this post was submitted on 01 Dec 2024
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I 100% agree on that, Musk is not special, and Tesla isn't either anymore. The only thing special about Musk is an exaggerated ego, loads of privileges, and being lucky to grab the right opportunity twice.
First with PayPal, and then with Tesla. Everything else is running at losses. With PayPal he was actually thrown out for being incompetent!
As they say, even a broken clock is right twice a day. And being born filthy rich as a son to an owner of an emerald mine. The great thing is you don't have to worry much about failing. Your life is secure even if you fail multiple times. Everything is just a game to those people.
I forget who it was, but there was some movie star in the 90s. Maybe Jim Carry, but maybe someone else.
In any event, when they asked how he was able to get his star power noticed, and achieve the things he had in movies, he replied "I was stupid, I made mistakes, and I failed. Repeatedly failed. Everybody in this business has some stupid commercial, or failed play that they look back on relieved that those days are behind them. But the thing is, when your family is rich, and can support you failing, you aren't afraid of failing. You learn from your failures. Your failures get you noticed, and that's when you get oppertunities you haven't earned. Just by being in the business, and having a safety net without fear of failing. There may be 1000 more people more talented than I am, but I'm MUCH dumber, and also not afraid to take the leap. Because if I fall short, it's ok. I still live in a mansion, and have no way to actually be affected by my failures."
I'm paraphrasing, but that's essentially what was said. I remember being 11, and thinking "Wait, he's saying that the only reason he's sucsessful is because he was born into a situation where even if he fails, it's not going to affect him? But that means those other actors who are more talented won't even be seen, and we're being deprived of better performances. Simply because if they fail, they're homeless. So it's smarter for them to take a factory job and be stable, than make a high risk gamble and likely be homeless."
I can't say for sure that's the day I became cynical, but it's definately a motivating factor. Essentially being taught from an early age "There's in groups who can't fail, and out groups who the system is stacked against. Fall into the wrong group just by being born, and you're going to have a hard life, and that's by design."
It’s crazy how the bar is so low that when I hear someone rich be honest about how they only succeeded because they were rich, I respect them more
Jim Carrey was famously homeless for a time before he made his break in In Living Color. I have doubts that these are his words.
Sadly this is all true. Which is why most parents want their kids to take an education in something they can safely fall back on. Then others say that's setting yourselves up for failure.
Obviously it's also an extra hurdle, and not all even have that option.
When Mitt Romney was running for president, and he was recorded saying that the poor felt entitled, I got absolutely fucking furious. The ones that feel entitled are the rich, they think they DESERVE to have more than a factory worker working 2 jobs to get buy. They think they DESERVE to have the best medical treatments, the best education, the best houses and everything else.
I'm not a communist, but we seriously need to have fortunes taxed, and the higher the fortune the higher the tax. And TAX shelters must not be allowed. If you live in a TAX shelter, it should mean no access to the rest of the world.
Well.....yes and no. I agree with the overall message you're trying to convay, but will come back on the small details.
The rich feel that they should be entitled to the best healthcare, education, housing, ect. And I think they do. However I also think that's true of the poor as well.
Not only should we all be deserving of the best life, we should also be increasing what that that means. Improving what the best is, and yhen THAT then becomes what we all get.
If a rich person gets cancer, or breaks their leg, or whatever. I feel like saying they DON'T deserve the best health care is obscene. Not because they're rich, but because they're human.
Same with education.
Housing it's a bit more broad strokes, as "best" in this catagory is a little less defined. There's a youtube video by ryan george where he looks at rich people houses, and mocks some of the homes features. Some of these houses have things for the sole purpose of wasting money. Like a 19 foot golden statue of a man throwing balls in the air, with a matching water fountain, so the water being sprayed up looks like it's part of the force he's throwing the balls.
That's just money spent for the sake of spending money.
You are making an extreme and false equivalence.
The difference is that the rich is getting it at the cost of others.
The rich feel entitled to have privileges way above what others have.
Ordinary people just want to be treated fairly and humanely.
This is a straw man. No one said poor people should have better healthcare than rich people.
I think SpaceX is profitable too.
OK maybe it is, I tried to find out, they had pretty massive deficits 2021 and 2022, but are estimated to have turned a profit in 2023.
But since then there have been a lot of delays and failures with Starship.
So I'm not sure they will be profitable for 2024, But being a privately held company, we can't know for sure. So I admit I can't claim they are running deficits.