[midnightclubbed]

For a few years it seemed like Tesla and SpaceX were those companies - reducing our dependence on fossil fuels, boosting clean transportation and solar, pushing forward space exploration.

But the promises turned into stock boosting lies; the environmental good into vote buying for climate change deniers, and space exploration into low earth cell-towers.

[theshackleford]

> For a few years it seemed like Tesla

Those years were a long time ago for me. I’ve been arguing musk is a snake oil salesman since at least 2014. I lost friends over it at the time, people who were very heavily invested into musk, both financially and for some reason, emotionally.

[anon191928]

how is he snake oil s. since that time, he with his several teams, actually made electric cars a market wide reality, cheap orbit rockets and with starlink internet almost everywhere possible on earth? snake oil would be over without actually changing the history.

[theshackleford]

> he with his several teams, actually made electric cars a market wide reality

Electric cars? That would be Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning, Tesla’s actual founders. They created the Roadster and brought the vision. Musk came in with money, staged a hostile takeover, and then rewrote the company’s history to fit his inflated ego, like the sad little man he is. It's honestly cringe.

> cheap orbit rockets and with starlink internet almost everywhere possible on earth

Amazing what billions in government contracts and management smart enough to keep Elon out of the way can accomplish. SpaceX deserves praise; spinning it into a Elon is a genius narrative? Not so much.

As for the snake oil, just a few of Elon's greatest hits:

1. Hyperloop. Old idea's wrapped in new buzzwords. Never viable. He didn’t invent it, but he sure wants you to think he did, just like with Telsa.

2. FSD “next year” since forever. Still not here. Still being marketed like it's solved. And still charging like a wounded bull for it.

3. Robotaxis and appreciation hype. Musk literally claimed Teslas would go up in value and earn passive income as robotaxis. It doesnt get much more snake oil than this.

"We’re confident the cars will be worth more than what you pay for them today." – July 2019

"It’s financially insane to buy anything other than a Tesla." – April 2019

Absolutely laughable. Show me one consumer owned Tesla that’s worth more today than it was in 2019. I’ll wait. If you can't, we'll mark it down as snake oil bullshit.

4. Optimus. Elon hyped this like Tesla had cracked general purpose humanoid robotics out of nowhere, leapfrogging companies that have been grinding on this for decades. The first reveal? A guy in a suit dancing. The follow ups? Stiff prototypes doing slow, assisted movements and following that, remotely controlled animatronics and so on. Meanwhile, Musk is on stage talking about replacing human labor, reshaping the economy, and bots becoming more valuable than cars. None of it is remotely close. But it worked, stock popped, headlines flooded in, and the fantasy sold.

5. SolarCity. An overhyped, underdelivered money pit that Tesla had to bail out. Just another Elon tyre fire.

6. "Funding secured." Flat out lied about taking Tesla private at $420. SEC slapped him, but the stock soared. Mission accomplished.

And that’s just scratching the surface of his bullshit. It ignores all the other missed deadlines, quality issues, inflated delivery claims, etc etc etc. Here is some more of his bullshit, also I am sure not exhaustive:

https://elonmusk.today/

Yes, he’s had wins. But wins don’t erase the mountain of bullshit. Elon’s biggest output isn’t cars or rockets. It’s hype. His true skill is selling fantasy to retail investors and tech worshipping middled aged white dudes who still think he’s some genius messiah. Strip the PR away, and you’ve got a guy who overpromises, underdelivers, and never stops running his mouth.

[anon191928]

man I'm so sorry for you. Like if you can't understand what some people lead or achieve, which is real with rockets and such. You just write long BS for you bias. Have a good day

[theshackleford]

> man I'm so sorry for you.

I feel sorry for you. I guess we can share our feeling sorry for each other in common.

> You just write long BS for you bias.

Careful now, your bias is showing.

> Have a good day

Every day is a great day with the money i've made off TSLA lately :) Thanks Elon!

[geon]

Little of what you mention was evident before 2014.

[theshackleford]

> Little of what you mention was evident before 2014.

I was responding to a parent that said "since that time."

Even if I had not been, it just serves to validate that with each passing year I have been given only more reasosn to think the things I did in 2014, today.