Tesla, TSLA & the Investment World: the Perpetual Investors' Roundtable

[Steve m]

I think Dr. Erica Pan the Alameda County health officer and her boss Colleen Chawla the Director of the Alameda County Health Care Services Agency will be replaced and won't be holding their jobs in two weeks.

Imagine if instead of continuing to be authoritarian they had called Musk up and said we can only test 500 people a day we need to be able to test 3,400 people a day.

I think Musk would have said we will make that happen and gotten the right resources and finances applied.

Similarly to the lack of contact tracers and PPE.

 

[wtlloyd]

Geez, this place.
Hey, let's go back to talking about what Elon's girlfriend thinks, and how do you pronounce that wacky baby name again?

 

[Reductionist]

Does anyone here with some kind of legal expertise have any ideas what the lawsuit Elon mentioned could potentially look like?
What arguments could they potentially build a case on, and what is their chance of success? I'm really not familiar with US law so any input would be appreciated.

 

[SMAlset]

That's simply not fair. The state, along with almost every other official in charge of anything health related, is trying to figure this whole situation out. Pardon them if they can't give you a definitive date as to when this pandemic will end or be controlled to the point of getting back to anything resembling "normal". It's going in stages ... maybe they need to see how the first stage works out before deciding to move further? That just seems responsible to me.

They are moving at a snail’s pace but when it takes like 2 to 3 weeks for infections to become evident without testing I can see why. However I will say after two months at home I didn’t look forward to any more time after May 4. I was very happy mentally to have our electrician out to do a main panel upgrade this past week.

The sad fact about this is that it’s not like going to the office where co-workers have a cold and you might catch it. For some it’s not just the risk of losing their job. Losing one or both parents in a week or two because they caught it at work is truly unimaginable to me. Has me wondering if more people have made wills/trusts lately.

As for work precautions, I don’t believe temperature checks are much help given I read that a large percentage of those coming into the hospital don’t have a fever. And masks aren’t a given either. I see this still as a russian roulette type of situation unfortunately.

 

[PeterJA]

The "Elon is childish" criticism inspires two thoughts:

1) Elon has actually shown extraordinary restraint in the face of a non-stop decade-long disinformation campaign against his companies and himself personally. In the 7 years I've followed him, I've seen him succumb to very-human losses of temper only a few times (e.g. "pedo guy", for which he later apologized), and because his life is so transparent and public, I believe what I've seen is a pretty representative sample of his temperament.

Also, there is no evidence that his "moving" tweet was a snap decision, and could've been planned as a contingency, as @StealthP3D suggested. Evidence for this is Elon's statement about "final straw."

2) Thank God Elon is childish in one sense. He has childlike curiosity and willingness to question the status quo, and the courage to explore new ideas. The world can use more of that.

 

[Krugerrand]

Agree with the absurdity, but I don't think Alameda County is allowing clothing stores to open at all just yet. Maybe around 18 May, for curbside pickup only. This risks going a bit off-topic, but I think it's important to address the idea that Alameda County is singling out Tesla. AFAICT they're being fairly strict across the board.

http://www.acphd.org/media/574525/press-release-2020.05.07.pdf

[...] regional Health Orders that took effect May 4 are still in effect. These orders – in Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties and the City of Berkeley – loosen restrictions on construction as well as outdoor activities and businesses. The Bay Area orders do not currently permit curbside pickup from non-essential, non-outdoor businesses, and that is not allowed to begin on Friday, May 8.​

And I posted yesterday that’s (bolded) not what’s happening. Lots of indoor businesses that aren’t ‘essential’ do in fact have curbside pick up in at least two of those counties that I frequent.

 

[mickle]

One condition Alameda County has set is for they to be able to conduct 200 tests per 100,000 people. Today Alameda can test 30 per 100k. How is Alameda going to do a nearly 7x improvement in about 3 weeks. What is the reaction going to be if Alameda says they can't open because the county can only do 50 per 100k a day 3 weeks from now?

Alameda needs to fire those who have failed in their tasks and get some people in that can get their county jobs done.

I'll predict that the Interim Health Officer resigns or is re-assigned by Monday.

 

[TheGrimSweeper]

Why is every auto maker in the country allowed to reopen but Tesla can't? I'd like to see the county's answer to that other then a generic "we would rather be safe then sorry"

 

[StarFoxisDown!]

While

Does anyone here with some kind of legal expertise have any ideas what the lawsuit Elon mentioned could potentially look like?
What arguments could they potentially build a case on, and what is their chance of success? I'm really not familiar with US law so any input would be appreciated.

Not legal expertise at all but I'd imagine the argument would be that the county/government is interfering with fair competition. Whether the county thinks it's acting in the best way or not, if they prohibit Tesla from manufacturing when all of Tesla's competitors are allowed it, the county is inadvertently picking winners and losers through their actions.

Honestly, with how California in general is opening up with the picking and chosing, I'm surprised more lawsuits haven't happened yet. People have touched on it in here but for example, McDonald's is allowed to operate and sell ice cream. The local ice cream show down the street is not allowed to be open. That's a lawsuit. Plain n simple.

 

[ByeByeJohnny]

Elon won't close the Fremont factory until the demand can handle it being closed. So if it happens before there are at least four other US gigafactories I'll be very disappointed.

The HQ is likely gone though.

 

[Krugerrand]

Geez, this place.
Hey, let's go back to talking about what Elon's girlfriend thinks, and how do you pronounce that wacky baby name again?

Why?

Your topic suggestion has nothing to do with what happens to the SP come Monday morning, but what happens between Elon/Tesla and the Alameda County mostly certainly does.

 

[mickle]

Does anyone here with some kind of legal expertise have any ideas what the lawsuit Elon mentioned could potentially look like?
What arguments could they potentially build a case on, and what is their chance of success? I'm really not familiar with US law so any input would be appreciated.

Spacex sued the government a few times I think and those were successful.

 

[Sanny]

If you thought doctors are too dumb to run the country, wait till you meet our politicians.

Sorry, needs a correction. I never said dumb, just super narrowly focused during the whole career and super biased towards caution (like sending someone to the hospital in a helicopter, and not even caring that they will lose a house to pay for that)

 

[lascavarian]

The contact form is an email type service! - http://www.acphd.org/contact-acphd/contact-form.aspx


Oh, I did want to mention, just because it's not announced to us, Tesla may have already negotiated a deal with Texas, re new factory. For those saying they just lost their negotiating power.

In that case they have no leverage with the South Bay to get the plant open. Best to spend effort getting the businesses that will be long term employers opened up.

Headhunters have to be hungry too. They will be on the phone trying to pick off the top talent from Tesla. If you are planning on moving then one of the first things to do is secure your critical employees.

 

[Paracelsus]

It's time for the board to fire Elon Musk.

The best part about this post is the overwhelming response to disagree with it Immediately - much like the Japanese bees swarming and snuffing out the invasive Murder Hornets - but in this case it is Tesla Bees snuffing out Troll Hornets. Nice work TMC Killer Bees!!!

 

[Mo City]

The Art of War emphasizes intelligence on your opponent, being two steps ahead, laying the advance groundwork, the element of surprise, etc. This lawsuit and threats to leave the State of CA were already in motion two weeks ago when Elon was ranting about COVID-19, and laying the groundwork.

Elon didn't sit on his hands and hope this COVID-19 thing would iron itself out OK, weeks ago he was already taking pro-active steps, thinking through how a lawsuit would look, how a threat to leave CA would look, etc. and how he could best position his company should the need arise. Those "crazy" rants developed a willing audience so news of this lawsuit was not ignored as just another business grievance that was too be ignored, he pulled the voters into the arena and asked them to get a big bowl of popcorn. And do you think the voters are going to side with the inept government officials or "crazy" Elon? You can be sure the legal claims for damages, etc. were already drawn up a week or more ago and he has cultured key allies that know the people in charge.

The outcome of this is not in question. The unprepared bureaucrats and the rest of the government don't stand a chance. The will of the people will always win in the end. The only question is will it take one week or three.

Just reposting this in case some missed it.

 

[mblakele]

And I posted yesterday that’s (bolded) not what’s happening. Lots of indoor businesses that aren’t ‘essential’ do in fact have curbside pick up in at least two of those counties that I frequent.

No argument. Not everyone follows the rules. Yesterday it looked like Tesla was going to defy them too, though now he seems to have decided to try the courts first.

 

[Steve m]

In that case they have no leverage with the South Bay to get the plant open. Best to spend effort getting the businesses that will be long term employers opened up.

Headhunters have to be hungry too. They will be on the phone trying to pick off the top talent from Tesla. If you are planning on moving then one of the first things to do is secure your critical employees.

Unvested incentive stock options that have gone 150% or more should do the trick.

 

[mblakele]

Does anyone here with some kind of legal expertise have any ideas what the lawsuit Elon mentioned could potentially look like?
What arguments could they potentially build a case on, and what is their chance of success? I'm really not familiar with US law so any input would be appreciated.

Not a lawyer either. I'd think one argument would use the DHS "critical infrastructure" designation. Another might go after the reasonableness of the County order: Tesla would present their plan for distancing, PPE, disinfection, and testing, arguing that a reasonable health officer would approve it. They might throw in financial harm too.

 

[Prunesquallor]

Does anyone here with some kind of legal expertise have any ideas what the lawsuit Elon mentioned could potentially look like?
What arguments could they potentially build a case on, and what is their chance of success? I'm really not familiar with US law so any input would be appreciated.

Not a lawyer, but maybe something like:

"A tort of negligent interference occurs when one party's negligence damages the contractual or business relationship between others causing economic harm, such as, by blocking a waterway or causing a blackout preventing the utility company from being able to uphold its existing contracts with consumers."

Wikipedia - Tortious Interferencehttps://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...interference&usg=AOvVaw1f1mdvRJwIP9jhA-Cj3Yxu