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by oxplot·4y ago·view on hn ↗
You should care if you already don’t. He runs some of the most successful businesses and people are in long lines waiting to get hired by his companies despite the high workload and below competition (e.g. facebook, google) pay.
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>You should care if you already don’t. He runs some of the most successful businesses and people are in long lines waiting to get hired by his companies despite the high workload and below competition (e.g. facebook, google) pay.

Except that I really don't care about him though and it works well for me so far. With the risk of getting downvoted, people give him and other tech billionaires far too much importance.

My life would be exactly the same without any of his products. I can easily live without PayPal, Tesla and SpaceX, while my life (and everyone else here as well) would not be possible without the products from traditional "boring" companies that nobody cares about anymore, like wind and hydro turbines from Siemens and GE, healthcare devices from Philips, Siemens and GE, semiconductors, jet engines, planes, trains, etc.

I lost count of the number of "I", "me", "my" in your comment.

> My life would be exactly the same without any of his products.

And what about the lives of people who'll come after you, generations after you? Well he does care. And if you think that he runs his businesses for the money, then you're in for a big surprise when I tell you, there are far far far easier ways to make lots of money with someone of his skills and intelligence, than trying to compete in two industries, one monopolized by a few with a mind shatteringly high barrier to entry, and the other saturated by established players that have optimized their cost over a century and reduced their margins to bare minimum to stay competitive.

> while my life (and everyone else here as well) would not be possible without the products from traditional "boring" companies that nobody cares about anymore

Wait 50 years. Then Tesla will be traditional, boring and the one that one's life would not be possible without.

>I lost count of the number of "I", "me", "my" in your comment

That's the kind of insight that's valuable to a productive debate and sets the right tone for it. /s

There's nothing to debate, when all you wrote was a list of everything you personally didn't care about.

We can talk about facts, effect of things on larger population, etc. I'm not gonna start a debate on you as an individual.

I haven’t gotten any of his money, so I’m not licking his butt, thank you.

All of what you mention is self serving for a man who made his fortune working with other people to make PayPal.

None of his wealth and success speaks for anything but Elons pocket and interests.

Your comment reads as: “be grateful to work for Elon” which is ridiculous.

An automotive manufacturer who is anti union in 2022? Wtf

> Your comment reads as: “be grateful to work for Elon” which is ridiculous.

Your grand kids will understand.

> An automotive manufacturer who is anti union in 2022? Wtf

Perhaps you should do some research into the current state of "unions" and their members' satisfaction.

Yeah, my union blue collar friends have a retirement, the non-union ones not so much, hourly pay is massively different in trades like sheet metal workers, etc.

Unions were hard won on the blood of workers. Every OSHA safety regulation the boss complains about costing him money has worker blood on it. It’s like electrical code, you may not like it, but adherence to it provides a market standard.

Workers made American industry great, not grifter CEOs who pretend to speak engineering, and don’t you forget it.

Your grandchildren called me the other day, by the way, so spare me the folksy veneer on anti-Americanism disguised as a work ethic.

No union? No way, Jose!

> my union blue collar friends have a retirement, the non-union ones not so much

Tesla employees own shares. They'll retire as millionaires, not just with a retirement.

> It’s like electrical code, you may not like it, but adherence to it provides a market standard.

Union brings a lot of baggage with it. Sure the above is good but doesn't mean union can be the only way.

> who pretend to speak engineering

He's more of an engineer than you'll ever meet in your life, count on that.

> anti-Americanism disguised as a work ethic

WTF does nationalism have anything to do with this? Musk is planning to put "humanity" on "Mars". You think he gives a flying fk about one country or the other, or traditions and status quo? He cares about people, not Americans. This the most shortsighted comment I've read all week.

> No union? No way, Jose!

Will see amigo.

Meaning, you can’t walk sideways into a union bashing comment just in passing, that’s literally class warfare and shan’t be taken as a mild personal opinion but as an attempt at undermining the working class as a whole an remove the institution known as the trade union that has a solid presence and isn’t dismissible by you or any other mortal much like slavery will never legally return under this civilization ms watch
Class action warfare for making a comment? Ye, definitely an environment one wants to live in. Sounds a lot like China than America.