Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/04/19/musky-odor.html
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This is classic Musk behaviour. Remember when he went after a journalist who questioned the performance of one of the Tesla models? We should be expecting more of this, as things (inevitably) don’t go perfectly for Musk.
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“No Tesla for you! Come back 1 year.”
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I listen to the Reveal podcast.
I don’t think it’s all that unfair to call them extreme.
They don’t do neutral reporting. They report stories with a certain, shall we say, enthusiasm… but they tend to lean heavily on “presenting their case” for their story, in sorta the same way the legal profession tells just one side of a story while leaving out well known facts that would diminish the claims they are making.
I like and listen to Reveal, but I understand Reveal for what it is. Activist journalism… which is only rarely fair and well rounded reporting.
I think Tesla should give me a Roadster for taking up for them. There… I said it… I wanna be a shill for Tesla!
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Trying to recall compassion and come up with reasons not to loudly declaim that billionaires are not human.
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If we dive into the history a bit… NUMMI opned in 1962, closed in 1982, reopened in 1984 as jointed venture between GM and Toyota.
In 2009 GM declared bankruptcy and use that to pull out of NUMMI, and Toyota said if GM goes, we’re gone too. Part of it was also GM’s trimming the models. Pontiac Vibe / Toyota Matrix didn’t sell that well, and without the Vibe there’s nothing else for the factory to make. It was reported that Toyota was contemplating moving Prius manufacturing to Fremont, but ultimately decided against it. Other reasons cited were cost of shipping part from the Midwest to California, then ship the finished cars back is not economical.
So, no, UAW didn’t have much to do with it, if anything, other than to help with the severance packages when it finally closed down.
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Musk got in a legal slap fight with Top Gear because of Clarkson’s review of his car.
Some people do not know what or how to make for peace. And sometimes they have money while they are doing it.
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We can’t really call this “pulling a Trump.” Every dictator does the same thing.
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I think the point is that the USA should not have a dictator (nor should any other country, but most of the dictatorial ones do not claim to defend the world from dictatorships).
OK, I admit he’s currently a wannabe dictator, so let’s keep it that way by making it an abnormal state of affairs.
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It shouldn’t surprise anyone that Musk/Tesla would be rabidly anti-union… It’s basically baked into the ethos of the company- it’s the “break all barriers” mantra which permeates startup culture. And despite his frequent Utopian musings, Musk’s personal politics can pretty much be gleaned from his description of public transit. He’s not a bit fan of the huddled masses.
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What scares me is how many other start-ups look to Musk for advise on how to run their businesses: “Elon slept on the production floor, so we’re going to do the same!”
We also specifically asked about Musk’s 2017 promise to work directly on the factory floor. As we wrote: “Did Musk perform factory tasks as promised last year? If so, which ones? What did he learn from the experience? Does he plan on repeating this experience?”
At best it is a poor use of the CEO’s time. It might be papering over bigger problems.
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Or, at best, it is an excellent use of the CEO’s time to help her/him understand what it’s like on the factory floor, to know what works and what doesn’t. As the top dog, she/he should intimately know every remote corner of the organization.
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Couldn’t the CEO understand what works and what doesn’t via their elaborate network of middle managers at the factory? When you refer to “intimacy”, you don’t refer to them sleeping on the production floor do you?
Neither are the huddled masses, do you think they enjoy that state?
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ouch, not what I meant of course 
I’d like everyone to have meaningful, safe work and freedom from huddling… Except if they like, feel like huddling.
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Tesla pulls a Trump
Tesla pulls a Dump
In the beginning was the Plan.
And then came the Assumptions.
And the Assumptions were without form.
And darkness was upon the face of the Workers.
And they spoke among themselves, saying, “It is a crock of shit, and it stinketh.”
And the workers went unto their Supervisors and said, “It is a pail of dung, and none may abide the odour thereof.”
And the Supervisors went unto their Managers, saying, “It is a container of excrement, and it is very strong, such that none may abide by it.”
And the Managers went unto their Directors, saying, “It is a vessel of fertiliser, and none may abide its strength.”
And the Directors spoke amongst themselves, saying one to another, “It contains that which aids plant growth, and it is very strong.”
And the Directors then went onto the Vice Presidents, saying unto them, “It promotes growth and is very powerful.”
And the Vice Presidents went unto the President, saying unto him, “This new plan will actively promote the growth and vigour of the company; with powerful effects.”
And the President looked upon the Plan, and saw that it was good.
And the Plan became Policy.
tl;dr: go talk to your workers every now and then. Also; pay them a living wage.
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