The unraveling of a billionaire's mind

Pekelo

Pekelo

I posted this in the Psychology section because here I don't want to discuss a car's technological features or a business' profitability, but more of the pressures of being a CEO and telling one too many lies while leading the public on a fantastic dream journey into the future:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/16/business/elon-musk-interview-tesla.html

This interview seemingly caused a 7% drop in TSLA's price. This is a very candid look into the mind of Elon Musk, the dreamer, the leader, and the fraud. He is the 21st century's PT Barnum, or if you want an even better analogy, the Match King, Ivar Krueger:

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

Ivar is an excellent example that you can build a business empire (some of it still exists even today), some part of it can be even profitable, but overall the whole thing is still a giant fraud. Time will prove if this analogy is correct or not, but in the main time it looks like the pressure is getting on Elon's nerves.

As a good narcissist, he doesn't acknowledge mistakes or shows regrets about certain tweets. He even offers his position to anybody who could do it better. And of course someone else should be blamed, for example those pesky short sellers.

According to Elon, this year was an Annus Horribilis (all of it was caused by him) and more pain is to come. Call me stupid but good CEOs surround themselves with smart people AND listen to what they say. The runaway train of tesla has been caused by King Elon and the Tesla BoDs inability to control him. Eat what you cooked...

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/15/...=RelatedCoverage&pgtype=Article&region=Footer

"Asked if he might be bipolar, he replied, “Yeah.” Then he added, “Maybe not medically tho. Dunno. Bad feelings correlate to bad events, so maybe real problem is getting carried away in what I sign up for,” which he later described as a “ticket to hell.”"
 
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the scams are coming to an end, that's why the guy is toast.

hyperloop is an obvious scam;
spaceX, close to a scam; a federal money grab - going to Mars and all.. yeah right.
solarcity, a federal money grab
Tesla - you be the judge; a federal money grab

after paypal I think the guy started thinking about how to scam the federal government... renewable energies and all.

the whole thing stinks.
 
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Most of the comments aren't sympathetic and they are pretty funny:

D Morris
Austin, TX1m ago
We must be mindful of the torments billionaires have to face day after day. Aside from the heavy burden of having so much wealth, society needs to supply the always-do-wells with lifelong psychological support provided by our taxes. I cry for them.

Elo Musk has the wherewithal to drop his burden and walk away scot free, with no financial considerations looming during the remainder of his natural life. We should all sorrow for his being lost in the maelstrom of life's vagaries.

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Dougdaeditor
Madison, WI5m ago
Asked if the exhaustion was taking a toll on his physical health, Mr. Musk answered: “It’s not been great, actually. I’ve had friends come by who are really concerned.”

Then when I laid all this self-infused drama on 'em, they left like a, er, rocket.


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Peter Aterton
Albany6m ago
If Elon Musk were to Merge Tesla with SpaceX, you would have a new car company.

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

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Paxinmano
Rhinebeck, NY2h ago
Musk's morning mantra should be the opening of a Procol Harum song: "wallowing in a morass of self despair made only more painful that all I am is of my own making..."

The Greeks had a word for this sort of thing, hubris.
 
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I watched yahoo finance where they compared Musk to Jobs... that's BS...

Musk is a con man going after every federal subsidy there is.

not that there is anything wrong with it... greed is good.

but the man is no Jobs.
 
Tesla investors spooked by revelations in emotional interview
www.bbc.com/news/business-45218935

That is too much, 47 is getting too old for that workload. I have done hours like that for a few years in my 20s however I then took a whole year off.

I have worked for three deca-billionaires who I have met and talked to a fair bit. It is not an easy gig keeping Jr doctor hours but they tended to be protected/buffered by smart people. This direct to Twitter world is showing up raw stuff.

Musk is 6'2" and strong built, a bigger guy than he looks to most people I'd expect so not compensating for inferiority issues. His size is good for stamina.

His dad was a mechanical engineer and as a kid he was an entrepreneurial software developer. I'd expect Howard Hughes was far more brilliant as a mind however that is probably good.

They talk about 'productive narcissism' associated with most rich/billionaires. I think the type really matters. Those who really crave 'supply', people to blow smoke up their ass even when they make mistakes are bad news. The other type who are just really buoyant and think they are the bees knees are better connected to reality.
 
Pekelo said:
I posted this in the Psychology section because here I don't want to discuss a car's technological features or a business' profitability, but more of the pressures of being a CEO and telling one too many lies while leading the public on a fantastic dream journey into the future:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/16/business/elon-musk-interview-tesla.html

This interview seemingly caused a 7% drop in TSLA's price. This is a very candid look into the mind of Elon Musk, the dreamer, the leader, and the fraud. He is the 21st century's PT Barnum, or if you want an even better analogy, the Match King, Ivar Krueger:

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

Ivar is an excellent example that you can build a business empire (some of it still exists even today), some part of it can be even profitable, but overall the whole thing is still a giant fraud. Time will prove if this analogy is correct or not, but in the main time it looks like the pressure is getting on Elon's nerves.

As a good narcissist, he doesn't acknowledge mistakes or shows regrets about certain tweets. He even offers his position to anybody who could do it better. And of course someone else should be blamed, for example those pesky short sellers.

According to Elon, this year was an Annus Horribilis (all of it was caused by him) and more pain is to come. Call me stupid but good CEOs surround themselves with smart people AND listen to what they say. The runaway train of tesla has been caused by King Elon and the Tesla BoDs inability to control him. Eat what you cooked...

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/15/...=RelatedCoverage&pgtype=Article&region=Footer

"Asked if he might be bipolar, he replied, “Yeah.” Then he added, “Maybe not medically tho. Dunno. Bad feelings correlate to bad events, so maybe real problem is getting carried away in what I sign up for,” which he later described as a “ticket to hell.”"
More...
I didn't take long for me to become suspicious that Mr. Musk was exhibiting signs of bipolar disorder; thus I was never tempted to invest in Tesla. Now i see that he himself has entertained the same thought. Nevertheless, best wishes to Mr. Musk and his investors.
 
dozu888 said:
the scams are coming to an end, that's why the guy is toast.

hyperloop is an obvious scam;
spaceX, close to a scam; a federal money grab - going to Mars and all.. yeah right.
solarcity, a federal money grab
Tesla - you be the judge; a federal money grab

after paypal I think the guy started thinking about how to scam the federal government... renewable energies and all.

the whole thing stinks.
More...

I think he has an incredible vision. Just one guy woth a few billion isn’t going to realize it by himself.

Everything fits together. It’s not a bunch of random stuff like a search engine and robot walking dogs.
 
The interesting question is: Does Elon believe in his own bullshit? There is a slight possibility that because nobody confronts them, after a while these type of people believe that they know the answer to everything and they are always right.

But he is also supposed to be smart, and a smart person should know his own limitations. And when he says outright lies like 10K weekly production by the end of this year or synergy with Solar City, that points us to fraud, not over zealous excitement about the future.

He reminds me of most ponzi runners of CNBC's Greed series. They start out with good intentions, they even make good returns for a while, then they get attracted to success and money and when their investment doesn't work anymore, they start to cover it up and defraud their customers.

If he is a not a complete idiot he should have realized that the whole "model X is making profits for the next mass market car" thingy didn't work out. And then instead of making a truly cheap and accessable car for the masses they ended up with another luxury car. At this point he might tell himself, I am doing this for the long run over all good of the people, but in the short run I have to lie a bit.

It is nothing else but self delusion and justification for his lies. And the "we are going to Mars and save humankind in the process" thing is just ridiculously stupid.
 
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