]

      --
      The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
    6. Re:There's also this. by djinn6 · · Score: 1

      The scale of greenness goes like this:

      1. Driving an ICE car (least green)
      2. Driving an electric car
      3. Taking the bus
      4. Biking / walking
      5. Video conference / VR
      6. Hikikomori / NEET
      7. Killing yourself

      And of course...

      8. Killing other people (most green)

      So the Koch Brothers are pretty green all things considered, they're quite happy to help with #7 and #8.

    7. Re:There's also this. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      8.1 Killing Indians
      8.2 Killing Europeans
      8.3 Killing Chinese
      8.9 Killing Americans. (most green)

    8. Re:There's also this. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      8.999 Killing Republicans

    9. Re:There's also this. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      8.9999999 Killing Trump.

    10. Re:There's also this. by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

      A large portion of what Tesla is researching and building, including batteries with low overall operating costs and autonomous driving, will be absolutely required for non-individual vehicles, too. Maybe in a few decades, but still. It doesn't have to be a world of Teslas, but it will head much closer to it that to the current world of individual ICE cars.

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    11. Re: There's also this. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There's a lot of parallels between Tesla and DMC, and likely to be looked back on in the same way in 20 years.

    12. Re:There's also this. by The+Grim+Reefer · · Score: 1

      10. Kill everyone.

    13. Re: There's also this. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why exactly does a city bus require an autonomous drive system? City bus drivers have been doing fine since the city bus was invented.

      I also do not understand why you lefties are so enamored with pointless job killing technologies. I will gladly take my bus driver over your computer and questionable sensor arrays every time.

    14. Re: There's also this. by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

      Why exactly does a city bus require an autonomous drive system?

      It doesn't, but it might work even better, economy wise. Plus autonomous systems might allow for smaller, more personal vehicles operated by the city.

      why you lefties are so enamored with pointless job killing technologies

      1) Not a leftie. 2) "Pointless job killing technologies" have always been very popular with righties, too. Didn't you notice the relatively extremely rightie United States becoming a world leader in automation in the second part of the 20th century?

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    15. Re:There's also this. by presidenteloco · · Score: 1

      We need greatly increased public mass transit in north america, yes, of course, but a) the suburb sprawl in many places is irretrievably ridiculous, and b) the remaining cars and trucks need to be (~0 ghg source it goes without saying) electric. I stand by what I said.
      Electric car sharing is likely to be a big factor too. Slightly less green than electric mass transit for sure, but still way better than individual ICE vehicle ownership. Hyperloops and skytrains and more subways and electric/hydrogen bus systems are also needed to complete the solution. I don't disagree.

      --

      Where are we going and why are we in a handbasket?
    16. Re: There's also this. by datavirtue · · Score: 1

      Clean up the cities by removing as many roads as possible. Build common areas for pedestrians and bicycles where those streets used to be. This is happening in some European cities. At that point public transport will explode because there will be a market for it.

      --
      I object to power without constructive purpose. --Spock
    17. Re: There's also this. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Tesla doesn't even need to make all the cars. They already are outputting at greater than Honda Accord levels, with higher prices and much higher operating margins.

      Beyond their production, they can basically license their tech for a grand a unit on at least half of every vehicle sold. This Monday and Friday is probably the last of the (big) dips we will see.

    18. Re:There's also this. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Taking a gas bus is 1.5

      Taking an electric bus is 3

      Do the math, gas busses pollute 68% more than EVs per rider if you look at lifetime pollution (manufacturing - death of vehicle). And that's assuming full ridership on the bus at all times.

  17. Re: Never understood the admiration by c6gunner · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I never understood why people are so entranced by Musk.

    Because he promised things we all thought were ridiculous, at the time, and has delivered in spades. I'm astounded at what he has achieved in such a short time.

    What I don't get is all the idiots who absolutely hate his guts. I mean, I understand that some humans have an innate desire to despise anyone who is doing well ... but I don't understand WHY that desire exists.

  18. Re:Never understood the admiration by 110010001000 · · Score: 1, Troll

    I guess. I am more impressed by people like Linus who have single handedly changed all of our lives for the better. I see people like Musk and I just see another businessman who hit it big during the dotcom and is now feeding his massive ego.

  19. Re: Never understood the admiration by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It’s the gall to take on impossibly entrenched players and leave them trembling looking for clean panties that people like. He has ignited two separate markets, look how many other space launch companies are following suit and how many car manufacturers finally started taking EVs seriously post Tesla.

  20. Re: Never understood the admiration by 110010001000 · · Score: 0

    Tesla didn't "ignite" the EV market. They haven't even produced a single affordable EV yet! But other companies have. It is like people are blind. And I am not impressed that some communication company "saves" 20% on satellite launch costs. Launch costs are not a pressing problem.

  21. Re: Never understood the admiration by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What did he promise that you thought was ridiculous? Rockets that shoot satellites into LEO? $60,000+ electric vehicles? I am confused by what exactly impresses people like you.

    Market cap larger than Ford while struggling to make as many cars in 15 years as Ford did in it's first quarter.

  22. Re: Never understood the admiration by jgordon.oakland · · Score: 1

    Do you really not get why people hate his guts?
    He says he's going to replace airplanes with rockets.
    He says he's going to move people in pneumatic tubes.
    He also says he's going to dig hundreds of non-pneumatic tubes under Los Angeles, and move people in their own cars, on sleds in said tunnels.
    He sold a flamethrower, because he thought it would be "cool".
    There's probably more of these. Didn't he make Paypal evil?

  23. Re:Never understood the admiration by asackett · · Score: 1

    It's a service to the world that the world can now add even more crap to the orbital junkyard without any plan to clean it up except to wait on gravity to do its thing?

    --

    Warning: This signature may offend some viewers.

  24. Re: Never understood the admiration by c6gunner · · Score: 1

    They haven't even produced a single affordable EV yet!

    This statement alone makes it obvious that you're either a troll or a moron. If you want to apologise for that and restate your argument I'll be happy to have a discussion with you, but as it stands I don't think any reasonable person is going to take you seriously.

  25. Re:Never understood the admiration by Type44Q · · Score: 1

    Do we not remember how scummy PayPal was when he was there?

    No, "we" don't; we do, however, remember how shitty PayPal turned after they were bought up by eBay...

  26. Re: Never understood the admiration by c6gunner · · Score: 4, Funny

    Do you really not get why people hate his guts?

    No.

    He says he's going to replace airplanes with rockets.
    He says he's going to move people in pneumatic tubes.
    He also says he's going to dig hundreds of non-pneumatic tubes under Los Angeles, and move people in their own cars, on sleds in said tunnels.
    He sold a flamethrower, because he thought it would be "cool".
    There's probably more of these.

    I'm more confused than ever. I would classify all of those things as "cool!" and then follow it up with "make it happen!". Why in the world would any of those things make you hate him?

    Didn't he make Paypal evil?

    That's true. I'm kinda tired of having to call in a catholic priest every time I pay for something online. Demonic possession is a big downside.

  27. Re:Never understood the admiration by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 4, Informative
    He made 150K cars in 2008. The roadster.

    Was making 80K to 120K cars till 2014.

    Is making 50K electric cars now.

    He will make 35K electric car next year

    He promises 1000. Delivers 900. Everyone focuses on falling short of the target by 100. While forgeting that 900 is 900 above what every one said is impossible.

    --
    sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
  28. Re:Never understood the admiration by SlaveToTheGrind · · Score: 0

    He promises 1000. Delivers 900. Everyone focuses on falling short of the target by 100. While forgeting that 900 is 900 above what every one said is impossible.

    Yeah, when Elon can make someone who has historically been one of the most pervasively negative posters on /. suddenly see the glass as half full, his hypnotic powers must be even stronger than I thought.

  29. Re:Never understood the admiration by thrich81 · · Score: 1

    The Dragon resupply spacecraft that go to the ISS via Falcon 9 come back to earth, carrying items back for NASA.
    The Comsats going to geosynchronous orbit have end-of-life disposal processes to put them into graveyard orbits where they won't cause any trouble.
    The DOD satellites, they do their own DOD thing.
    Musk's Tesla Roadster launched on the Falcon Heavy is way past earth orbit in interplanetary space out with the asteroids.

  30. Re:Rei's shares by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And of course this will be modded to -1 (Correct but inconvenient).

    More like -1 (Uninformed and petty)

  31. Re: Never understood the admiration by Wrath0fb0b · · Score: 1

    I mean, I understand that some humans have an innate desire to despise anyone who is doing well ... but I don't understand WHY that desire exists.

    Crab mentality is real.

  32. Re: Never understood the admiration by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Tesla makes overpriced niche junk. BAIC makes a better EV and has the sales to prove it. In one quarter BAIC accomplished more than Tesla has in 15 years.

  33. Re: Never understood the admiration by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Projection from our resident troll.

  34. Re:Rei's shares by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Haven't heard much from him lately. I hope he didn't klerck himself. Rei, if you're out there, I just want you to know that we still love you even though you went full retard, drank the koolaid and sucked the musky cock. repeatedly. If you're embarrassed, just create a new slashdot account.

  35. Re:Never understood the admiration by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 0, Troll

    He's a white South African, a fact I'm surprised that never gets brought up. White South Africans are racist as fuck. Have you ever met one?

    --
    Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
  36. Re: Never understood the admiration by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I've seen a crapload of comments on this article saying the exact same thing -- "not a single affordable EV!" -- over and over and over. Almost as if they've all been told (or paid) to say the same thing...

  37. 1% by ArchieBunker · · Score: 1

    You think you need to be a 1%'er to afford a Tesla?

    --
    Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
    1. Re:1% by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, it is definitely more restricted than that.

    2. Re:1% by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Global 1% is probably close to being true.

  38. Re:Rei's shares by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yo, "Rei", why are you anonymous?

  39. Re: Never understood the admiration by ArchieBunker · · Score: 1

    $60k is midrange for a vehicle now. Get out of your parents basement once in a while. Ford suckered people into spending $100k on a pickup truck.

    --
    Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
  40. Re:Never understood the admiration by ArchieBunker · · Score: 2

    If you're trolling you're doing a piss poor job.

    --
    Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
  41. Re: Never understood the admiration by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Almost" like they're calling it what it is.

  42. Re:Never understood the admiration by asackett · · Score: 1

    The Comsats going to geosynchronous orbit have end-of-life disposal processes to put them into graveyard orbits where they won't cause any trouble.

    "... except to wait on gravity to do it's thing", I seem to recall writing. The graveyard orbit is a can kicked down the road that's going to land on our descendants' heads.

    --

    Warning: This signature may offend some viewers.

  43. Re: Never understood the admiration by c6gunner · · Score: 0

    That's great; the more EV sales the better. I wish BAIC the best of luck. That said, Chinese vehicle standards have generally been too poor to be sold in western nations; there's a great video online of the first vehicle which China tried to market to the west. You can literally hear the engineers laughing as the thing crumples up like a tincan.

    If BAIC can make vehicles that can compete with Tesla in first world nations, I will absolutely welcome it. That doesn't change the fact that Tesla started the EV revolution, and is still by far the best producer in the west.

  44. Re: Never understood the admiration by asackett · · Score: 1

    What I don't get is all the idiots who absolutely hate his guts. I mean, I understand that some humans have an innate desire to despise anyone who is doing well ... but I don't understand WHY that desire exists.

    Your framing of the phenomenon might have something to do with your inability to understand it.

    I don't personally know anyone who hates the punk, but I do know a lot of people who think poorly of him because he's a narcissistic man-child who tries to portray the selfish pursuit of his lunatic Richie Rich fantasies as some kind of grand and heroic vision. It's not. It's narcissism exemplified.

    If I'm an idiot for possessing the ability to perceive reality accurately, so be it. Title accepted, with pride.

    --

    Warning: This signature may offend some viewers.

  45. Re:Never understood the admiration by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 2

    I can see you've never met a white South African. They aren't just racist, they get really detailed about it. They'll bend your ear with story after story of how horrible black people are and won't shut up about it. This is such an obvious angle of attack on Musk and I can't figure out why it isn't being used.

    --
    Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
  46. Re: Never understood the admiration by c6gunner · · Score: 1

    Your framing of the phenomenon might have something to do with your inability to understand it.

    I think you have cause and effect reversed; my inability to understand it is much more likely to drive my framing of it than vice versa.

    I don't personally know anyone who hates the punk, but I do know a lot of people who think poorly of him because he's a narcissistic man-child who tries to portray the selfish pursuit of his lunatic Richie Rich fantasies as some kind of grand and heroic vision. It's not. It's narcissism exemplified.

    You say you don't know anyone who hates him, yet in the exact same sentence you make it clear that you dispse him, on completely superficial grounds. If the word "hate" bothers you then replace it with "dispise", "loathe", or "dislike"; it doesn't change anything about what I said. You dislike him based on some weird caricature you've created, and I still can't figure out why.

    If I'm an idiot for possessing the ability to perceive reality accurately, so be it. Title accepted, with pride.

    You may or may not be an idiot, but you've done nothing to demonstrate that you "perceive reality accurately", nor have you given any reason for your dislike of him other than a half-hearted attempt at amateur psychoanalysis.

  47. Re: Never understood the admiration by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Nobody needs to be paid to humiliate retards on the internet, love.

  48. "4% of shorts have cashed in these paper gains" by ayesnymous · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Given that TSLA is only about 15% off it's all time high, the vast majority of shorts are still losing money right now. It's not like all those shorts shorted within 10% of it's all time high.

    1. Re:"4% of shorts have cashed in these paper gains" by Bender0x7D1 · · Score: 1

      Tesla's 52-week high was $389. As of Friday's close it was at $305; which means it is more like 22% off its all time high.

      Which means your "15%" is only off by 50% or so.

      --
      Reading code is like reading the dictionary - you have to read half of it before you can go back and understand it.
    2. Re:"4% of shorts have cashed in these paper gains" by ayesnymous · · Score: 1

      That doesn't change the point of my post. Are you an underwater short?

    3. Re:"4% of shorts have cashed in these paper gains" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, it doesn't, but the point to your post is that you're an idiot.

  49. Re: Never understood the admiration by Tom · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Funny how the short sellers all hide.

    I'm here with my name (trivial to link to my real-life identity even, if you are not an idiot with a search engine) and I own those Tesla stocks that you sold. And I'm holding them still and will hold them in a year, just like I did a year ago or two years ago when people were doing the same dances.

    Because Tesla is hands down leader in its market, Elon Musk or not. I love idiots like you who focus on the star CEO and don't understand that half of a leaders job is to take the shit so people under him can calmly work without the interference. And what I see coming out of the company I like. There are growing pains, but as long as they are growing pains, I'm fine.

    You can continue selling short, I don't care much. You can also invest in some AAA rated company that is closing factories and firing people and cutting markets and for some reason people think that leads to being more profitable (it doesn't, it just leads to a higher profit-to-equity ratio which is a KPI for analysts who think only in numbers).

    At the same time, I'm driving a BMW and not a Model S because there is a lot that the guys at Tesla still need to learn about good interior design, but from what I've read (only test-driven a Model S, so I can't say myself), the Model X and Model 3 are already much better in that regard.

    --
    Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
  50. Re: Never understood the admiration by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Who was selling them that cheap before Tesla was barreling down on them with lofty promises and rapid growth? I bet you’re scared to answer.

    I’m a middle income CA and I can get a Tesla.
    Have you seen the prices for a Honda or a Subaru lately? Not that much more to be on the cutting edge.

  51. Re: Never understood the admiration by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I hate Musk’s guts and don’t give a shit about Tesla. Calling a fucking hero a “pedo guy” because he told you not to interfere with the ongoing rescue efforts is fucking despicable. I couldn’t give two shits how many flamethrowers this cunt sells to useful idiots like c6gunner.

  52. Re: Never understood the admiration by inking · · Score: 1

    /r/iamverysmart called. Said they want their mascot back.

  53. Re: Never understood the admiration by Tom · · Score: 4, Interesting

    define "better"

    I've test-driven a Model S. I didn't buy it, I bought a BMW instead. But there was a lot that I liked, and while I thought it was overpriced by maybe 20k, it wasn't junk and the only reason that it's niche is the price.

    Chinese cars, on the other hand, have in general failed so hard on any serious quality tests in the west that it is very clear they are still in the early steps of understanding how to build a proper car at all. I'm sure they will get there in about a decade, but I can't hold my breath that long.

    --
    Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
  54. Musk is his own worst enemy by DrXym · · Score: 2

    He whines about shorters and decides to stick it then with a half assed tweet about going private. This earns him a class action and SEC investigation. And more short positions predicate on the outcome of both. On top of that he goes into an interview to explain what a fucked up life he's living at present. Talk about self inflicted. The funny part is it's not hard finding people defending him. Like that time when he calls a cave diver a pedo for ridiculing his submersible we saw people leaping to justify it. His support base is practically cult like in their support regardless of the stupidity of his actions. They perceive criticism of him as an attack on them.

    1. Re:Musk is his own worst enemy by DamnOregonian · · Score: 1

      You're spot on the money. He reminds me of a technocrat Donald Trump, and his superfans are like educated Trump voters, but somehow every bit as fucking stupid. And I say this loving Tesla the product.

    2. Re:Musk is his own worst enemy by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      Like that time when he calls a cave diver a pedo for ridiculing his submersible we saw people leaping to justify it.

      Please show me a single post where someone defended his language.

      I'm willing to be you saw the topic: "pedo cave diver", saw a positive post, and then made up your own narrative about it.

    3. Re: Musk is his own worst enemy by DrXym · · Score: 1

      Sure let me Google that for you. Or rather I won't since it's self evident in every comments section that covered the story. If it's too much effort just search for c6gunner on this very page.

    4. Re: Musk is his own worst enemy by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      LOL. Sure go look at some of the comment sections yourself, no one gave him a pass for calling the guy a pedo. A lot of people joined in attacking the guy for a good reason, but really stop making up your own narratives.

    5. Re: Musk is his own worst enemy by DrXym · · Score: 1

      I just cited one example on this very page. A very unambiguous example. You must be thick if you can't follow it up.

    6. Re: Musk is his own worst enemy by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      I just cited one example on this very page. A very unambiguous example. You must be thick if you can't follow it up.

      I agree. You cited a very good example of your complete lack of reading comprehension.

    7. Re: Musk is his own worst enemy by DrXym · · Score: 1
      "Sure go look at some of the comment sections yourself, no one gave him a pass for calling the guy a pedo"

      And right on this page:

      c6gunner - "Pedo guy was a moron who shit on Elon for no good reason. True, Elon should have been the bigger man and not responded in kind. But even the best of us can't help responding to trolls sometimes.". And so-on in the follow-ups that were somehow scored up.

      In summary, stop being this dense. Musk apologists made and continue to make excuses for him even over his pedo remarks.

    8. Re: Musk is his own worst enemy by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      LOL whatever you think. I don't see where he vindicated Elon for using the language that he did.

      But congradulations you found one arsehole on the internet. Hurray. You're still an idiot for applying a group label to him. No go look at all those other "Musk apologists" of which there are many on that same page saying exactly what I am: Not appologising for the pedo remark while siding with him all the same.

      In summary, stop being this dense.

      Right back at ya hater.

  55. Re: Never understood the admiration by asackett · · Score: 1

    I think you have cause and effect reversed; my inability to understand it is much more likely to drive my framing of it than vice versa.

    No disrespect intended: Haven't you just said that you cannot understand the phenomenon of disrespect for Musk, therefor it must be irrational?

    I'll not defend myself against an ad hominem argument. The discussion is about Musk, not me.

    --

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  56. Re:Bullshit. Liar!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Found APK. The typical typing pattern is present.

    HOSTs won't save ya from heuristic analysis!

  57. Re:Never understood the admiration by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Because most of Musk's presences are in areas with rather historically high racism?

  58. Re: Never understood the admiration by c6gunner · · Score: 1

    Pedo guy was a moron who shit on Elon for no good reason. True, Elon should have been the bigger man and not responded in kind. But even the best of us can't help responding to trolls sometimes.

  59. Re: Never understood the admiration by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 1

    Nissan Leaf - released about 15 months before the Model S. And about 7 years before the Model 3.

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  60. Re: Never understood the admiration by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 1

    Average price of a new car in the US is around $34K, about half of what you claim - and about 60% of the entry-level price on shipping Model 3s...

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  61. Re:Rei's shares by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If it hits $200 in coming months. We're getting close to the next recession and the model that Tesla is operating under is extremely risky. They've been hemorrhaging money due to the narcissistic projections of Musk when they could be making a profit and using the knowledge they're gaining from increasing production at a more responsible rate to figure out how to ramp up production more effectively.

    Many businesses went bankrupt during the Dotcom bust due to trying to expand to quickly. Home Grocer.com that went on to be WebVan had similar issues. They tried to expand too quickly and wound up with debt that they could't service. Whereas had they launched in a more limited way, they likely would have been able to make it work.

  62. Re: Never understood the admiration by c6gunner · · Score: 1

    No disrespect intended: Haven't you just said that you cannot understand the phenomenon of disrespect for Musk, therefor it must be irrational?

    I've said that all of the reasons people give for hating Musk seem irrational, which is why I don't understand the phenomenon.

    I'll not defend myself against an ad hominem argument. The discussion is about Musk, not me.

    Me pointing out that you haven't provided any rational reason for disliking the guy is not an ad hominem.

  63. Re: Never understood the admiration by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Jesus Christ, I am actually talking to a genuine retard. The diver was instrumental to the entire rescue effort, while your favorite flamethrower beach boy decided to show up uninvited and wanted to shove a fucking metal tube into a narrow cave despite being told by the rescue chief in charge that it wouldn’t work. Of course, Musk’s “bigger man” response to that person too was to immediately tell him that he is not qualified and doesn’t know what he’s doing. Get fucked, you bloody fanatic.

  64. profitability of real car companies by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Average price of a Tesla. ;)

  65. Re: Never understood the admiration by asackett · · Score: 1

    Me pointing out that you haven't provided any rational reason for disliking the guy is not an ad hominem.

    Uh...

    What I don't get is all the idiots...

    an innate desire to despise anyone who is doing well

    on completely superficial grounds

    some weird caricature

    a half-hearted attempt at amateur pyschoanalysis

    I'd attempted to explain why "all the idiots" think poorly of Musk. You made it about me rather than explaining why his behavior does not deserve to be characterized as that of a narcissistic punk. Unnamed tens of saboteurs are responsible for his company failing to meet unrealistic production targets. A man who pointed out that underwater caves are not swimming pools is a "pedo guy". He's like Trump: He just says shit and expects the rest of us to be blind to how ludicrous that shit is. Narcissism exemplified.

    HTH. HAND.

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  66. Re:Rei's shares by Kaenneth · · Score: 1

    Seen it so many times; local store becomes popular, tries to expand from 1 store to 6-12 at once...

    http://community.seattletimes....

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

    always fails.

  67. Re:Never understood the admiration by Kaenneth · · Score: 1

    Because leaving this planet is essential for the long term survival of humanity.

  68. Re:Never understood the admiration by ArchieBunker · · Score: 1

    South Africa is a shithole. The white people have reason to be racist. What they should do is flee that country and then you'll see how bad it really gets when its run by 100% blacks. Take your pic from adding more zeroes onto the currency weekly or having the country change names when a new "president" is "elected".

    --
    Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
  69. Re: Never understood the admiration by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    market cap != company's cash

  70. Re: Never understood the admiration by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That said, Chinese vehicle standards have generally been too poor to be sold in western nations;

    Yep, that was what GM, Ford and Chrysler managers were saying about Honda and Toyota 40 years ago. And they kept laughing all the way to the bailout.

  71. Re: Never understood the admiration by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And I'm holding them still and will hold them in a year, just like I did a year ago or two years ago when people were doing the same dances.

    Thanks, buddy. Hold them very tightly.

  72. Re:Never understood the admiration by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Geez, how does this kind of crap gets modded "informative"? Have you tried to even add your numbers up, buddy?

    2008 150,000
    2009 1,000*(80+120)/2
    2010 1,000*(80+120)/2
    2011 1,000*(80+120)/2
    2012 1,000*(80+120)/2
    2013 1,000*(80+120)/2
    2014 1,000*(80+120)/2
    2015 ?
    2016 ?
    2017 ?
    2018 50,000
    ==
    700,000

    So, you seem to believe Musk's venture has produced 700,000 cars in 10 years. In reality, Tesla has produced about 350,000 or half of what you think it has, for its entire history. Yep, since 2003.

    The Musk RDF generator is a lot stronger than the one Jobs used to deploy.

  73. Re:Never understood the admiration by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    To be fair, whites are not the only racists in SA. ANC is racist as f*** as well, just anti anything not full black. A lot of it comes from very deep and painful wounds, but ... Have you ever wondered why the white party gets more votes than the number of white people, especially recently? specifically, why so many "brown"-labeled people choose to vote for them? The sad truth is that SA is a country with a traumatic past, and hate is unfortunately very much alive and will probably still be for some generations to come. But then the world is likely always going to be a harsh place despite the (too few) efforts to change it for the better.

  74. Re: Never understood the admiration by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Those numbers aren't units, they're $ prices

  75. Re: Never understood the admiration by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I know it's clear from the context if you read the thread, but would be more helpful if you put $ signs before the 'k' numbers

  76. Re:Never understood the admiration by djinn6 · · Score: 1

    Nothing short of nuclear propulsion is going to get meaningful numbers of humans off the planet. Just the mass of a million humans is orders of magnitude greater than what existing rockets can carry, not to mention what you need to keep all of them alive. SpaceX is not going to change that by making incremental improvements.

    Now I don't dispute that SpaceX is doing cool stuff, but the idea that it'll get us to self-sustaining Mars colonies is far fetched, technically, economically or politically.

  77. Re:Never understood the admiration by Cederic · · Score: 1

    Speak for yourself. I was happy to use ebay, never have been happy about paypal.

    It was shitty before ebay bought it, and it was shitty after. The only real difference is that ebay went shitty too.

  78. Re:Never understood the admiration by djinn6 · · Score: 2

    He promises 1000. Delivers 900. Everyone focuses on falling short of the target by 100. While forgeting that 900 is 900 above what every one said is impossible.

    I'd like a source on the "everyone said is impossible". The 2010 Nissan Leaf with 70 miles of range sold for $25,000. Buying 3 of them and strapping them together will get you the same 200 miles of range for the same price as a Tesla. And this was in 2010! What Tesla did was spend 8 years and billions of dollars to end up in the same place as Nissan, albeit with much greater fanfare. Is that really something to be proud of?

  79. Re:Never understood the admiration by swillden · · Score: 2

    Have you driven a Nissan LEAF? Have you driven a Tesla Model S?

    I own one of each, and there is a world of difference between them. Nissan is nowhere close to Tesla.

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  80. Re: Never understood the admiration by c6gunner · · Score: 1

    I'd attempted to explain why "all the idiots" think poorly of Musk.

    No, you didn't. You just asserted that he's a narcissist and that you don't like him. That's not an explanation.

    Granted, maybe you did attempt to explain but, if so, you really suck at it.

    Unnamed tens of saboteurs are responsible for his company failing to meet unrealistic production targets.

    You expect the CEO of a company to publicaly name someone engaging in subterfuge? Are you insane?

    A man who pointed out that underwater caves are not swimming pools is a "pedo guy".

    That's a cute bit of handwaving, but you're actually talking about a guy who told Musk to shove his submarine up his ass. That would be the same submarine which Musk and his team spent a bunch of money and time developing at the behest of one of the leads on the rescue effort.

    I don't know about you but, if I had just spent a bunch of time and money building a sub which was requested by a rescue team, and then some random jackoff told me to shove it up my ass, I would not be feeling too charitable towards him.

    He's like Trump: He just says shit and expects the rest of us to be blind to how ludicrous that shit is. Narcissism exemplified.

    Seems more like he says completely understandable things, and then people who have already decided to hate him work as hard as they can to explain why those things are horrible and eeeeevil.

  81. Re:Never understood the admiration by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 3, Insightful

    But let me ask you a question: why DO YOU CARE that the "entrenched, fossilized launch services" exist? Does it affect you in any way that the military or communication companies save a bit on money on a launch?

    It's not just military and communication. Highly capable and cheap launch vehicles are perhaps the most important step on the path to cheaper and more capable scientific probes and space-based telescopes, since they will allow for greater capabilities simultaneously with lesser engineering effort. I.e., they would cheapen both the launches and the payload designs. For people interested in natural sciences, this is a rather tempting prospect, since the funding of scientific missions isn't unlimited.

    --
    Ezekiel 23:20
  82. Re:Never understood the admiration by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

    Uh...nuclear propulsion is overrated and a red herring. At least any forms of it that have been currently developed. They're actually all inferior to chemical propulsion with local resource utilization.

    --
    Ezekiel 23:20
  83. Re:Never understood the admiration by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

    that's going to land on our descendants' heads.

    Metaphorically, perhaps. Literally, that's rather implausible without violating the laws of physics.

    --
    Ezekiel 23:20
  84. Stressed out by DeBaas · · Score: 1

    or in stead of some conspiracy, he's just stressed out. I watched this interview: talking tech with Elon Musk of a few days ago. I don't care about tears, but the way he talks here has a lot of the same signs as people about to burn out from stress. That is not to say he will, lots of people in that state manage to avoid it, but if it was a colleague of mine I'd tell him to take a break.

    --
    ---
    1. Re:Stressed out by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's what we expect the board to tell him in the coming weeks - take a hike.

      If they are smart.

  85. Re: Never understood the admiration by c6gunner · · Score: 4, Informative

    The diver was instrumental to the entire rescue effort

    Nothing if the sort. He did no diving. At best he provided the authorities with the names of some British divers who could help. That's great and all, but "instrumental" is an idiotic overstatement of his contribution.

    while your favorite flamethrower beach boy decided to show up uninvited and wanted to shove a fucking metal tube into a narrow cave despite being told by the rescue chief in charge that it wouldnâ(TM)t work.

    This is, of course, more bullshit. He was encouraged to build the submarine by Richard Stanton; one of the two divers who were the first to reach the boys. You know, a guy who actually WAS instrumental to the rescue effort.

    Get fucked, you bloody fanatic.

    I do, on a fairly regular basis. Judging by your rabid frustration, I suspect you can't day the same.

  86. Re: Never understood the admiration by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

    Were Honda's and Toyota's vehicles really so bad forty years ago compared to contemporary western vehicles? I don't seem to recall that.

    --
    Ezekiel 23:20
  87. Re:Never understood the admiration by DamnOregonian · · Score: 1

    wait on gravity to do its thing?

    Air, really.
    Gravity isn't bringing those satellites back down once they're in a stable orbit.

  88. Re: Never understood the admiration by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

    In one quarter BAIC accomplished more than Tesla has in 15 years.

    By what metrics in particular? Tesla's problems notwithstanding, that statements seems rather incredible for any single manufacturer.

    --
    Ezekiel 23:20
  89. Re: Never understood the admiration by DamnOregonian · · Score: 1

    If I'm an idiot for possessing the ability to perceive reality accurately, so be it. Title accepted, with pride.

    No, but you might be an idiot if you think your perception of reality is the accurate one and everyone else's is wrong...
    Or you could be right, and actually a genius. But since you didn't know basic orbital mechanics above, I'm going with the former.

  90. Re: Never understood the admiration by c6gunner · · Score: 1

    It was more like 50-60 years ago. And yeah, they were garbage.

    Idiots like to bring up that fact for some reason. No idea why. There basically saying "it took Japan 30 years to make a decent car, so, like, China rocks!". No clue how that's supposed to make sense, but there you have it ...

  91. Yet you petrol shills demand a long range. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And what's the range of the leaf on batteries? And what's the range of the ModelS? Mind you, you DO keep adding to the range you ABSOLITELY POSITIVELY NEED every time electric cars get to that level, so honesty isn't really your thing.

    1. Re: Yet you petrol shills demand a long range. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And what's the price difference between the leaf and the S. Stop with the apple and oranges comparison just cause they called your shit.

    2. Re:Yet you petrol shills demand a long range. by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 1

      Who was selling them that cheap before Tesla was barreling down on them with lofty promises and rapid growth? I bet you’re scared to answer.

      That was the question. The answer is, of course, the Nissan Leaf.

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  92. Re:Never understood the admiration by DamnOregonian · · Score: 1

    It was definitely shitty before and after... But I distinctly remember it got a lot more shitty after.

    Fuck it, that's not even the right word. It got straight up evil.

  93. Re:Never understood the admiration by DamnOregonian · · Score: 1

    Your argument could literally be used, word for word, to describe you describing "White South Africans"
    Fuck, I hope you find that as hilarious as I do.

  94. Re: Never understood the admiration by c6gunner · · Score: 1

    Nissan Leaf - released about 15 months before the Model S. And about 7 years before the Model 3.

    And about 2 years after the Roadster. With about a quarter of the range, a fraction of the power,

  95. Re: Never understood the admiration by Raenex · · Score: 1

    I'm more confused than ever. I would classify all of those things as "cool!" and then follow it up with "make it happen!". Why in the world would any of those things make you hate him?

    Because they're ridiculously expensive and impractical. I'm not going to hate his guts for it, but I'm pretty sick of his fanboys.

  96. Re: Never understood the admiration by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

    Yeah, I'd believe the sixty years, but forty seems like a serious stretch.

    --
    Ezekiel 23:20
  97. Re: Never understood the admiration by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

    despite being told by the rescue chief in charge that it wouldn’t work

    Then it's a case of the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing, considering that some other people in charge were apparently of a different opinion.

    --
    Ezekiel 23:20
  98. Re:Never understood the admiration by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

    The 2010 Nissan Leaf with 70 miles of range sold for $25,000. Buying 3 of them and strapping them together will get you the same 200 miles of range for the same price as a Tesla.

    Only until their batteries break in a few years. Tesla may be somewhat more expensive but it is likely to have significantly higher lifetime quality. As we're saying in my country, I'm not rich enough to buy cheap things.

    --
    Ezekiel 23:20
  99. Re:Never understood the admiration by thegarbz · · Score: 1

    Do we not remember how scummy PayPal was when he was there?

    A system that provided easy online payment systems breaking the bank cartel and allowing easy transfer of funds between people all while creating an industry which now has heavy competition?

    Paypal was scummy, and I thank Elon Musk for investing in it and making the world a better place for it.

    I don't get it. He isn't an engineer

    No, he's someone who invests his wealth into new technologies that provide game changers to the world, someone who employs engineers to bring his vision to life and push boundaries. Being an engineer is good and all, but you may as well be flipping burgers if you don't get funding.

    He isn't even producing affordable EVs or solar panels.

    By affordable you mean the single best selling EV in America despite being significantly more expensive than all others?

    So he is hardly "saving the planet" by producing $60,000 cars.

    Ironically $60k ICE cars are doing far more damage to the environment in terms of emissions than little $15k ones. While unintentionally I congratulate him for starting by cleaning up the dirtiest market.

  100. Re: Never understood the admiration by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    He was encouraged to build the submarine

    Yeah, the same way I "encourage" people who come to me with a neat idea about building a mechanical perpetual motion device when I am in the middle of doing something important. "Sure, pal, that's a very good idea, go build it, buh-bye".

  101. Re: Never understood the admiration by c6gunner · · Score: 1

    Kek. You doing something important. That's a good one.

  102. Re: Never understood the admiration by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    No, it was 30-40 years ago, and by that time the Japanese were already pretty good. So good, in fact, that only the c6gunners of the time continued to laugh at them, because "no American will buy them". And then suddenly it was bailout time.

    Also, it took Japan a lot less time to build a decent, competitive car. Toyota was competing favorably on the domestic market with its US rivals just a few years after it started its car business. It did well in Asian and European markets, too. And it is still very competitive.

    Japanese cars didn't sell well in the US prior to the early 70s not because they were that much different in quality, but because the oil crisis hadn't yet kicked the US economy in the teeth. Once it did, lo and behold, interest in smaller cars sparked.

    So, it is pretty much the same story - the to the American, the car size is psychologically proportional to the hands size. For now.

  103. Re: Never understood the admiration by c6gunner · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Because they're ridiculously expensive and impractical.

    This is what I was saying about electric cars back in 2008, and about the idea of reusable rockets back in 2010. I underestimated him twice; unlike people like you, I learn from my mistakes.

  104. "He"?? You mean the engineers! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    HE only is a weirdo making other people work and taking the credit (and the money, usually). Typical manager.

    E.g. psychologically, you can see very well, that he merely acts/fakes social behavior, instead of doing it naturally. Which is a clear sign of a psychopath. (In the medical, not the TV sense! No I don't have the judgment you might expect here. My brother is like that too. Doesn't mean I don't love him.)

    That weird acting is *deep* in the uncanny valley for many people, unless they also lack the ability to tell.

    That is why I dislike the cult around him, while I like that finally, somebody gets to do some cool projects that we all dreamed of.
    (Only that the Tesla car computer code is closed and apparently DRMed, is absolutely not acceptable, and criminal in any sane world.)

    It's not black and white.

  105. Zero sum game by mapkinase · · Score: 1

    If somebody loses 1B, somebody else is gaining it.

    --
    I do not believe in karma. "Funny"=-6. Do good and forbid evil. Yours, Oft-Offtopic Flamebaiting Troll.
  106. Re:Never understood the admiration by Paul+Carver · · Score: 1

    White South Africans are racist as fuck.

    Interesting. If I'm reading you're post correctly, you have drawn a conclusion about Elon Musk based on his skin color and place of birth. Do you have any other information to offer or are these two facts sufficient to form the entire basis of your conclusion?

    I'm thinking of a word to describe someone who draws conclusions based SOLELY on skin color. Can you guess what it is? I don't think combining skin color with place of birth when announcing your conclusions makes you any less of one.

    Furthermore, the central point of your post seems to be your "surprise" that Musk's skin color and place of birth never get brought up. Almost all Musk stories (on slashdot at least) are about Tesla or SpaceX. What is it exactly about cars and rockets that makes the CEO's skin color so relevant that it's absence from the discussion "suprises" you?

  107. Re: Never understood the admiration by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Those early Leafs were what in Holland is often called 'c***shakers', glorified golf carts. They were basically just novelties and not a serious alternative for most people. What Tesla did was prove that electric cars could be cool and serious alternatives, even for long distance. The supercharger network is an important part of that.

  108. Re: Never understood the admiration by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 1

    I'm sorry, the question was about who was selling a cheap EV - I guess you consider the Roadster "cheap"?

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  109. Re:Never understood the admiration by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 1

    Nissan is nowhere close to Tesla.

    Especially in terms of price.

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  110. Re: Rei's shares by that+this+is+not+und · · Score: 1

    Remarkably, Rei has not chimed in, at all, in this discussion. They have the usual comments, peppered with Musk jargon and catch-phrases, on the 'Boring Company to Sports Arena' discussio, so they are still present.

    Is this too toxic a topic to chime in on? Is Rei a sock puppet account run by Musky himself, which would render this a topic far too dangerous to 'go on record' with in case the identity of 'Rei' was revealed? Who knows?

  111. Re: Never understood the admiration by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

    No, it was 30-40 years ago, and by that time the Japanese were already pretty good.

    I meant the period when Japanese vehicles were bad, not the period when American companies were still badmouthing them.

    --
    Ezekiel 23:20
  112. Re:Never understood the admiration by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Nothing short of nuclear propulsion is going to get meaningful numbers of humans off the planet.

    A space elevator can get everybody off - and do it cheaply. We can't build one today, but we have 5 billion years to develop the necessary materials so . . .

  113. Re:Never understood the admiration by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

    Not more than, say, one or two hundred million years at the outside, actually.

    --
    Ezekiel 23:20
  114. huh? by AndyKron · · Score: 1

    But they're still shorting it.

  115. Trump vs. Musk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Unstable late nite tweet-off. I'm all in for that one. Aside, I thought it against law to insider trade? How is it even possible for him not to get skewered by SEC for posting insider info?

  116. My tweet @elonmusk 6:01 PM - 16 Jul 2018 by Paul+Fernhout · · Score: 1

    @elonmusk resources to reach a higher level of your potential:
    * Bullies to Buddies: How to Stop Being Teased and Bullied Without Really Trying
    * Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams by Matthew P. Walker
    * William C. Norris: Portrait of a Maverick

    Link: https://twitter.com/pdfernhout...

    Hope he finds time to at least skim those resources -- especially #2 if he is working so much! A lot of his current missteps with "mistweets" could easily be explained by lack of enough good sleep.

    --
    A 21st century issue: the irony of technologies of abundance in the hands of those still thinking in terms of scarcity.
  117. Felon Gives Criminal Gains to Police Once Caught by tanstaaf1 · · Score: 1

    A really stupid article. Those short sellers who were able to survive the CRIMINAL short squeeze get their money back at the end - plus a little more. Those who were forced ought in margin calls are still screwed. Regardless of the FELON being caught he still committed a FELONY. He needs to be tried first under criminal law -- and then he and TESLA the corporation need to be tried under both regulatory law and civil law. And I actually like Musk. So this makes me real sad. But you can't let Senators, Presidents and Billionaires get away with things *because* they are too "special" to prosecute. Indeed, those who have access to lawyers without limits need to be held to an even higher standard -- not easily allowed to escape under dodge of tears and excuses. To do otherwise is to make the entire system of laws even more transparently a farce than it already has become.

  118. Re: Never understood the admiration by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 1

    TSLA has about $2.2 billion in cash and short term investments, on-hand. Ford has about $36 billion on hand. TSLA is losing a large percentage of that cash every quarter; Ford is adding to their holdings. And yet - market cap of TSLA is larger than Ford.

    --
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  119. Re: Never understood the admiration by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This is especially common among ethnic Jewish people. Einstein wasn't the genius they were hoping for and they nailed their last savior to a cross.

  120. Re:Never understood the admiration by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Personality defects arise more often in cultures convinced of their supremacy despite reality. A life spent denying what is real and instead living in fantasy doesn't make a practical leader.

  121. Re:Never understood the admiration by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Have you owned a Tesla S? The Tesla is designed to be showy and is ridiculously unreliable and expensive to repair.

  122. Re:Never understood the admiration by djinn6 · · Score: 1

    They're actually all inferior to chemical propulsion with local resource utilization.

    What does that have to do with anything?

  123. Re:Never understood the admiration by djinn6 · · Score: 1

    I own one of each, and there is a world of difference between them.

    Oh really? How much less time do you spend commuting now that you have the Model S?

    Or by "world of difference" you mean its ability to show off how rich you are?

  124. Re: Never understood the admiration by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    While true, has nothing to do with what I said.

    Tesla the company is valued several hundred times higher than every other company in its industry relative to production. That's Enron levels of bad.

    I wouldn't bother saying anything, but I do genuinely care about other people and don't want them to be fleeced. I also don't want the hype to get so big that Musk becomes another "too big to fail."

  125. Bull fucking shit. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    There is a contingent that deeply wants to see Tesla fail ...

    You are so full of shit - just like Musk.

    There are plenty of EV car manufacturers you moron - Tesla is not the only game in town. Tesla going bust makes no goddamn difference.

    Your entire post is total horseshit and the fact that it got mod'ed up tells me that this entire site is full of morons.

    The whole "people want Tesla to fail" is bullshit that that liar Elon Musk made up. Oh! My bad! It was the "ambien"! Yeah....that's it! (You fucking morans)

    1. Elon Musk is a bullshitter.
    2. Tesla is a money losing failure because Elon Musk is incompetent.
    3. ALL of you fanboys are idiots and liars. So, fuck you!

    Sold my Tesla holdings at $365 because I can't stand Musk's mendacity anymore and I made a killing off of Elon Musk's stock manipulation - he's a fucking criminal. Fuck you!

    There is nothing a moronic fanboy such as yourself or any other moronic fanboy up here on Slashshit can every post to counter the FACTS I posted above. So, Fuck you!

    Elon Musk belongs in jail and all of you fanboys who have stock deserve to lose it all because you are morons. Fuck you again!

    Take your right hand, make a fist. Now, stick the index finger up and the thumb out. Put it up to your forehead.

    I don't want Tesla to fail - I want you fucking fanboys to get it up the ass like the bullshitting fags you are.
    Dumbass!

    1. Re:Bull fucking shit. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sold my Tesla holdings at $365 because I can't stand Musk's mendacity anymore and I made a killing off of Elon Musk's stock manipulation

      So you sold both of the shares you owned.

    2. Re: Bull fucking shit. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's a hate troll! Awwwww...look at his widdle hate paws, his widdle hate mouth, his widdle hate...is that his penis? So cute!

  126. Re: Which one of you Tesla queers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I will.

    -Rei

  127. Re: Which one of you Tesla queers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    me too

    -c6gunner

  128. Re: Never understood the admiration by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    All those things are still fucking expensive. He hasn't done shit LOL.

  129. Re: Never understood the admiration by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Tesla cars, on the other hand, have in general failed so hard on any serious quality tests in the west that it is very clear they are still in the early steps of understanding how to build a proper car at all. I'm sure they will get there in about a decade , but I can't hold my breath that long.

    You better hope that torpedo in your ass has some reserve oxygen, apparently Tesla Model 3 has the quality of a Kia from the 1990s (6:55 in video).
    You're going to have to hold your breath on Tesla for TWO decades.

  130. EVs are going to be cheaper than ICE vehicles by presidenteloco · · Score: 1

    They are much simpler mechanical systems. Many fewer parts. Cheaper to build, once you factor out the existing economy-of-scale advantage of ICE vehicle production chain.

    Their maintenance costs are much lower over vehicle lifetime.

    "Fuel" cost is much lower.

    So the same percentage of people worldwide who can now afford ICE vehicles will be able to afford EVs. That part of your argument is based on the current transition-blip of higher EV prices.

    Electric mass transit, from buses through rail and hyperloops to displace some aviation, is also needed. I don't disagree at all. All of these elements of transportation innovation are urgently needed.

    --

    Where are we going and why are we in a handbasket?
  131. Re:Never understood the admiration by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

    Nothing short of nuclear propulsion is going to get meaningful numbers of humans off the planet.

    --
    Ezekiel 23:20
  132. Re:Never understood the admiration by djinn6 · · Score: 1

    What the heck does "local resource utilization" have anything to do with "meaningful numbers of humans off the planet"?

  133. Re: hydrogen by presidenteloco · · Score: 1

    I know hydrogen cars/trucks are just electric cars with fuel cells and hydrogen tanks. Duh.
    Hydrogen in vehicles such as trucks and buses still conveys a two-to-one roughly range advantage. There is an application for that.

    Hydrogen may be more useful as a massive-scale (e.g. continental scale) central electric grid energy storage application to absorb wind and PV excess-to-load power. Round trip energy efficiency for this kind of hydrogen system still sucks bigtime (30 to 40%) but given how cheap and deployable wind and PV are becoming, that doesn't matter as much as you think. Just put in twice as much wind and PV as you otherwise would have required. Easy peasy.

    You know, if we got a serious carbon fee and dividend going, we could just let the market sort this question out.

    --

    Where are we going and why are we in a handbasket?
  134. Re:Never understood the admiration by swillden · · Score: 2

    I own one of each, and there is a world of difference between them.

    Oh really? How much less time do you spend commuting now that you have the Model S?

    I spend a lot less time worrying about when and where to charge, and whether I need to take a different car that day because the LEAF won't go far enough. But the difference is a lot more than just range. The Tesla is a much nicer experience... and that's saying something since the LEAF is more enjoyable to drive than most ICEVs I've had.

    Or by "world of difference" you mean its ability to show off how rich you are?

    That is actually the biggest negative with the Tesla. I'm not a flashy person and I don't care for all of the attention the Tesla gets. But it's by far the nicest-driving and most pleasant vehicle I've ever owned, so I'm willing to put up with that.

    --
    Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
  135. Re:Never understood the admiration by swillden · · Score: 1

    Nissan is nowhere close to Tesla.

    Especially in terms of price.

    My LEAF was $35K (new) and my Tesla was $42K (used). So, not so much different there for me at least.

    Well, I guess in practice I only spent about $20K for the LEAF, since I leased it and then bought it off the lease after it had depreciated much more than Nissan had expected. But the Tesla is easily three times the car the LEAF is, if not more.

    --
    Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
  136. Re:Never understood the admiration by squiggleslash · · Score: 1
    I've travelled this old world of ours from Barnsley to Peru,
    I've had sunshine in the arctic and a swim in Tinbuktu,
    I've seen unicorns in Burma and a Yetti in Nepal,
    And I've danced with ten foot pygmies in a Montezuma hall,
    I've met the King of China and a working Yorkshire miner -
    But I've never met a nice South African!

    No he's never met a nice South African,
    And that's not bloody surprising man!
    'Cause we're a bunch of arrogant b***tards,
    Who hate black people!

    I once got served in Woolies aften less than four week's wait,
    I had lunch with Rowan Atkinson when he paid and wasn't late,
    I know a public swimming bath where they don't piss in the pool,
    I know a guy who got a job straight after leaving school,
    I've met a normal merman, and a fairly modest German -
    But I've never met a nice South African!

    No he's never met a nice South African,
    And that's not bloody surprising man!
    'Cause we're a bunch of talentless murderers,
    Who smell like baboons.

    I've had a close encounter of the twenty-second kind,
    That's when an alien spaceship disappears up your behind,
    I got directory enquiries after less than forty rings,
    I've even heard a decent song by Paul McCartney's Wings,
    I've seen a flying pig, in a quite convincing wig,
    But I've never met a nice South African!

    No he's never met a nice South African,
    And that's not bloody surprising man!
    'Cause we're a bunch of ignorant loudmouths,
    With no sense of humour.

    I've met the Loch Ness monster and he looks like Fred Astaire,
    At the BBC in London he's the chief commissionaire,
    I know a place in Glasgow which is rife with daffodillies,
    I met a man in Katmandu who claimed to have two willies,
    I've had a nice pot noodle, but I've never had a poodle -
    And I've never met a nice South African.

    No he's never met a nice South African,
    And that's not bloody surprising man,
    Because we've never met one either!
    Except for Breyten Breytenbach, and he's emigrated to Paris. (farts)

    Yes he's quite a nice South African,
    And he's hardly ever killed anyone,
    And he's not smelly at all.
    That's why we put him prison!

    (Video)

    --
    You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
  137. Re: Never understood the admiration by rpstrong · · Score: 1

    It was in the early 70s that the Honda 600 became the first car ever that Consumer Reports rated as "Not Acceptable".

  138. Re:Never understood the admiration by djinn6 · · Score: 1

    I spend a lot less time worrying about when and where to charge, and whether I need to take a different car that day because the LEAF won't go far enough.

    The 2018 Leaf has a 150 mi range, so I don't see what you need to worry about (or if you still do, you're probably better off with a plug-in hybrid). Comparing cars from similar times, the Leaf is still on top given it's less than half the price.

    As for the "nicer experience", that's highly subjective. Some people might say the sound of a roaring V8 is a nicer experience. Is it worth an extra $50,000? Yes, but only to people like you who have money to burn.

  139. Re:Never understood the admiration by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

    Any space transportation infrastructure is going to use local resources for both cislunar and interplanetary travel. Nuclear propulsion would massively suck at mined mass usage since hydrolox propulsion can use about seven times more of mined mass of water than nuclear engines. Only theoretical nuclear engines with extremely high specific impulse would compensate for that drawback.

    --
    Ezekiel 23:20
  140. Re: Never understood the admiration by c6gunner · · Score: 1

    The leaf was a "cheap EV" in the same sense that a golf cart is. Horrible example. Whereas the Roadster - at a price of $110,000 - provided useful range and super-car performance while still being within reach of any middle class person who really wanted one.

  141. Re:Never understood the admiration by djinn6 · · Score: 1

    You have a fundamental misunderstanding of the limitations of space travel. Let's say I'm on Triton. Solar panels provides 0.1% of the energy than it does near Earth. How am I going to turn all that water I mine into hydrolox fuel?

    And just for the record, all nuclear engines have extremely high Isp.

  142. Re:Never understood the admiration by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

    You have a fundamental misunderstanding of the limitations of space travel.

    No, I don't.

    Let's say I'm on Triton.

    Good luck trying not to sink into all that nitrogen ice.

    Solar panels provides 0.1% of the energy than it does near Earth. How am I going to turn all that water I mine into hydrolox fuel?

    You use a nuclear power plant (before it sinks into all that nitrogen ice). Then you pump it into a non-nuclear rocket. Did you notice how bad servicing nuclear devices is once they fired even once? It sucks.

    And just for the record, all nuclear engines have extremely high Isp.

    The ones we have an idea how to actually build don't. They're also too heavy. They also have very limited lifetime. You can prolong it by running them a bit cooler, but then they suck even more.

    --
    Ezekiel 23:20
  143. Re: Never understood the admiration by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That has never been proven.

  144. Re: Never understood the admiration by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You are aware that electric vehicles actually predate internal combustion vehicles, right? The big problems with EVs are the limited range and the cost to replace the battery pack. They are not impractical, just expensive and unsuitable (today) for many scenarios.

  145. Saudis decided to go with rival Lucid by fozzy1015 · · Score: 1

    https://www.reuters.com/articl...

    The smart ones who owned TSLA got out at $380. Musk pulled the entire "go private" thing out of his ass and opened the company to potentially billions in liability. All for a short uptick in share price. This will go down in history as the most self-destructive tweet ever. Tesla was already a ticking time bomb but Musk's obsession with short sellers, his narcissism, and a healthy mix of drugs, resulted in the equivalent of him pulling the wrong wire, causing the clock to reset downward to 10 seconds.

    Musk's disciples should have seen the event as a sacrifice by their Jesus so they could have gotten out at a price close to an all time high, yet I bet some are going to ride it all the way down to zero.

  146. Re: Never understood the admiration by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What exactly did Elon contribute to help the rescue effort? Not what did he play around with, what did he actually give that helped? Nothing

    Let's praise Elon anyway for the success even though in reality he did nothing to help. OMGZ ELON TALKED TO SOMEONE PRAISE BE TO ELON IT WAS ALL DUE TO HIM!!!1! What did he do? OMGZ YOU HATER HE TALKED TO SOMEONE AND... ERRR.... HE'S ELON!

  147. Re:Never understood the admiration by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You are missing a couple of important facts:

    ULA has serious competition in the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy. Big ego, maybe. Big rockets, definitely.

    And Tesla has forced a re-evaluation of what is possible with electric cars. The Jury is still out on how much impact Tesla will have on the auto and energy markets, but 400,000 pre-orders was a big eye-opener.

  148. Re:Never understood the admiration by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    SpaceX is creating a market. As that market expands, investment will shape it. Perhaps nuclear propulsion, perhaps something else, but something had to get the ball rolling.

  149. Re: Never understood the admiration by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 1

    Got it - $110,000 is a "cheap" and affordable EV. Something that is over 3 times the average selling price of a car today (probably well over 4 times the price, back in 2012) is "cheap". You just keep justifying it - but you're flat-out wrong.

    --
    Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
  150. Re:Never understood the admiration by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 1

    And new prices? Or a used Nissan Leaf? Really, having to resort to "used Leaf vs. Used Tesla" to try to justify a closer price just goes to prove the statement - there is no affordable Tesla model today.

    --
    Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
  151. Re:Never understood the admiration by swillden · · Score: 1

    The 2018 Leaf has a 150 mi range

    My LEAF is a 2012.

    As for the "nicer experience", that's highly subjective. Some people might say the sound of a roaring V8 is a nicer experience. Is it worth an extra $50,000? Yes, but only to people like you who have money to burn.

    Well, my Model S cost $42K, so there's no "extra $50K" here.

    But FWIW, my perception is that even at full/new price, the Model S is worth what it costs. I like my LEAF; it's why I've owned two of them, but the Tesla is a much better car.

    --
    Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
  152. Re: Never understood the admiration by Raenex · · Score: 1

    This is what I was saying about electric cars back in 2008

    Except there was already a proof-of-concept with the EV1. Electric cars are at least feasible, even if they are still too expensive or impractical, with the vast majority of people still driving on gasoline engines.

    and about the idea of reusable rockets back in 2010

    That also has a history before Musk.

    I underestimated him twice; unlike people like you, I learn from my mistakes

    No, you've just become a fanboy unable to think critically.

  153. Re: Never understood the admiration by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why make solar power in outer space when you can make it in Earth or inner/Lunar orbit and beam it there via mirror/ laser/microwave tight beam instead?

    Or just make it in Earth until we can make a space elevator and beam it to orbit and reflect it out without paying for delta V lift.

  154. Re: Never understood the admiration by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

    Beam divergence kills you. However, it's quite possible that very lightweight reflectors (~10 grams per square meter) could make at least stationary solar power viable to significant distances in the outer solar system.

    --
    Ezekiel 23:20
  155. Re:Never understood the admiration by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "why DO YOU CARE that the "entrenched, fossilized launch services" exist? Does it affect you in any way that the military or communication companies save a bit on money on a launch?"

    Yes, I pay taxes. Cheaper launch costs = more bang for the tax buck. Next question.

  156. Re:Never understood the admiration by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    My LEAF was $35K (new) and my Tesla was $42K (used).

    Dude, your numbers don't add up, how are you charging both?
    Your house is going to burn down every night.

  157. Re:Never understood the admiration by chispito · · Score: 1

    But let me ask you a question: why DO YOU CARE that the "entrenched, fossilized launch services" exist? Does it affect you in any way that the military or communication companies save a bit on money on a launch?

    It takes little imagination to see the potential benefits of cheaper launches. But just in case:
    Asteroid mining
    Orbital solar power
    Space tourism
    More and cheaper science missions
    What if deep space probes were constructed and launched by universities instead of requiring national space agencies?

    --
    The Daddy casts sleep on the Baby. The Baby resists!
  158. Re: Never understood the admiration by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

    It's a good thing, then, that this one case happened 5-15 years before the period in question.

    --
    Ezekiel 23:20
  159. Arianna Huffington suggests Musk get more sleep by Paul+Fernhout · · Score: 1

    on Friday August 17th, 2018: https://twitter.com/ariannahuf...
    https://www.thriveglobal.com/s...
    https://www.washingtonpost.com...

    And sadly Musk rejected that advice:
    https://twitter.com/elonmusk/s...

    One of the things Matthew Walker says in his book on sleep is that sleep-deprived people have poor judgement about the effects of not enough sleep on their cognition.

    If Musk has paid attention to that tweet I sent and got more sleep, might he have not have made the subsequent tweet about taking Tesla private which not was him under SEC investigation and facing multiple shareholder lawsuits?

    --
    A 21st century issue: the irony of technologies of abundance in the hands of those still thinking in terms of scarcity.
  160. Re:Never understood the admiration by djinn6 · · Score: 1

    So what year is your Model S? It's pretty pointless to talk about used cars if you don't take into consideration how old they are.

    In any case, you clearly want the performance and are willing to pay a lot of extra dough for it.

    As for me, I'm going to hold off until the improvements plateaus. My Corolla is probably good for another decade or two. By then I'll be able to pick up the equivalent of today's Model S for $20k.

  161. Re: Never understood the admiration by c6gunner · · Score: 1

    Please, be serious.

  162. Re: Never understood the admiration by c6gunner · · Score: 1

    The Roadster was cheap in the same sense as the Leaf was practical.