Elon Musk, conman?

[Leah]

Wasn't Hyperloop a scam to get people not interested in high speed rail?

[LilCerberus]

Wasn't Hyperloop a scam to get people not interested in high speed rail?

Hyperloop lasted nine years, & still may see a future in Europe...
California's High Speed Rail project went on for fourteen years, & didn't work

[chainsaw midget]

This is when I started to dislike him.

He looks like Alfred E. Newman in this picture. 

[ralfy]

The richest people in the world and their opponents are essentially con men. That's because the bulk of wealth worldwide consists of numbers in hard drives whose values go up and down based on speculation. That's why Musk lost $200 billion while Bezos at one point saw his wealth grow by $10 billion in a single day.

It's not because they worked harder or less, or that they did something wrong or right. Rather, financial gambling takes places, with losers selling too late and winners buying when everyone is losing.

What about those nothingburgers? Most of mainstream and social media are controlled by only a few corporations:

https://pwestpathfinder.com/2022/05/09/the-big-sixs-big-media-game/

The global economy itself is controlled by only a few corporations, too, and mostly in financing:

https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21228354-500-revealed-the-capitalist-network-that-runs-the-world/

In countries like the U.S., the bulk of that wealth is managed by a few corporations, too:

https://www.businessinsider.com/what-to-know-about-blackrock-larry-fink-biden-cabinet-facts-2020-12

Guess who funds the same mainstream and social media, not to mention retail companies, pharma, food processing, and the defense industry? The same.

And not just pharma but even food processing is controlled by a few, too:

https://www.businessinsider.com/10-companies-control-the-food-industry-2016-9

And those deals extend even to the political realm, where economies are even essentially privatized, i.e., basically sold off to the same asset managers:

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/12/28/zelenskyy-blackrock-ceo-fink-agree-to-coordinate-ukraine-investment.html

Given that, you shouldn't be surprised if the same corporations censor news that they don't want you to hear and push others that they think you do, or say one thing:

https://twitter.com/wef/status/813869325635424256

and then argue that that's not what they meant:

https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-factcheck-wef-idUSKBN2AP2T0

Why? Because not only is anything you say against them a nothingburger, so are you.

[ER]

Then you better be careful exposing them, ralfy, they might come for you.....

[ralfy]

Every point I gave is common knowledge (at least to those who bother to investigate) and several even come straight from the horse's mouth. For example,

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/15/world/europe/ukraine-weapons.html

They can't even keep a straight face about these issues:

https://nypost.com/2022/04/01/new-york-times-finally-admit-hunters-laptop-is-real-but-only-to-protect-joe-biden/

Now everything is connected to racism:

https://edition.cnn.com/2023/01/27/opinions/tyre-nichols-memphis-police-department-jones/index.html

https://twitter.com/Frank94147822/status/1619371035324993544

Or turn news into what are essentially press releases:

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-64402102

We're looking at a new Golden Age of Comedy. LOL.

[ER]

I know you're a fan of Russia, mate, maybe you'd like it better there? They won't let you complain as openly, but on the plus side, you would be closer to Putin, and you've expressed support for him. Might be a good move, never know. 

[ralfy]

Not a fan of Russia. More important, not a fan of disinformation. Finally, not a fan of either-or views, e.g., either you're with us, or you're pro-Russian.

[ER]

Not a fan of Russia. More important, not a fan of disinformation. Finally, not a fan of either-or views, e.g., either you're with us, or you're pro-Russian.

Somebody hold my skirts and grab the smelling salts, he's knocked me over with a feather! 

[Alex]

Not a fan of Russia. More important, not a fan of disinformation. Finally, not a fan of either-or views, e.g., either you're with us, or you're pro-Russian.

Somebody hold my skirts and grab the smelling salts, he's knocked me over with a feather!  

Guess he didn't read his own posts before. Fair enough, I mostly skipped them too.

[ralfy]

Somebody hold my skirts and grab the smelling salts, he's knocked me over with a feather! 

You did that to yourself.

Why are you trying to derail this thread by making it an issue about me? My point is that Elon Musk's business and political rivals are also conmen, and I think I was able to prove that by supplying evidence.

Given such, why are you not responding to those points and instead resort to personal attacks?

[ralfy]

Guess he didn't read his own posts before. Fair enough, I mostly skipped them too.

What an absurd claim! Obviously, I read my posts and stated my argument clearly, and it's not pro-Russian. You need to work on your reading comprehension.

Back to our topic? What do you think of what I said about Musk's opponents? Are they con men, too?

Finally, I'd like to add the ff:

https://nypost.com/2022/12/21/elon-musk-says-he-saved-twitter-from-3-billion-shortfall/

So, it turns out that Twitter was $3 billion in the hole, and for some reason this "con man" comes in and saves it, but had to make major cuts in costs, including firing up to half of employees, many of whom were being paid something like $170k a year to moderate content.

The latter came out because many of them protested, arguing that Twitter operations would fall apart without them. Instead, the platform continued to operate smoothly, which implied that they were not necessary. It also turns out that there were several problems with the code and algorithms, which Musk wants to fix, and explains why he wants to step down as CEO and let others take over non-technical aspects of the firm.

Other news: so those who complained moved to Mastodon, and I'm told that for many of them there's very little engagement in various self-hosted groups there, so they've been moving back to Twitter to attack Musk in his own platform. Worse, the same migrants turn out to be moderating tyrants, such that they're cancelling each other out, as if they they're getting a taste of their own medicine.

Meanwhile, many who were banned or suspended multiple times have now been freed and have started attacking those who ran the platform previously. Nothingburgers, says the mainstream media, even though they end up admitting things that they deny months or years later, from the contents of Biden's laptop to issues concerning vaccines.

If that's the work of con men for several in this thread, then I wonder what non-con men would be for them.

[ralfy]

Here's where it gets weirder:

https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/how-will-elon-musk-pay-twitter-2022-10-07/

A con man would bring in others and then, as CEO, pretend that he calls the shots. That's what happened to Twitter BEFORE Musk came in.

But now, Musks soaks up all outstanding common stock using equity financing and debt financing, which means the CEO is also owner and calls the shots, but takes full responsibility for any outcome. And he wants greater transparency, which is why he's letting others expose what happened to Twitter execs.

That's a con man?

[ER]

Hey, sorry, ralfy, I'm not really attacking you personally, I don't dislike you, just find your posts and opinions wrong, tedious, and an active encapsulation of why academics who rarely set foot in the real world ought never to be allowed to influence government policy. People like you get people like....people like friends of mine killed. I didn't mean to make you feel under assault, and refer you to the (I thought rather kind and supportive) personal email I sent you when you took your marbles and stomped off went away for a month, saying I hoped you'd not had your feelings hurt by the locking of the threads you'd hogged.

I actually have taken up for you several times and noted that you seem a decent sort, just haughty and naively inexperienced in life, and quick to tell other people you have the only answer and the views of those others don't matter. That is arrogance of the least sexy sort, and will never ever get you a blowjob.

For the record, up there I was just busting your chops a bit by gently satirizing the non-stop negativity of your pedantic, nonsensical, blathering, seemingly pro-Putin, anti-US/anti-UK/anti-EU/anti-capitalistic/anti-western/anti-reality armchair mansplaining. I don't think you realize how annoying your views and the way you present them can be. If I hurt your feelings, it was not intentional, though I was messing with you a little. You need thick skin in life and especially online, and sometimes when others sense you being weak, they bite all the harder.

Also, can I take it you're not moving to Russia then?

PS: For the love of Bog, Sven, lock this thread!

[Alex]

Guess he didn't read his own posts before. Fair enough, I mostly skipped them too.

What an absurd claim! Obviously, I read my posts and stated my argument clearly, and it's not pro-Russian. You need to work on your reading comprehension.

Hmm, how many times did I point out to you that you'd made a claim I'd said something that I hadn't? I didn't even pull you up on all of them there were so many. Pot, kettle, colour check.