It's pretty incredible to see Tesla bleeding out as much as it is at the moment. The truth is that even thought he is the richest man on Earth at the moment, wealth, at least how it's measured now, does not equate liquidity.
All stocks
There are known loopholes used by powerful people to avoid paying taxes while living like modern kings. Maybe these tricks are not common knowledge, but I believe the should be.
The gimmick is to loan against your assets, against Tesla stock, in the case of Elon and not take a single cent in salary. Then your "income" is not really income per say, it's just debt. You service the debt with another loan, and then just pile one after the other until the house of cards collides.
As you might guess this requires continuous growth, otherwise it would run out of steam quickly, but this is how the cookie crumbles when it comes to late stage capitalism antics.
So what's the problem?
Elon is still today seen as the face of Tesla, and these numbers we keep on hearing about, his unbelievable wealth, is mainly people adding up his holdings of his own stock.
All the things he's been doing lately, the scandals, his introducing into MAGAland, and his fight with some factions of the MAGA world is hurting his image in the eyes of his investors.
Like a Bank run
It's being reported that his debt is already being sold, and we can see the market sentiment being reflected on TESLA's stock quite clearly.
In other words, long time Tesla investors don't think that Elon is focused on the task at hand, and they are beginning to jump ship. This ship jumping got started by financial institutions, but it's already trickling down to retail investors.
I hope the worst for him and his wallet! I'm fully aware of his transgender daughter Vivian - She seems quite furious at him regarding all this, and so I can't help but be on her side here. Elon is for sure making some scary, dystopian moves, and I hope that the world can handle it.
she spoke out recently... Basically throwing a bucket of cold water on the idea that Elon cares about family values (something we knew already).
Elon is not a good person, hands down.. hard for anyone to show me evidence to the contrary.
He may be doing harm to his businesses. A lot of people left Twtr due to his actions and some may be considering alternative cars. I don't see what he posts, but I heard it's a lot, so when does he find time to run those businesses plus his non-elected government role? Will he be using that to swing some big contracts his way? I foresee trouble ahead.
the conflict of interest is undeniable, yet he already pretended it doesn't exist...
The hypocrisy is off the charts as he does what he accuses others of. I really think the guy needs help. I think with him and Trump that their minions are scared to speak out.
The decline in TSLA is a wicked weapon in the fight over him benefiting from such access as he's attained through DOGE, when no specific contracts are in evidence. I've not experienced any reticence of Trump supporters to speak out, either. Rather I am, as I am quite happy to see these bureaucracies gutted and see no reason to speculate about benefits to Musk when I could be quickly slapped back with concrete financial losses he's sustained.
When some such benefit is specifically alleged, I'll have a look at such allegations. I'm not a fan of TSLA, and have no personal financial injury to seek redress of because I don't own any, so haven't any cogent comment about that either. But neither am I claiming Musk is corrupt and his access to DOGE is profiting him, because the decline in TSLA enables his supporters to show he's a suffering altruistic saint, and I have no evidence to counter that claim.
As I said, I think he's a troubled man. Obviously he has fans and some want the government to be totally reformed, but he makes some wild claims about corruption etc. I don't think he would ever have to worry about money and so he will be driven by other things. You should beware of people who say they are the only ones who can fix things. Nobody is perfect.
I am not the Elon's biggest fan, truly. Neither do I seek to malign mere men that strive to achieve things I could never hope to.
It is difficult to fault his enthusiasm, when such egregious injury has been afflicted on America as has been shown lately. It is not the aversion to censorship the Elon affects that disturbs me at all, but that it is pretense and limited that does.
Fauci was funding the weaponization of the common cold as early as 2014, and the results of that have been wielded by the DOD criminally, insanely criminally, in my assessment. Treason against the USA is not even the worst charge that can be laid at the feet of them responsible, as I see that humanity, even life itself, has been what has been betrayed.
Say what ill you will of Musk, but publishing these proofs of horrific crimes against humanity buys him mercy from me. Fauci more than any man alive has claimed to be the fixer of things, all while actively preparing the murder of millions. I do not believe the timing of these expenditures mere happenstance, nor the appearance of treachery feigned or fallacious.
Tens of millions are dead, and they were all murdered. Here are the receipts.
Oh, and here we go.
I appreciate you pointing this out. I suspect you have thought it meant this was some new thing that has arisen since the inauguration and DOGE's activities commenced, but that is not what this reveals. Rather the opposite. Where previous to Trump's accession to the Presidency the procurement was specific to Tesla, now it is not, and seems to be presently intended to procure a variety of makes, and not only Teslas.
Edit:
Clearly that company that responded was Tesla, which explains the proposal title.
End edit.
Additionally, it restates old news as if it was a sudden advent, which is disingenuous.
Spacex primary amongst them, and not Tesla, and not deriving from new contracts that have arisen from Trump's Presidency. Since Tesla has been now relegated to but a potential choice of providers for this acquisition, and that has been only changed since Trump was inaugurated, I submit this is proof not of advantage being taken through DOGE, but of that prior exclusivity being renounced and rejected since DOGE began it's operational phase.
Or do you see something here I am missing?
I admire your persistence in correcting me :) I did actually see later that this was happening last year and that VW were also bidding for the contract. I also heard that Tesla's name was being removed from some official documents. Musk now has a lot of power as he goes into departments that had been investigating his businesses. Do you trust him to do the right thing? We have those two guys running things who both seem to think that they have all the answers. Well Trump seems to let Musk do what he likes, possibly in return for the big donation. As a business guy he may think that the guy deserves some rewards for that, but this is all just speculation.
I am not on Twtr and so won't see what Musk spews out, but I would not expect it to be balanced.
His permanent tendency to interfere directly in European politics and openly pander to parties with questionable views on how to deal with democracy has led to his cars (whether leased or purchased new) being ignored. Whether he will one day drop his "empire" like a hot potato is certainly a matter for him. This will only have a minor impact on his personal wealth.
He's also losing big time in the Chinese market as far as I understand. The dude is setting fire to his own house, all for greed.
Its factories outside the USA are built on government subsidies. This makes it easy and relaxed to speculate about jobs and investments. Such state subsidies are what made him the powerful herald of Emperor Trump in the first place.
In particular, he doesn't seem to have noticed (when he was explaining to Trump how the world works) that China is no longer the land of the bad, cheap copy.
I do not think he is the richest man in the world, and think someone whose name I have never heard probably is, although I doubt they hold their assets in their name. However, as you point out reckoning of wealth on the basis of assets requires a balance sheet that includes liabilities, and I don't think any wealthy folks capable of reason provide such information to gossips.
As you point out, the common trick of borrowing against collateral could well have run the Elon aground on the reef of a ~20% decline in his assets' price.
What I find more notable is that the Elon has murmured not a peep about it, seems to be making no moves to staunch the hemorrhage, and that after news has come out Trump removed the green subsidies for electric cars, which was Tesla's biggest profit generator. This lends the Elon an appearance of altruism which is very difficult to discount. Folks not concerned nor familiar with the extent of his feeding at the public trough with Spacex's MIC contract work might even think him a saint because of it.
Thanks!
Most certainly self-sacrifice can move mountains - If Elon is sacrificing his riches for the sake of his followers and his beliefs, then we do not need to wonder with naivety as to whether or not he's doing all he can.
What we can assume is that Elon is indeed working tirelessly towards accomplishing his agenda. The money is to be spent! The price of the stock goes down when it's sold! But it's sold and that means a sale was made.
It might as well be Elon who is selling his own stocks and acquiring more liquid cash for the purpose of spending it as raw power-to-tell-people-what-to-do-for-money. The POWER.
Not specifically "selling his stocks" - But in essence, the fact that his money-number is going down does not necessarily cause him physical pain. He might be extremely excited to finally spend tons of money and exert his influence without the law getting in the way.
With that money, he now has obedient people who will do things for him, and they even consider him an authority that defines the law itself! That means hired goons and thugs who are paid heavily to do terrible things. Secret police and stuff are next is my guess.
I sure as heck don't mind the idea an efficient and optimized government - Especially one that knows its place and doesn't overstep its bounds.
But that doesn't seem like it'll happen here, huh? I get the feeling things are gonna get really weird and nasty soon. I just hope naivety of the masses of humanity doesn't get too intense or else we're really screwed in the long-term.
He well might. He certainly has substantial security to spend it on as well.
I have long predicted it. In Weimar Germany the very degeneracy that has been inflicted on, and by, the US was pushed just as hard. The backlash against that degeneracy was the rise of Hitler and the Nazis, and that backlash is what I have predicted is the purpose of that degeneracy being inflicted on the West.
I see the barn doors are flung open, and await the calls to arms that are coming.
Degeneracy or liberation?
Most people aren't ready for any sort of liberation. They choose shackles.
And if you use a word like degeneracy, then I see shackles on you too.
Don't worry. It's normal. Just part of the pipeline through that barn door.
In my dotage I am availed hindsight that permits me to note that without restraint there is no liberation but death.