• fibojoly@sh.itjust.works
    1·
    4 hours ago

    Reminds me of that show Billions where the dude seemed on the verge of losing it all, but it was actually a ploy to short some stock or some shit like that. Was a great show with a complete asshole of a protagonist.

    • Phoenixz@lemmy.ca
      1·
      55 minutes ago

      Don’t forget the lying. He always always lies to sell his shit, always has for decades now, and it works, people always lapped yo every dumb bullshit that came out of his mouth

    • psmgx@lemmy.world
      1·
      1 hour ago

      that may have been entirely or mostly intentional, because it’s now 100% a right-wing propaganda machine and it got Trump elected

          • JargonWagon@lemmy.world
            3·
            1 hour ago

            *Rep Ro Khanna is trying to kiss his Nazi ass

            The only other Dem mentioned in the article that you can try pinning that statement on simply said that he’s “a believer in redemption”, but that’s it really.

          • psmgx@lemmy.world
            1·
            58 minutes ago

            centrist Democrat. singular. one.

            “tHe DeMoCrAtS LoVe ElOn” is a bullshit propaganda talking point. this is how propaganda works, and yall be falling for it.

          • skepticalifornia@lemmy.worldEnglish
            2·
            2 hours ago

            No one in your linked article is a leader in the party - just a lot of conjecture there to make the Dems the bad guys and reinforce the “both parties are the same” narrative that your ilk like to spread.

    • Melvin_Ferd@lemmy.world
      561·
      1 day ago

      Its a human blind spot. A lot of people confuse wealth for intelligence. In lower socio-economic levels, succeeding involves a lot of intelligence. Its a fucking struggle. Lots of fish trying to eat each other and take what little resources we have. One fuck up and it’s all over. So anyone that is succeeding is also someone that with enough intelligence to foresee pitfalls and avoid them or escape with their wealth.

      Those values are used to evaluate the people at the top which are swimming in a whole different pond. The neopotism and safety nets built into the upper crust of society is not part of the calculation that a lot of people use to factor into how they see these people. They still apply the same dog eat dog mentality to the upper crust of society.

      • Pup Biru@aussie.zoneEnglish
        22·
        1 day ago

        honestly wealth at any level requires luck… intelligence barely factors into it. it’s less that 1 fuck up and it’s all over, and more that 1 fuck up without someone to cover it up or bail you out and it’s all over… the wealthier you are, the bigger the fuck up before you or someone else can bail you out:

        poor? it’s an unexpected car issue

        rich? it’s that you fucked over literally an entire country for years on end in a very public way that gained you very little

      • Glide@lemmy.ca
        5·
        1 day ago

        A lot of people confuse wealth for intelligence.

        Smart people who make good products that people want will have the invisible hand distribute them wealth. Dumb people who make bad products that no one wants will go backrupt. This is the core philosophy behind why capitalism “works.” It is a system that conflates wealth with virtue, by design.

        You’re right to point out that it is incorrect logic, but no one is confusing anything. The entirety of our Western world is build around this idea and reinforces it to its people at every single opportunity. They’re making the judgements that they have been told are correct. Can we really say people are confused when they’re confidently acting exactly as they’ve been taught from birth?

    • LaLuzDelSol@lemmy.world
      48·
      1 day ago

      Look I don’t like Musk either but even starting off wealthy becoming the richest man in the world takes some doing. He was way ahead of the curve on reusable rockets and EVs and succeed there where a bunch of people failed. I think where he fails is when it comes to protecting his image and maintaining relationships. He’s a thin-skinned narcissist who thinks he’s humanity’s savoir and eventually that got to him.

      • skisnow@lemmy.caEnglish
        2·
        1 hour ago

        I guess Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning were just hapless chaps stumbling around in the dark, until Elon lighted their way with his genius vision of how to build an EV. /s

        So much so I had to google their names because even I can’t remember them.

    • Contemporarium@lemm.eeEnglish
      28·
      18 hours ago

      Are you serious? He wants people to think he’s cool SO bad it’s genuinely so pathetic lol. All the other billionaires you could say that. But Elon is so desperate for people to think he’s this funny cool based guy it’s hilarious

      • fodor@lemmy.zip
        7·
        15 hours ago

        That is partly true, but also he’s a strong narcissist. They make up their own stories. They’ll play up the feud to take eyes off of other bad shit.

        Don’t think for a second he lost or he’s gone or it’s all over for him. He doesn’t see it that way.

        • faintwhenfree@lemmus.orgEnglish
          1·
          8 hours ago

          I swear I have seen a comment very similar to this, not word for word, but pretty much similar structure and words and points describing Kanye.

    • stormeuh@lemmy.world
      12·
      21 hours ago

      For now, he does have that yes, but his wealth is for a significant portion a house of cards built on the value of tesla stock. If the value of that stock falls far enough, lenders who gave him loans with tesla stock as collateral could margin call him, essentially asking for more collateral. That could make him the poorest person in the world quite quickly, i.e. billions in debt.

      • Subverb@lemmy.world
        5·
        19 hours ago

        While you’re absolutely correct, even if Musk lost 99.7% percent of his wealth he would still be a billionaire (depending on whose net worth number you choose to use). I wouldn’t hold out seeing him in a bread line or starting a gofundme.

        • Fusselwurm@feddit.org
          2·
          11 hours ago

          huh. showerthought:

          broke: gofundme woke: sell shares/stocks bespoke: have your company subsidized by the state

        • howrar@lemmy.ca
          2·
          14 hours ago

          The real question is whether the collapse of his house of cards will lead to a 99.7% loss of wealth or >100% loss. He won’t be a billionaire anymore if it’s the latter.

          • skisnow@lemmy.caEnglish
            1·
            6 hours ago

            He could declare bankruptcy and be a billionaire again tomorrow.

            And I don’t say this out of any kind of admiration for him; just there’s still enough moneyed rubes out there that he could set up a new company making plumbuses and it would hit unicorn status by the end of the day.

          • Subverb@lemmy.world
            3·
            14 hours ago

            Yeah, he probably will. I know I’d be surprised if he didn’t have money squirreled away somewhere.

            • howrar@lemmy.ca
              2·
              12 hours ago

              I’d also be surprised if no one goes after him for trying to run away from debts. If we know anything, it’s that most laws only apply when they benefit the rich, and he’ll be making a lot of rich people angry if it turns out he did have extra money squirreled away.

      • Phoenicianpirate@lemm.eeEnglish
        15·
        21 hours ago

        I wish more billionaires would get on those… and visit WW1 era military shipwrecks…

        spoiler

        The reason why that is a terrible idea is because during WW1, many naval artillery shells used picric acid as an explosive filler, picric acid reacts readily with metals to form highly sensitive picrate salts that are very sensitive to detonation upon being disturbed. Meaning messing with them even slightly has a significant risk of a massive underwater explosion happening. WW1 era military shipwrecks are strictly off limits to divers for that very reason.

  • Underwaterbob@sh.itjust.works
    37·
    1 day ago

    The thing is, this turd burgler could lose millions a day for the rest of his life and still retire more well-off than just about anybody. When’s the last time a truly filthy rich person ended up in the gutter?

    • skisnow@lemmy.caEnglish
      4·
      5 hours ago

      If his wealth were a US treasury bond, he’d have to spend at least $50,000,000 every DAY in order to not still keep getting richer.

      Take a moment to think about how difficult it is to spend $50,000,000. If I gave you 24 hours to do it using Brewster’s Millions rules, you’d struggle.

      There is no good reason for billionaires to exist.

    • Pup Biru@aussie.zoneEnglish
      3·
      1 day ago

      filthy rich person ended up in the gutter?

      there’s not much that i like about the american healthcare system but the idea of fElon eventually ending up bankrupt because of that fucking black eye really had me thinking “maybe there’s something to this”

  • rumba@lemmy.zipEnglish
    11·
    1 day ago

    Hard crash on the businesses, he sells whatever he has that’s worth good money (other, not his, companies stock) and buys a bunch of the destroyed stock. Promises to cede control, but continue funding. Tesla rebrands, becomes affordable and consumer friendly.

    I mean, there’s no way he would let all that happen. But he’s still sitting on an absolutely massive pile of money. If he had the balls to pull the rip cord he could sit right where he is for the rest of his life. He just doesn’t have it in him.

    • EchoSnail@lemmy.zip
      14·
      1 day ago

      If I had fuck you money I’d buy Mount Everest, use my boring company to build a fucking subway railcar tunnel escalator thing. And then build an evil lair on top of my Everest. Fill a moat with lava or some shit, and then never see people again.

      Id hollow out the mountain enough for artificial farms and then pay the local community filthy amounts of money to produce my food for me.

      Oh. And also, 20 million to whoever can make proton work 100% on ARM64 or create a compatibility layer for x86/64 for ARM.