I'm all in on TSLA but I'm not a groupie. Musk is an awkward guy. His delivery is awful, his train of thought is incoherent at best. The quarterly call was disappointing. Yet, he is a genius. He thinks big and has the ability to carry his ambitions and implement. He is the Howard Hughes of the 21st century and we should expect grandiose failures. So far, so good.
All in is a texas holdum term for betting every thing you have on the table. There is zero risk control. I hope the cards fall for you.
Musk doesn't think being compared to Hughes is apt. He thinks, as great as Hughes was, his inventions didn't a have direct impact on peoples lives.
That sounds like him alright. Musk is highly ego driven, which makes him sometimes fail to differentiate what he wants from what people want, and people sometimes should be more concerned with what Musk wants. FSD or his insurance scheme, for example, are embraced by the same segment of early adopters and invested groupies, but they are highly invasive behavior modification tools that I'm not so sure many people will want. Musk says FSD may become Tesla’s most profitable venture but I have my doubts. Beyond the geeky flaunting of a wiz product, how many and how often will drivers give up driving to a system that perpetually monitors them? And once FSD is truly full self driving, how long will it be until government requires its use? The insurance scheme is very similar to Chinese behavior score, except they must have it while we ask for it. Can you imagine a score indicator right next to your speedometer adjusting as you drive? "I'm sorry Elon, but the speed limit is 35 mph and you are driving at 40 mph. This is unsafe driving and we have adjusted your score accordingly. Please drive carefully, and have a nice day Elon!" I know Musk thinks it's so cool (he said it himself) that people are incentivized to modify their behavior, and moralizing Gen X and Z are all proponents of such schemes "that save lives", but I chuckle at the unintended consequences we will all get to watch on YouTube and TikTok, our windows to the wacky world. Imagine... "Dude! I took my mom's car last night, look 100 green score on the dashboard... after a night of fun, it's now.. 0 red! LOL ain't that funny?!?" I'm also puzzled by the robot project, the one meant to replace that unreliable labor force, per Musk himself. I, like Musk, am anti unions although perhaps not for the same reasons. But telling the world that his most important new project is to make robots to replace labor is high on the scale of absurdity if only because his non union Berlin factory is in the heart of the world's strongest auto manufacturing union. I wish Musk would focus his energy on quality and deliver 100% flawless cars emulating Toyota's philosophy. I wish Musk didn't talk so much about what he will deliver when he can't. And I wish Musk would hire a public speaking coach.
I would like to see an analysis of how much of Mr. Musk's wealth is derived from taxpayer subsidies. When J.D. Rockefeller was working on his second fortune (his first fortune came from selling kerosine) he never said governments should have programs to build gas stations. Rockefeller paid for all the distribution and support by himself (ESSO. Sunoco, etc.) I don't think it's the same with Elon Musk. We are paying for his distribution and support.