Elon Musk Is Drinking Detroit’s Milkshake
(00:00.434)
Yep, Elon Musk is drinking the Detroit automakers milkshake right now. And I’m watching this whole UAW strike situation come down. And again, I don’t, I don’t see, you know, what in the world, aside from the fact that maybe the government steps in and tries to really wreck Elon Musk’s business, which
Again, I don’t know. I mean, they’re trying. You had all this nonsense going after him about the Starlink fiasco, which wasn’t a fiasco. It was completely legitimate. Or what’s going on with X, whatnot. Again, he’s killing them at this point in time. You’re taking a look at Tesla right now. And Tesla’s profitability is actually going up, even though they’re cutting the price significantly cutting.
the price of their cars. Not to mention the fact that Elon Musk has set a goal at trimming his manufacturing costs by 50%. By 50%. They have a much lower cost structure than Detroit. And, again, I don’t see how they’re gonna do it. And this is kind of an interesting story.
going to see just how bad it is the EV business is for the Detroit automakers. And again, how they are basically working with the government to try to keep their business afloat. We already talked about the mega losses that they have. Dear friend of mine planning on getting a Ford Bronco, planning on a Ford Bronco goes in to get the Ford Bronco and recognizes that my God, he can get a
The new Ford electric vehicle was for his wife. She wasn’t going to drive the car far. The new Ford was the Mach 4 Mustang, whatever it may be. The car was actually $20,000 more than the Bronco. But it was $300 less to lease a month than the Bronco. And again, he was talking to the people at the dealer. And it kind of led into how.
(02:26.334)
the government gets involved and pushing these various different things and how they get subsidies back from the government and a myriad of other things. The business is failing. That’s not a successful business by any stretch of the imagination. And it’s only going to go on for so long. But you take a look at the labor costs and comparing Tesla and the Detroit companies. Detroit labor costs.
wages benefits $66 an hour, $45 an hour at Tesla. If you’re gonna meet the current demands of the, of Fain there, the UAW, that’s Sean Fain, the UAW president, it’s gonna be $136 an hour employment costs for Detroit. Getting Tesla workers, they don’t get, they’re not getting, you know, the profit sharing.
money that the Detroit makers, they get stock in Tesla, which has made many line workers at Tesla millionaires because they own Tesla shares, stock options. And you can exercise these after being at the company for a certain period of time. And again, Sean Fain, he was asked about, he’s asked about Tesla’s advantage and compared to Detroit. And this was just how stupid, you wanna hear some stupid statements? Okay.
Competition is code word for race to the bottom.
What? No, John, competition breeds excellence. That race to the bottom. Remember that with Janet Yellen was using that and some of the other treasury secretaries and leaders from around the globe talking about corporate taxes. We can’t have a race to the bottom. No, no, no. Race bottom’s good. Lowering costs for consumers. That’s a good thing. That’s what productivity does, okay? That’s what growth is all about.
(04:25.118)
And then he goes, hey, Elon Musk and his rocket ships to space. Ah, my concern is working classes. And again, now he’s got Bernie Sanders out at the rallies and, you know, Bernie is the evil CEOs at these automakers and they’re greedy and end your greed and pay up and all this stuff. Pay up. I mean, I don’t know if they will. Um, I think at some point in time, uh, this, you know, it starts to hit the economy to some degree.
I’m sure the Biden administration will call these CEOs. And again, these CEOs, these auto companies are soft in the first place. They don’t open up their mouths anymore. It’s very few and far between. You actually see some CEOs that actually stick up for what’s right. They’ll acquiesce, they’ll cave to some degree. And then there’s probably some promise down the road, like I said, the whole moral hazard behind the bailouts last time. And that the government will have to step in and… Bail these companies out again. Anyway, Watchdog on wallstreet.com.
