Anyone reconsidering their order after seeing how Elon is reacting to COVID-19?

[jonquiljo]

Musk should not be playing politics in the middle of an earnings report - an excellent earnings report! Anyone who knows that Musk’s compensation is largely based on TSLA stock price will see right through this.

As someone (myself) who is “extremely high risk” with COVID-19, I really cringe at the way Musk has been reacting. COVID kills people of all ages - and people in their 30’s, 40’s, and 50’s are wheeled out in body bags quite often.

Tesla can resume when it is safe to resume. The people working in the Fremont plant have the right to be safe as possible. Everyone in the Bay Area has the right to be safe as possible. Everyone in the world should be safe.

What people seem to miss is that the pandemic will likely come in waves - with a second wave very possible in the Fall and Winter. If we back off restrictions too quickly now - we are guaranteeing that many more people will die. So Tesla should restart their factory now, only to shut it down again as the Bay Area becomes the next hot spot? We can possibly avoid a serious second wave if we remain careful now.

We are all taking a personal and (likely) financial beating from this pandemic. Lots of people will lose their lives, or most of their financial stability. Musk needs to realize that he is no more important than anyone in the grand picture of things.

I still like my Tesla a lot, but my opinion of Musk personally has dropped enormously. Tesla will survive this and do well, which is a lot more than I can say for a lot of people and things. The analysts all are calling Tesla as a company thats here to stay. Just as they say that, Musk opens his mouth again?

see: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/29/elon-musk-slams-coronavirus-shelter-in-place-orders-as-fascist.html

 

[Evoforce]

So, my brain falls on both sides of the fence. I have heart disease and now stage 3 renal caused after a quad heart bypass last year. Heart disease is the number one killer in this country. A lot of people don't even know that they may have a condition that makes them more susceptible.

This virus is also killing those who had seemingly perfect health. I believe people should still shelter at home as much as possible. Possible vaccine and emergency drugs are not ready yet. More needs to be known about this virus and what it can and cannot do.

We still don't have testing capability to know who is infected or has been. So all social gathering should still not occur. I believe some businesses have to operate. Those that do, must protect the workers from the virus.

In the case of Tesla, it appears that they were able to protect their employees in China at ground zero. If they provided that same protection to employees in California, I see no reason for them to remain shut down. Let Tesla prove their case.

I would argue the same for other businesses that could social distance and have the proper protective equipment. I would not approve to reopen those that encourage dangerous social gathering.

Because we (as a country) were terribly unprepared for a pandemic and were late at responding, we have a much harder situation to deal with.

 

[TypeRx]

In the case of Tesla, it appears that they were able to protect their employees in China at ground zero. If they provided that same protection to employees in California, I see no reason for them to remain shut down. Let Tesla prove their case.

I would argue the same for other businesses that could social distance and have the proper protective equipment. I would not approve to reopen those that encourage dangerous social gathering.

It's a complicated situation for sure. The problem with what you propose (let Tesla prove their case) is that the only way you know if it works or not is to wait several weeks and then see how many people get infected, hospitalized, and die (or ultimately recover!). It won't be zero. So then your threshold is how much is acceptable and preventable. Nobody knows what the right answer is and decisions are largely driven on emotion and what our personal situation is.

Musk should not be playing politics in the middle of an earnings report - an excellent earnings report! Anyone who knows that Musk’s compensation is largely based on TSLA stock price will see right through this.

I still like my Tesla a lot, but my opinion of Musk personally has dropped enormously. Tesla will survive this and do well, which is a lot more than I can say for a lot of people and things. The analysts all are calling Tesla as a company thats here to stay. Just as they say that, Musk opens his mouth again?

Yeah, agree 100%. Its too bad a genious at one (or many) things can be such an imbecile at others. I guess none of us is perfect

 

[MXLRplus]

Was there a runaway epidemic at Tesla factories that is being hidden from us?

Because South Korea never closed any of their auto factories in Korea for more than 7 days that I can see. They only closed their foreign plants like the US one.

Amazon never shut down. Is there a runaway epidemic there? Not at our massive warehouse. In fact, many of the facilities closed here, including the schools, were closed before there was a verifiable risk. 25,000 students at a college with zero cases closes down, perhaps for a year?

What is good for New York might not work in California.

I'm with Elon on this one. I have a choice whether or not I risk SARS-CoV-2 infection. So do most people.

 

[TypeRx]

Was there a runaway epidemic at Tesla factories that is being hidden from us?

Sure wasn't. But, I wouldn't be surprised if there are some Tesla employees that ended up contracting COVID-19 (where they knew it or not).

What is good for New York might not work in California.

Yeah, and that is why each State is coming up with their own plan. Reality is you and I aren't in a position to effectively determine what is right here. For better or for worse its our elected officials that do it......

I'm with Elon on this one. I have a choice whether or not I risk SARS-CoV-2 infection. So do most people.

When talking about public health, it isn't about personal choice. It is about making choices for the greater good. In the end, I hope we get to at least 'phase 2' very soon. If it doesn't happen, I am worried about social unrest becoming a real issue....

 

[jonquiljo]

Was there a runaway epidemic at Tesla factories that is being hidden from us?

Because South Korea never closed any of their auto factories in Korea for more than 7 days that I can see. They only closed their foreign plants like the US one.

Amazon never shut down. Is there a runaway epidemic there? Not at our massive warehouse. In fact, many of the facilities closed here, including the schools, were closed before there was a verifiable risk. 25,000 students at a college with zero cases closes down, perhaps for a year?

What is good for New York might not work in California.

I'm with Elon on this one. I have a choice whether or not I risk SARS-CoV-2 infection. So do most people.

South Korea has done the most testing and contact tracing of any county in the world. They are a #1 example of how to manage a pandemic. The US could learn a lot from them - if we weren't spending so much time assigning blame.

Amazon has never shut down. But Amazon has had outbreaks and had to make lots of changes to give people protective equipment. Amazon is definitely not a good example - more like the North Korea of companies (not South Korea). Amazon has a seriously bad reputation of abusing workers and treating them like crap.

The Fremont factory is right in the middle of the San Francisco Bay area. Originally, in early March - Santa Clara county was showing up with a lot of coronavirus cases. On March 17, we were all shut down. Musk fought it for days. Shutting down the Bay Area and subsequently shutting down the whole state has saved a lot of lives. As I write this, NBC News shows the overall US to have 1,068,128 cases, where California (1/7th of the US) has only 48,789 cases. This says that California has 1/3 the cases per capita as the rest of the USA. That's a lot fewer body bags.

Until we have treatments that are shown to be effective against Coronavirus, not the malarial drugs that Musk touted for a while - and have been shown to give worse outcomes from the virus, we need to slow the progression. None of us likes the stay at home order and restrictions, but it takes time for advances to be made and to keep hospitals from overflowing with cases. All of this sucks, but what can we do but live with it? If we overwhelm the medical system with COVID infections - death rates go much higher because the sheer numbers of people prevent them from being treated as well as possible.

There are plans in place at the state level to lift restrictions, but only as we can get the number of new cases under control. The states that are lifting restrictions soon are going to have one nasty surprise when a 2nd and 3rd wave hits. The bottom line here is that none of us really has a chance to risk COVID or not. It is a community-based decision. What you do affects others, etc. And that's what Musk seems not to understand. He'll have to wait an extra year to get his tens of billions.

 

[GZDongles]

I have to say, this is one of the more respectful COVID discussions I've seen on the internet. Usually these are much more polarizing...

I can certainly understand the frustration about not being able to work. I'm in the aviation industry. While my job is safe for the next few quarters at least, we don't expect airline traffic or Boeing/Airbus to recover until 2025, and the aerospace industry will go through a massive amount of pain and job losses in the next few years.

 

[David_Cary]

I do think people don't understand the personal choice argument and I don't hear a strong voice explaining that.

If I get sick with Covid-19, I likely spread it to more people. If say 40% of the population has this attitude, then millions die. It is the same argument that we have with vaccines and it is why they are mandatory in schools. The anti-vax crowd has led to the resurgence of certain diseases. It is the classic selfish act.

The challenge is that freedom (US style) allows people to do things that harm other people. We are gradually backing off on that and our response to Covid-19 shows that. But this certainly has limits which we are seeing.

One positive is that maybe people will learn a little about how their actions can harm other people. Maybe some of that will stick.

The comment yesterday knocked Elon down a notch or two for me. He was way off the peak of respect anyway. We have our cars but I would be reconsidering for sure. In May 2020, Tesla is still Elon. 20% + an irrational pack of 35-40% of population that seems to like narcissists/sociopaths in charge = majority. (Ok not the same 35-40% and much of that money is likely in rational money managers not cultists - it was really a poor attempt at a joke)

Anyway, the rational money managers spoke at the stock price yesterday. The headline should be "Tesla with surprise profit should have been way higher but Musk still shares too much in common with Trump and so it was down"

Musk is like Trump but believes in climate change. I am starting to think that he really likes climate change because it allows him to make money rather than having any great concern for the future of humanity.

 

[jerseygirl18]

My hubs was a CEO of a Fortune 500 international comp. I think the tech comp are run less like traditional old school operations in many ways. However, certain standards are always in place.. My husband has been retired 7 yrs. He would never have communicated any of the off the wall stuff Elon has done at any time. My husband is not an off the chart genius like Jobs/Elon...however, he went to an Ivy League school. & has a MBA from a most esteemed midwestern Univ. Elon is either horribly immature, has a few personality issues, or is drunk on his power & himself. The latter is a toxic pattern for CEO's who believe they are God...and ones with less talent than Elon fall into this mind trap also. The company & the shareholders fall victim to this bad behavior. I love my MX, but make no mistake this will not bode well for the stock or the company long term if he continues to be irresponsible and erratic..fabulous product or not..

 

[toolman335]

I see both sides of it, and I don't know if we have enough information to make educated decisions(both about the economy and the virus).
Are the Fremont employees collecting unemployment?
Is there much demand for new Teslas right now anyway? I assume demand has fallen along with the economy so making up lost time should be doable. How many of us NEED a new Tesla right now? We can wait. We aren't driving anyway.

How spread out are the employees? What are the working conditions?

The employees with the biggest risk are those who have to deal with the American public(everyone working on the frontlines, including grocery stores) as well as working shoulder to shoulder in poor working conditions. Tesla production doesn't interact with the American public like their service team does.

What is the Tesla workplace environment like? I assume it's a pretty sterile environment, but I don't know how spread out they are.

 

[MXLRplus]

I do think people don't understand the personal choice argument and I don't hear a strong voice explaining that.

If I get sick with Covid-19, I likely spread it to more people. If say 40% of the population has this attitude, then millions die. It is the same argument that we have with vaccines and it is why they are mandatory in schools. The anti-vax crowd has led to the resurgence of certain diseases. It is the classic selfish act.

The challenge is that freedom (US style) allows people to do things that harm other people. We are gradually backing off on that and our response to Covid-19 shows that. But this certainly has limits which we are seeing.

One positive is that maybe people will learn a little about how their actions can harm other people. Maybe some of that will stick.

The comment yesterday knocked Elon down a notch or two for me. He was way off the peak of respect anyway. We have our cars but I would be reconsidering for sure. In May 2020, Tesla is still Elon. 20% + an irrational pack of 35-40% of population that seems to like narcissists/sociopaths in charge = majority. (Ok not the same 35-40% and much of that money is likely in rational money managers not cultists - it was really a poor attempt at a joke)

Anyway, the rational money managers spoke at the stock price yesterday. The headline should be "Tesla with surprise profit should have been way higher but Musk still shares too much in common with Trump and so it was down"

Musk is like Trump but believes in climate change. I am starting to think that he really likes climate change because it allows him to make money rather than having any great concern for the future of humanity.

I for one completely understand "the personal choice argument". Narcissists believe that everybody is stupid but themselves even in the face of contradictory evidence. Only they can take risks because they are more capable of making decisions concerning risk. This is why we have Search & Rescue . If someone else's risk taking behavior offends them, laws should be written to ban such behavior in a narcissist's eyes.

You trade freedom for risk in all aspects of life. Nothing is safe from it. Literally.

Bicycles are dangerous. Should they be outlawed?
Cars are dangerous. Should they be outlawed?
Contagious sexual diseases exist. Should we outlaw sex and displays of sexual content?
Contagious viral diseases exist all year round. Should we permanently ban assembly?
Every year people die of contagious diseases, many have no cures. Should SIP be permanent now?
Elections cause bad people to get into office. Should we ban them?

 

[jonquiljo]

I do think people don't understand the personal choice argument and I don't hear a strong voice explaining that.

If I get sick with Covid-19, I likely spread it to more people. If say 40% of the population has this attitude, then millions die. It is the same argument that we have with vaccines and it is why they are mandatory in schools. The anti-vax crowd has led to the resurgence of certain diseases. It is the classic selfish act.

The challenge is that freedom (US style) allows people to do things that harm other people. We are gradually backing off on that and our response to Covid-19 shows that. But this certainly has limits which we are seeing.

One positive is that maybe people will learn a little about how their actions can harm other people. Maybe some of that will stick.

The comment yesterday knocked Elon down a notch or two for me. He was way off the peak of respect anyway. We have our cars but I would be reconsidering for sure. In May 2020, Tesla is still Elon. 20% + an irrational pack of 35-40% of population that seems to like narcissists/sociopaths in charge = majority. (Ok not the same 35-40% and much of that money is likely in rational money managers not cultists - it was really a poor attempt at a joke)

Anyway, the rational money managers spoke at the stock price yesterday. The headline should be "Tesla with surprise profit should have been way higher but Musk still shares too much in common with Trump and so it was down"

Musk is like Trump but believes in climate change. I am starting to think that he really likes climate change because it allows him to make money rather than having any great concern for the future of humanity.

Agreed. Check out what happened today!

Tesla shares tank after Elon Musk tweets the stock price is 'too high'

Elon Musk does so well - then he opens up his mouth and it never ceases to amaze me what comes out of it.

 

[ACA Man]

Sure wasn't. But, I wouldn't be surprised if there are some Tesla employees that ended up contracting COVID-19 (where they knew it or not).



Yeah, and that is why each State is coming up with their own plan. Reality is you and I aren't in a position to effectively determine what is right here. For better or for worse its our elected officials that do it......



When talking about public health, it isn't about personal choice. It is about making choices for the greater good. In the end, I hope we get to at least 'phase 2' very soon. If it doesn't happen, I am worried about social unrest becoming a real issue....

Also, let say you’re infected then you will infect others and those will in turn infect more people.
See the picture?

 

[TypeRx]

Also, let say you’re infected then you will infect others and those will in turn infect more people.
See the picture?

Trust me, I get it. I’m in healthcare. I understand public health concepts. Scary others don’t, but that is because they are coming from a different perspective and have very different education and life experiences. They don’t see/feel the morbidity and morality from this all (because it hasn’t personally impacted them...yet) and they may be hurting financially or emotionally. It sucks for them too, but in a different way. But in the end, we have to band together and do what is right for the greater good. Be patient. We will begin to return to new normal soon. And then be ready/vigilant because unfortunately we are going to be in a cyclical loop with this virus until at least next summer IMO. Hope I am way wrong.

 

[RedModel3]

While I have absolutely no personal experience, IMHO I think he's having a nervous breakdown, at least a temporary one. Baby due in a few days. But damn, didn't he learn ANYTHING from the last SEC fiasco?

 

[AgingSTIGuy]

I've been so eager for my next car to be a Tesla since watching the original roadster perform. I'm a fiscal conservative and only buy my next car when I need to. That said, when the time comes I buy something I'm going to love and don't shy away from spending a bit more to have the performance.

I've followed all the developments and exploits of Mr. Musk and always been inspired both technologically and environmentally. I didn't care a bit about headlines smoking pot or a pedo guy or stock manipulation... I want this revolution to electric and to make it to Mars.

I settled on a M3 stealth for our northern potholes and it was absolutely going to be my next car (much to my wife's displeasure since she is more the base model Subaru type). The stealth going away (or at least the $2k upcharge) left me in an internal debate between an LR AWD and just suffering the 20" rollers.

Then...

The most recent right wing, Fox news, sounding crap coming from Elon on the earnings call has me deflated. It's not about how sweet this car is... It's about supporting a piece of crap that wants my parents to die (hyperbole intended).

I want to support people and businesses that have the public heath at heart and are doing everything we can to combat this virus and come out of it stronger. Sending a few cheap sleep apnea breathing machines instead of ventilators isn't going to get it done.

My browser history actually shows a direct progression from Musk pissing me off to researching the i4. I've also always wanted a Mustang since I feel in love with that 64 1/2 nostalgia as a teen. Granted these other options won't meet or beat a M3P but I might just be miffed enough that I don't care.

In a nutshell, stop tweeting you jackass.

 

[T3SLAROD]

I’m more worried about where his state of mind is at and if the CyberTruck/New Roadster will ever come out with him in charge.

 

[T3SLAROD]

I've been so eager for my next car to be a Tesla since watching the original roadster perform. I'm a fiscal conservative and only buy my next car when I need to. That said, when the time comes I buy something I'm going to love and don't shy away from spending a bit more to have the performance.

I've followed all the developments and exploits of Mr. Musk and always been inspired both technologically and environmentally. I didn't care a bit about headlines smoking pot or a pedo guy or stock manipulation... I want this revolution to electric and to make it to Mars.

I settled on a M3 stealth for our northern potholes and it was absolutely going to be my next car (much to my wife's displeasure since she is more the base model Subaru type). The stealth going away (or at least the $2k upcharge) left me in an internal debate between an LR AWD and just suffering the 20" rollers.

Then...

The most recent right wing, Fox news, sounding crap coming from Elon on the earnings call has me deflated. It's not about how sweet this car is... It's about supporting a piece of crap that wants my parents to die (hyperbole intended).

I want to support people and businesses that have the public heath at heart and are doing everything we can to combat this virus and come out of it stronger. Sending a few cheap sleep apnea breathing machines instead of ventilators isn't going to get it done.

My browser history actually shows a direct progression from Musk pissing me off to researching the i4. I've also always wanted a Mustang since I feel in love with that 64 1/2 nostalgia as a teen. Granted these other options won't meet or beat a M3P but I might just be miffed enough that I don't care.

In a nutshell, stop tweeting you jackass.

Agreed. That Miata RF is looking better and better to me.

 

[jpfive]

Musk's impetuosity, etc., are just side effects of his superpower. Reminds me of a couple of other folks. Steve Jobs was one of them.

Personally I'm still trying to figure out how Elon inherited DNA from both Jobs and Howard Hughes?

 

[toolman335]

If everything I bought had to come from people who acted like Mother Teresa and Ghandi then I'd have a pretty empty life. My ex-wife was a bad person so should I not have eaten vegetables from her garden?
Elon is a mess. No doubt.
But I guarantee that there are worse people who work for Ford, so I'd hold off on buying that Mustang!
Teslas are generational game-changers. You'll be waiting a long time for something that matches it, and even then, do you want to be the first one to own something new?