When Tesla was valued higher than all major German car manufacturers combined - combined - Audi, BMW, Mercedes Benz, Porsche, Volkswagen - yes, let that sink in for a minute - with lower qty. and sales volumes and (higher) US government financial support, it should have been a major big red flag! For any one.
It’s the US media that is so gullible. People didn’t just decide on their own that Musk was a business genius, they were told that by our media — just like they were told by our easily manipulated media that Jack Welch, the guy who destroyed GE was one.
… and what a golden parachute “Neutron Jack” received. It is truly disgusting that these destroyers are not being held accountable for their actions and results. The compensation levels are a completely different disgrace!
Read the Wikipedia bio of George Romney. He refused to take pay raises if his company wasn’t making money and even when it was he refused what he saw as excessive bonuses. Mitt proved that apples sometimes do fall far from the tree. What really angers me though is the incredible salaries and raises the CEOs of some “non profit” hospital systems (Atrium for example) are making.
For me, Musk's facade started to crack when the reports of bad build quality and anti-Union activity appeared. Of course, I don't think I was ever dazzled by him anyway. He hadn't even entered my consciousness until Model S owners started drag racing "classic musclecars" and winning. The thing is, as an electrical engineer, I understood the technology that made it possible, so it was pretty ho-hum to me. I figured his successes were mostly due to luck, but your article filled in a lot of blanks for me, so thanks for the research!
It was a while back once the lies and chicanery he has been involved with started to surface. The main thing was Twitter and his ambitions got exposed. The Nazi salute and cozying up sickenly to an insane amoral felon was the last straw. Now a huge amount of his bullshit of being the great innovator and the great mind has busted his crap bubble open. He wrote his own CV full of lies, distortions and maniacal ego. Another lying, thieving sociopath revealed. He deserves whatever comes his way as retribution. Like Trump he creates enemies easily and almost wilfully.
I never believed it. Call it instinct perhaps or maybe just healthy skepticism. There was a lot of bluster but very little substance. He’s a showman at best. He followed his family’s history and gained success off of the backs of others. A shameless opportunist.
There’s something that enters my thoughts rather often, if Thiel/Musk had been born in the mid ‘90’s, would we be here? Both of them, through sheer luck, entered an industry at its virtual birth. There wasn’t much competition. There was no saturation. The industry blew up not only due to its novelty but its ability to spread information so quickly. If there hadn’t been a group of individuals who existed in a vacuum(the PP mafia)all confirming to each other how godlike they were, would we be watching them attempt to take control due to arrogance and, most likely, boredom? 85% luck and 15% talent. It’s been the perfect storm to dismantle democracy and recreate the world order in the way they wish.
Thanks for this summary, Shane. I was intrigued by Tesla when I first learned about the company ~2009, and was tempted to invest $8k in stock. I did not do this, and it really came down to my unease with Musk, even at this early point. His trajectory shows why economic systems should not be designed such that one person can amass more wealth than many countries GDPs.
Not mentioned: Musk’s photovoltaic roof tile project. Remember that one? Never having heard Musk speak, many years ago I tuned into the big unveiling of it. What I heard was a bullshitter working an adoring audience and that was all I ever needed to know about him. The roof tiles, if they ever even existed, somehow just quietly disappeared.
WOW, what a story! Excellent, well-researched and interesting,
I was one of the gullible thinking Musk was this genius. I think Trump mistakingly thought so too.
(Someone needs to read this to Trump…since he doesn’t read. Oh wait - he only has short attention span!).
Often the highly intelligent brilliant minds are exploited by power grabbing sociopaths. Musk, like Trump, obviously feels a great need to be idolized at others expense.
My straight laced, school marm of a grandmother use to say to my mother, who would brag about her children, “Now, give credit where credit is due.” Thank you for giving credit where credit is LONG overdue!
Shane, thank you for the hard slog investigating and writing this article must have been. A story that’s been waiting for decades to be told, it’s an outstanding piece 👏👏
This is a great story. I am one with a long attention span because I like to read so would love the parts that were left out. It's too bad to bad the MSM media always puts out the myth and the hype so people especially the political class is not getting duped by cons like him.
In the Rogan interview Joe asks, "Does anyone ever say No to you?" Later Musk says about the tunnels idea: "l mean I'm not saying it's going to be successful or something.. l don't know, it's like, asserting it's going to be successful..." He's a precocious child spoiled, untrained, and with untold wealth, and he's got his talons on our economy, where he will once again exaggerate outcomes hyperbolically and overwhelmingly underdeliver. Only this time the consequences are horrific and far-reaching.
I used to be on the EM hype train. Got on it after I test drive the model 3, loved it, bought the FSD M3, became an evangelist for Tesla and even bought stocks in the company. I ignored all the reports of micro and mismanagement at Tesla because “geniuses should be given a little leeway”, right?
And then I started encountering bugs in the car software. When the car suddenly braked on the freeway going at 68 mph, I thought it was just a single bug - I’m sure they will fix it, and the QA process, and never repeat it again. Then one day, the whole car screen blanked. While merging into a complex intersection of multiple freeways. No idea if the turn signal is working, no blindspot view camera, no information at all. Scariest moment of my life, and I have been in a couple of motorcycle accidents.
This was also around the time he bought Twitter, and saw how his hubris was driving what he was doing. And if he was doing this to Twitter, he was also probably doing the same thing to the QA team at Tesla. I still believed at this point that he was knowledgeable about physics, but just ignorant about how people worked. That’s when I decided that this guy, for all that he knows about cars and rockets, does not know anything about how human systems and organizations work, and there is a huge cost to this ignorance that will be paid by the people who believe in him.
Came home and sold my Tesla shares, and vowed not to buy one again.
This is a solid piece Shane. Having lived in the Bay Area, I always felt uneasy around those types of people. I’m glad you were able to provide historical context to his story. Thanks again, and I look forward to more of your work.
This is incredibly well written and researched. But man oh man is it long! Just a thought, consider publishing it as a series, focusing on the origin story and then each of the businesses. For those with short attention spans.
Hi Shane, I don’t know if you’ll find this interesting but Martin Forest Eberhard (American engineer and entrepreneur who co-founded Tesla, Inc. with Marc Tarpenning in July 2003) took Musk to court in 2009.
Eberhard sued Musk, alleging defamation and breach of contract, claiming Musk was trying to erase him from Tesla's history and falsely claim the title of co-founder.
A secondary matter in that court case accused Musk of misrepresenting his qualifications in Physics.
It is no surprise that the Chief Incompetent has hired Musk to Twitterize the US Government. When the Trump nightmare ends, if it does, maybe we can go after Musk for damages. Even he does not have enough money to pay them.
When Tesla was valued higher than all major German car manufacturers combined - combined - Audi, BMW, Mercedes Benz, Porsche, Volkswagen - yes, let that sink in for a minute - with lower qty. and sales volumes and (higher) US government financial support, it should have been a major big red flag! For any one.
But the US general public is so gullible.
It’s the US media that is so gullible. People didn’t just decide on their own that Musk was a business genius, they were told that by our media — just like they were told by our easily manipulated media that Jack Welch, the guy who destroyed GE was one.
… and what a golden parachute “Neutron Jack” received. It is truly disgusting that these destroyers are not being held accountable for their actions and results. The compensation levels are a completely different disgrace!
Read the Wikipedia bio of George Romney. He refused to take pay raises if his company wasn’t making money and even when it was he refused what he saw as excessive bonuses. Mitt proved that apples sometimes do fall far from the tree. What really angers me though is the incredible salaries and raises the CEOs of some “non profit” hospital systems (Atrium for example) are making.
I got to ‘working class parents’ and had to control my laughter so I could continue.
How long ago did the Elon facade start to crack for you?
For me, Musk's facade started to crack when the reports of bad build quality and anti-Union activity appeared. Of course, I don't think I was ever dazzled by him anyway. He hadn't even entered my consciousness until Model S owners started drag racing "classic musclecars" and winning. The thing is, as an electrical engineer, I understood the technology that made it possible, so it was pretty ho-hum to me. I figured his successes were mostly due to luck, but your article filled in a lot of blanks for me, so thanks for the research!
It was a while back once the lies and chicanery he has been involved with started to surface. The main thing was Twitter and his ambitions got exposed. The Nazi salute and cozying up sickenly to an insane amoral felon was the last straw. Now a huge amount of his bullshit of being the great innovator and the great mind has busted his crap bubble open. He wrote his own CV full of lies, distortions and maniacal ego. Another lying, thieving sociopath revealed. He deserves whatever comes his way as retribution. Like Trump he creates enemies easily and almost wilfully.
I never believed it. Call it instinct perhaps or maybe just healthy skepticism. There was a lot of bluster but very little substance. He’s a showman at best. He followed his family’s history and gained success off of the backs of others. A shameless opportunist.
There’s something that enters my thoughts rather often, if Thiel/Musk had been born in the mid ‘90’s, would we be here? Both of them, through sheer luck, entered an industry at its virtual birth. There wasn’t much competition. There was no saturation. The industry blew up not only due to its novelty but its ability to spread information so quickly. If there hadn’t been a group of individuals who existed in a vacuum(the PP mafia)all confirming to each other how godlike they were, would we be watching them attempt to take control due to arrogance and, most likely, boredom? 85% luck and 15% talent. It’s been the perfect storm to dismantle democracy and recreate the world order in the way they wish.
Great research and exposition. The world needs to know the rest of the story.
Thanks for this summary, Shane. I was intrigued by Tesla when I first learned about the company ~2009, and was tempted to invest $8k in stock. I did not do this, and it really came down to my unease with Musk, even at this early point. His trajectory shows why economic systems should not be designed such that one person can amass more wealth than many countries GDPs.
Not mentioned: Musk’s photovoltaic roof tile project. Remember that one? Never having heard Musk speak, many years ago I tuned into the big unveiling of it. What I heard was a bullshitter working an adoring audience and that was all I ever needed to know about him. The roof tiles, if they ever even existed, somehow just quietly disappeared.
Was that related to SolarCity?
I guess it was but don’t fully remember.
The roof tiles did exist, but they burnt some houses down…https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2019-08-29/tesla-residential-rooftop-solar-panels-catch-fire-and-the-lawsuits-start-flying
Great research! I was already aware that he was exaggerating his IT and coding expertise, but you've nailed him on everything.
I'm only surprised that he hasn't added 'co-starred with Robert Downey Jr in Ironman' to his CV - yet.
WOW, what a story! Excellent, well-researched and interesting,
I was one of the gullible thinking Musk was this genius. I think Trump mistakingly thought so too.
(Someone needs to read this to Trump…since he doesn’t read. Oh wait - he only has short attention span!).
Often the highly intelligent brilliant minds are exploited by power grabbing sociopaths. Musk, like Trump, obviously feels a great need to be idolized at others expense.
My straight laced, school marm of a grandmother use to say to my mother, who would brag about her children, “Now, give credit where credit is due.” Thank you for giving credit where credit is LONG overdue!
Shane, thank you for the hard slog investigating and writing this article must have been. A story that’s been waiting for decades to be told, it’s an outstanding piece 👏👏
Thank you so much - that was a lot of hours!
This is a great story. I am one with a long attention span because I like to read so would love the parts that were left out. It's too bad to bad the MSM media always puts out the myth and the hype so people especially the political class is not getting duped by cons like him.
Great article, great reporting!
In the Rogan interview Joe asks, "Does anyone ever say No to you?" Later Musk says about the tunnels idea: "l mean I'm not saying it's going to be successful or something.. l don't know, it's like, asserting it's going to be successful..." He's a precocious child spoiled, untrained, and with untold wealth, and he's got his talons on our economy, where he will once again exaggerate outcomes hyperbolically and overwhelmingly underdeliver. Only this time the consequences are horrific and far-reaching.
I used to be on the EM hype train. Got on it after I test drive the model 3, loved it, bought the FSD M3, became an evangelist for Tesla and even bought stocks in the company. I ignored all the reports of micro and mismanagement at Tesla because “geniuses should be given a little leeway”, right?
And then I started encountering bugs in the car software. When the car suddenly braked on the freeway going at 68 mph, I thought it was just a single bug - I’m sure they will fix it, and the QA process, and never repeat it again. Then one day, the whole car screen blanked. While merging into a complex intersection of multiple freeways. No idea if the turn signal is working, no blindspot view camera, no information at all. Scariest moment of my life, and I have been in a couple of motorcycle accidents.
This was also around the time he bought Twitter, and saw how his hubris was driving what he was doing. And if he was doing this to Twitter, he was also probably doing the same thing to the QA team at Tesla. I still believed at this point that he was knowledgeable about physics, but just ignorant about how people worked. That’s when I decided that this guy, for all that he knows about cars and rockets, does not know anything about how human systems and organizations work, and there is a huge cost to this ignorance that will be paid by the people who believe in him.
Came home and sold my Tesla shares, and vowed not to buy one again.
This is a solid piece Shane. Having lived in the Bay Area, I always felt uneasy around those types of people. I’m glad you were able to provide historical context to his story. Thanks again, and I look forward to more of your work.
Thanks! Did you rub elbows with some of these guys?
Elon Musk thought himself & presented as a Tony Stark, only to prove to the world he’s just a Temu Buzz Lightyear.
This is incredibly well written and researched. But man oh man is it long! Just a thought, consider publishing it as a series, focusing on the origin story and then each of the businesses. For those with short attention spans.
That's not a bad idea. I cut out SolarCity and Starlink due to length.
Hi Shane, I don’t know if you’ll find this interesting but Martin Forest Eberhard (American engineer and entrepreneur who co-founded Tesla, Inc. with Marc Tarpenning in July 2003) took Musk to court in 2009.
Eberhard sued Musk, alleging defamation and breach of contract, claiming Musk was trying to erase him from Tesla's history and falsely claim the title of co-founder.
A secondary matter in that court case accused Musk of misrepresenting his qualifications in Physics.
See attached.
Thanks Catherine! I don't see an attachment
I have tried sending it through my email . Cheers cath
It is no surprise that the Chief Incompetent has hired Musk to Twitterize the US Government. When the Trump nightmare ends, if it does, maybe we can go after Musk for damages. Even he does not have enough money to pay them.