Moron billionaire class. Think they’ll survive the collapse of humanity in their bunkers. The reality being they will be murdered by their staff on day one.
Musk's power only comes from his wealth. That wealth is in a currency that is tied directly to the world's trust in the US government. That trust is being very quickly diminished. If things get 'Mad Max' bad all of his wealth will be absolutely worthless.
Toyota is a car company that makes solid cars with an anonymous CEO. It has a P/E ratio of about 7.5 and a market cap of about $230 billion.
Tesla is a car company that makes a few solid cars, and one absolutely ridiculous vehicle that is the laughing stock of trucks. It has a CEO that most of the world has an intensely negative opinion of, and that negative opinion is highest among the people wealthy enough to consider buying a Tesla. It has a P/E ratio of approximately 175 and a market cap of $918 billion.
If Tesla's P/E ratio fell to something more realistic, let's be extremely generous and say 7, it would be worth only $37 billion, about 4% of the current value. Realistically, it should be significantly below that. When people are regularly spraypainting swastikas on your vehicles, your P/E ratio should be lower than other automobile manufacturers because it's a sign that your future growth prospects may be slightly impaired by the unwillingness of people to buy your vehicles.
When Tesla's value does collapse (and I'm convinced it's a "when" not an "if") it will crater Musk's net worth, because at least half of it is due to his Tesla stock.
Well most of that wealth is in the Tesla meme-stock (whose valuation he uses as collateral for credit), encompassing various nonsense-ventures, the roadster that never materialised, the electric articulated truck with thermonuclear-explosion-proof windscreen that doesn't exist, a fake remote controlled robot, self-driving cars without the necessary sensors, not to mention a whole host of other stuff like a Mars colony that cannot possibly happen while observing the laws of physics as we understand them. Sorry but it was all such obvious bullshit to anybody that even paid a little bit of attention. How none of it was fraud is beyond me (free speech!). Instead of getting prosecuted governments (not limited to republicans) gave him contracts worth billions with which he extended and consolidated his burgeoning power.
There is a whole host of people who facilitated Musk's rise to power, from billionaire-owned media outlets failing to question his bullshit, to $TSLA owners who have probably profited quite handsomely in the last few months. But I suppose that is the nature of capitalism laid bare - I'll get mine and fuck you.
If it is true that one of China's policies, with regard to beating America over the last and coming decades, was 'do nothing and win' we can see exactly why through Musk's story.
He's since deleted the post, but in a followup comment he mentioned the irony of talking about becoming a warlord using a picture of Max, a noted warlord killer.
As typical for all right-wingers, Musk is utterly incapable of critically examining art.
Cyberpunk IS cool as long as I get to experience it as a little mental retreat, a neon colored view of the what-if from the comfort of my chair in my paid off house in a country with universal healthcare and strong worker rights.
Elon's wealth comes from the value of Tesla stock - an overvalued PoS stock that has never paid a single dividend. His twitter loan was secured by Tesla stock, so the more the price tanks, at some point you'd think the loan would be called due.
But hey, Elon is now in charge of government contracts and spending, what luck.
I keep saying that all the billionaires are imaginary. All their money is tied up in concepts. ;ie stocks, bonds etc. hell even land will be worthless in an apocalypse. At most their maybe worth a couple hundred in mill in cash liquidity. Which will also become worthless in an apocalypse....
I've always liked the idea that people who get a country into a war have to have skin in the game: either go to the frontlines, or have a family member there.
The folks who come back from war and get folded into the police state are still hungry to relive their "glory" days. The dime store torture goons that have climbed up the rectum of the political system and now occupy Governorships and Senate Seats are sadists who long for the rush of hot blood splatter and the siren's song of human screams. The gangs of rapists unleashed across Gaza, Egypt, Jordan, and Iraq by their IDF commanders are like locusts - they've been created to destroy and that's all they know how to do.
The closer you are to war the more is transforms you into a creature of war.
I hope he films the process of him trying to get death collars onto a a team of expensive security guards so that future archaeologists can have a laugh
Robert Evans is a bisexual Texas guy who decided he was going to report on war, so talked his way onto a military plane with other reporters as a stringer when Beirut was a place for barracks bombing. An experienced combat photographer took him under his wing and kept him alive. Evans has walked on concrete smelling the crushed dead from the collapsed structures. I know all this from memory (correct me if I messed anything up) because I researched his background a bit, because his “It Could Happen Here” podcast - about how a US civil war would go down - is very articulate and savvy, and I was curious how he gained that insight.
The only thing more articulate and savvy could possibly be the products and services that support his program. If you lurk on Lemmy, Robert, glad you’re here. Always wished I could hear a conversation between you and Robert Baer for a few hours… partially because I would expect only the best alcohol and other substances to be served in that room.
Evans is the kind of guy to book his own ticket to a war zone and hope he gets paid for his reporting afterward. I have no idea if he's ever done that, but he has that vibe. As others said, I think he's a "journalist", in a positive way.
edit: he did a whole series about Syria, way way before recent developments. "The Women's War". and Jake Hanrahan. I remember they paid a driver who kept giving them terrible cigarettes.
Behind the Bastards is great! It's like The Dollop but for the worst people in history.
Coolzone media is all fantastic.
For current events there's It Could Happen Here and Executive Disorder (sub series of ICHH, weekly analysis of Trump admin)
He did a lot of coverage of the protests back in 2020 in Portland.
He's also an amazing author: After The Revolution (fictional sci-fi American civil war, free to listen audiobook on the link) and his older A Brief History Of Vice (he talks about historic drug use and personally tries out all the weird ways people did drugs, very funny)
So he's admitting to ruining everything and being a sexist piece of shit at the same time? Well done for being masterfully evil asshole. Satan high fives you for some style points on this one Elon.
The more chilling thing to me being that he is causing, wants, and/or expects this as someone "in power", for wont of a better term. Is this a desire (definitely) or coming to terms with things already set in motion? I hope it's just a shitpost, but who knows at this point?
It's a nazi eugenics dream to wipe the country off of undesirables and initiate your plan of gender affirming individuals as they pop out of tubes. A good reminder thwt a journalist interviewed a billionaire who was showcasing their mega bunker in case everything goes to shit. What bothered the billionaire was how is he able to control his security when the natural order is upside down?
Journalist suggested empathy, to understand and care about your security detail. Billionaire disregarded that and suggested to himself shock collars would be more ideal than empathy.
Like, we all joke. But Musk's a carnival barker at heart. He'd fit right in alongside the Colonel Qaddafi and General Butt Naked crowd. The Northern Alliance was overflowing with ego-bloated horn dogs. The Columbian cartels are rife with tin pot business goons.
You could change Noriega or Pahlavi or Bong Bong Marcos out with Elon Musk and nobody would notice a difference. Hell, there's a reason a guy like Milei is bro-ing out Elon every chance he gets. They're the same kind of guy.
You underestimate the atrophy having no financial needs or stress concerning any real aspect of survival can create. If we go back to caveman times, no one that has never experienced a blister on their feet is going to be surviving very long.
None of the women I've dated have enough post apocalyptic potential either. One of them said they would kill themselves if a zombie apocalypse started. It takes a strong person for that, man or woman.
Are you implying suicide is a weak option? I don't believe so. It's not a stronger stance to side with a survival instinct; you could say it's actually the easiest thing to do. It requires nothing more than to exploit our biology (adrenaline, aggression, etc.). Not to downplay the complexity of all of us animals, but it's not extraordinary to behave like that, just as a lion or a rat would do too.
The other option requires something unique to humanity (until now and as far as we know) that is to question our actions, to reflect upon them, to give them a personal value, and to make decisions upon all of this. Few animals commit suicide and probably most do so due to a pathological state and not a philosophical argument behind. To embrace this is very hard; it goes against our body's program.
I won't say it's necessarily stronger, but neither is it weaker. I admire the honesty and bravery of doing such questions.
Suicide is definitely the weakest option someone can take. Maybe you've never been suicidal, but I have, and that feeling is so strong. It wouldn't feel like anything to end it, just a release. But it takes absolutely everything to keep going.
You may have a point about surviving being instinctual, and therefore someone who is too dumb to even consider suicide I'm any situation, isn't stronger for not having the thought. But I really don't think that's most people. I think most people that would have to struggle to survive an apocalypse, would absolutely be pushing through the urge to end it. Unless all that's left is savages, suicide is weak as hell.
Yeah. Being part of a corrupt kakistocracy, in a highly visible role, but not smart or tough enough to survive outside out your cushy trust fund corruption environment, is honestly one of the absolute worst places to be. You’d be better off as “prison inmate” or “homeless person.” Literally anything else.
Yeah I haven't personally known warlords but I've been close enough to know the type and he ain't it. They would be picking bits of him out of their teeth with toothpicks by the end of day one.
Warlords don't just pay people to respect them They command respect via a combination of loyalty, fear, and rewarding those who follow them. A common cause can help but it isn't required. None of this describes Elon Musk who cuts people loose at the first opportunity, abuses his staff, and looks for every opportunity to underpay them. Most successful corporate executives would do very badly to be honest. They are the exact opposite of real leadership.
We've seen Mad Max, but what about Reasonable Max, Supply-Side Max or even Opportunistic Max? Or, in this particular case, Grimes-please-call-me Max? That's a whole different story.