This is the best tl;dr I could make, [original](https://edition.cnn.com/2022/10/13/politics/elon-musk-spacex-starlink-ukraine/index.html) reduced by 89%. (I'm a bot)
*****
> So far roughly 20,000 Starlink satellite units have been donated to Ukraine, with Musk tweeting on Friday the "Operation has cost SpaceX $80 million and will exceed $100 million by the end of the year."
> Musk recently tweeted a controversial peace plan that would have Ukraine give up Crimea and control over the eastern Luhansk and Donetsk regions.
> Though Musk has received widespread acclaim and thanks for responding to requests for Starlink service to Ukraine right as the war was starting, in reality, the vast majority of the 20,000 terminals have received full or partial funding from outside sources, including the US government, the UK and Poland, according to the SpaceX letter to the Pentagon.
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[**Extended Summary**](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/y3hjq6/musks_spacex_says_it_can_no_longer_pay_for/) | [FAQ](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/31b9fm/faq_autotldr_bot/ "Version 2.02, ~672676 tl;drs so far.") | [Feedback](http://np.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%23autotldr "PM's and comments are monitored, constructive feedback is welcome.") | *Top* *keywords*: **Ukraine**^#1 **Starlink**^#2 **SpaceX**^#3 **Musk**^#4 **terminals**^#5
How does Starlink expect to be profitable as a company? If 20,000 users generate $100 million in costs over the course of a year (less actually but let’s be generous) that means each user has to generate $5000 in payments just to break even. That equates to $420 (heh) a month. That’s considerably higher than Starlink’s current average of $110/m in charges.
Except it was the US government that paid for the first hit too. SpaceX "donated" some equipment but also had the US government buy some equipment as well, as a "contribution"; except they had the government pay 4x the normal price per unit for that equipment, so even though the SpaceX "donation" was larger by unit count they actually got net income from the whole thing.
Wasn't even that since the US, Poland, Ukraine and other countries paid for 80%. If they had a 25% profit margin, they did not even lose any money over it.
This is why Teddy Roosevelt, back in his day, broke up monopolies on critical infrastructure.
That is an Amercian tradition we should get back to embracing.
Exactly. Capitalism can only "encourage competition" when there are multiple competitors in the sector. If one or two companies dominate, the only "innovation" you need is to hike prices because your customers have no alternative.
Oh and underpaying your workers, because they have no legitimate alternative. That's a good trick, too.
Urg. I did too. Attacked by Musk fan boys who was defending his “genius and generosity “. The guy is a sociopath and the sooner humans stop giving these guys unlimited power, the better off the species will be.
I'll admit I fell for it, but I'm talking like 10 years ago. Within a few years of that, I was hesitant. Within the past few years, he's really show his colors. I'm shocked anyone who follows him still supports the guy. He's kind of pathetic at this point.
Yeah, he came across as Tech Jesus for a lot of us for a while there.
I was having some doubts about him the last 6 months before those kids got stuck in that cave.
After his pedo comment I realized he was rotten to the core and everything he had going for him were lies. Strategic, well-placed lies that brought him money, but lies nonetheless.
I felt sick to my stomach for rooting for him up until that point.
Elon never stops. Richest dude in the world, hustling a new angle to squeeze out another cool 100mil. Nice little bait and switch business plan. And for one second, I actually believed he wanted to use his fortune to help Ukraine. I should have known better.
Honestly it's fucking 100mil. He has a net worth of 200bil. If you have 2 grand in your bank account, you donated a dollar to Ukraine for comparison. 20 grand, then you donated 10 bucks.
Fucking ludicrous.
He's a grifter. Most of his "wealth" is in over priced Tesla stocks. Now VW are getting serious in the EV business, Tesla's share price is not going to be so healthy. I used to see a few Tesla's about but now it's all VW ID series
Costs in no way could reach 100m for just 20000 units. It's a grossly exaggerated figure to hide the fact he wants Ukraine to capitulate as he already said. Even if that fantasy figure could be true he could pay the entire bill out of his pocket change.
He wants to punish them for saying he’s an idiot for that dumbass proposal, also wants the government to give him money for no reason when he could literally do it himself. All over piece of shit this guy is
Wait he's claiming to service 20,000 units will cost up to $400M the next 12 months? Isn't the monthly service for starlink being sold for like $100/month. 20k * $100 * 12months = $24M. What am I missing?
Well the US pentagon gladly pays exorbitant prices from basically all of its contractors. This is only getting attention because of Musk's notoriety. I'll remind everyone that the Pentagon has never passed a financial audit
Pretty sure Ukraine asked for the $500 a month tier (per unit), Elon 'generously' gave them the $4,500 a month tier without them asking for it.
And now he's turned around and is expecting the pentagon to pick up the tab for something that Ukraine didn't even want in the first place.
This whole episode is just showing me crystal clear that never ever rely on some private corporation if you really need something. This is pro public service argument imo
The fact that this is announced on twitter is pretty ridiculous too in my opinion.
Shouldn't a matter this important be communicated to the Pentagon confidentially?
Edit: Sorry! Should have read the article.
SpaceX sent a letter to the Pentagon on 8 September, responding to a Ukrainian diplomat telling Elon to 'fuck off' in response to Elon's peace deal proposal.
Edit 2: Sorry! That the 'fuck off' was after the letter was sent, Elon just used it as a scapegoat in his pettiness.
Suggests Ukraine give Crimea to Russia and is now shutting off their access.
Now, I'm not Russian to any collusions or Putin in my two cents on anything, but...
He worked 23 hours a day at Tesla, 29 hours a day at spaceX, 12 hours a day at boring co….. give the man a break.
Those hours don’t even count all the time he’s spent taking care of his 17 children in 25 different households.
Whoever is in charge of PR for this company is either horrible at their job or being completely ignored.
Doing this right after all the allegations of talking with Putin and those twitter polls is not a great look.
A PR dept is an utter waste of money for them, since Ego Musk would just flop his ass all over their expert opinions and squawk whatever the hell he wants anyway.
Musk fired the PR people and took the helm. It was good for a while, even his gaffs. But since no one is around to tell him not to do stuff, he just kinda does it. This guy has been getting places by doing charisma checks. Now the dice are finally giving him low rolls.
First musk: I'm such a good guy because I'm making sure Ukraine has satellite internet during this war
Then musk: here's what Ukraine should surrender to make Russia happy
Now musk: I can no longer afford to give Ukraine internet
85% of the starlink equipment was paid for, mostly by Poland. A minority by the US, followed by the UK and others.
He milked it as charity.
Yet again illustrating his insufferable “I didn’t invent anything or found Tesla but will take credit for all of it” personality.
Did you read what he is charging? Trying to extort the government.
SpaceX says it has paid for about 70% of the service provided to Ukraine and claims to have offered that highest level – $4,500 a month – to all terminals in Ukraine despite the majority only having signed on for the cheaper $500 per month service.
Which he made immediately after having a one on one conversation with Vladimir Putin....
Edit: Some are claiming this never happened. Source?
2nd edit: it's a very obvious case of he said/he said. Elon claims after articles came out about this situation that he hasn't spoken to Putin/Kremlin in over 18 months. Ian bremmer alleges Elon told him directly he had spoken with putin/Kremlin much more recently. Given Elon has a motivation to look like he didn't speak to Putin, his continuous parroting of Russian propaganda, and general knack for lying through his teeth I'm more inclined to believe bremmer.
3rd edit: Jesus people chill I get it I should have provided my own direct source before asking for an opposing one I get it. My bad, alright?
Which happened after he tried to take credit for starlink in Ukraine and a bunch of people called him out that he was being paid for it. Then made him self look like an idiot saying "what have you done for Ukraine." to the activist whose been fighting for Ukraine for decades.
I wish there was some intelligent grand plan to his madness, even if it was some evil self serving plan.
Sadly though, it seems too easily explained as "just a spoiled billionaire with a fragile ego"
That was the clearest turning point where he turned from "eccentric" to right wing pandering megalomaniac. Because those followers are not so annoyingly critical.
That's because Elon never cared about the kids. He just cared about boosting his own ego.
The guy is a shit tier excuse for a human.
The fact that people still support him after that event tells you everything you need to know about them.
He's a narcissist. He's worshiped by toxic kids on the internet, and now he's dependant on them. He makes his life decisions based on whether or not what he does can get him that fawning dopamine hit.
They've taken the wheel and he's lost control of his life.
You mean selling a "purfume" called "Burnt Hair" wasn't a business decision by the most brilliant mind of our time?
The irony is how the same crowd that followed him, thinking he was ground breaking, are the crowd that cheer hardest for his lowest common denominator troll approach, which is the thing that will inevitably dethrone him.
Luckily he can never run for president. He's originally from South Africa and not born as an American citizen. He could run for other political offices that are not in the line of succession, but I doubt his ego would allow him to settle for that.
This is EXACTLY why big infrastructure projects built for government by private contractors go WAY over budget. Once you start building you've got them on the hook, the pols don't want to look bad by stopping the project in the middle due to cost overruns, so they have to just keep pushing forward. Contractors know this and low ball initially and then just mark shit up later and make more work for themselves they can charge extra for.
Elon's doing the same thing here. Ukraine now relies on Starlink, so of course he threatens to pull it unless the US government pays him out the nose.
That's some pretty simple math. If the US is "covering 30%", that would imply we are already paying $1350 per terminal, for a $500 dollar per month service. Elon, if you see this, you are an absolute waste of vinegar.
given that sending data from a satellite to a terminal is a fixed cost, he's full of shit.
He's very likely trying to charge the government the full price for every terminal that has ever existed in Ukraine, regardless of how many are functioning.
It's not like he's constantly sending free satellite dishes as they're destroyed and going bankrupt for it.
Seriously!! All his sudden self-insertion into these global politics - now he (the wealthiest person on Earth) says he can’t afford the bill? I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again - fuck this dude.
I suspect that was probably just for securities fraud, again. Which would likely result with some settlement for an amount less than he profited by the alleged fraud, again.
He's also quite desperate now, because he has to come up with those 50 billion to pay for Twitter and selling already crashing Tesla stock is not a good idea.
Vladimir Putin is most likely the wealthiest person on Earth. According to that Mazinski fellow, or maybe the client he was representing before Putin had him tortured and killed let out that Putin brought the oligarchs in to a meeting and told them that if they wanted to continue operating, they would have to give their share to Putin, and that share was half.
One oligarch resisted, then Putin had a kangaroo court session where they put him in a cage in the courtroom, and locked him away forever.
The others played ball.
At the time of the lawyer was tortured and killed, Putin's wealth was estimated to be $200B. That was like 10 years ago.
Musk's definitely acting like Putin recently acquired some damning Kompromat on him. Wouldn't surprise me if Putin is his secret Twitter financier too. How big of a get would that be worth to Putin to be a silent owner of Twitter?
This is one of those things that Musk should shut up about.
Starlink is 100% reliant on its FCC license to legally operate as well as telemetry provided by the Space Force.
The federal government can take that away whenever they want.
They can also nationalize SpaceX under the Defense Production Act if they deem its services required for the sake of national security.
Musk: Look, Ukraine, I get it. War sucks sometimes, but how about you just give Russia what they want and in return I'll keep "donating" Starlink to you.
Ukraine: Fuck off.
Musk: I don't think I can afford to help you anymore.
Kremlin: 🎉
I mean this is likely what they have on Trump too via Deutsche Bank (plus piss stuff, obvi) so I'd say this isn't too hot of a take.
Also people saying "what money" don't seem to understand the difference between a broke country and a broke individual
A broke country's bank account is still probably at least 10-11 digits (left of the decimal)
It would also explain why we’ve seen so much of that irrelevant snake Tulsi Gabbard recently. They’re gonna get their money’s worth with her in the end.
that one's even more believable because we know how cheap reps are to buy from tools like [opensecrets.org](https://www.opensecrets.org/members-of-congress/summary?cid=N00033281&cycle=2020)
Coincidently he starts parroting Russian propaganda right after he finally says he’ll proceed with buying Twitter. Russia has a lot of interest in keeping their bots on that platform…wondering if Elon found another partner to help finance the buyout…???
He’s trying to get Twitter to let him back out by torpedoing their image. This has all been about selling his Tesla shares at the top without waiting for his legal windows.
“There is just a lot of super talented hardworking people in China who strongly believe in manufacturing,” the billionaire said. “They won’t just be burning the midnight oil, they will be burning the 3am oil, they won’t even leave the factory type of thing, whereas in America people are trying to avoid going to work at all.”
I'm sure they strongly believe in making ends meet and not seeing their families starve to death, which they wouldn't if he paid them more and gave them a normal work week. instead of 6x 12hr days
Definitely the type of environment you want for manufacturing key components to rockets, satellites, and self-driving automobiles. What could possibly go wrong?
Your business isn't worth running if you don't have suicide nets around it. Think about the overheads like your staff feeding themselves and their family. What a waste
Love how the people complaining that anyone not wanting to work 16 hours a day, 7 days a week, have no drive or work ethic, are always the same people whose days consist of doing mostly what they want to do while people scurry around accommodating them, while they sit in their offices that are bigger than most people's houses, outfitted in luxury, with a 8 figure view.
I am pretty sure more people would want to work 80 hours a week if they could get paid enough to retire on a king's hoard in 30 days and be treated like a god for every second of those 80 hour weeks.
What a disconnected fucking moron.
I’ll say this - Putin has a way with getting into the heads of foolish, rich egomaniacs (*cough* Trump). I feel like Putin likes to go after those people the most because he knows they have no principles as long as their egos are massaged.
Imagine Glen L Martin in 1940 telegraphing "I spoke to Hitler, I get his point." and some edgy thoughts, after which declaring he's turning off bomber production because it's bad for humanity.
> During World War II, a few of Martin's most successful designs were the B-26 Marauder[7] and A-22 Maryland bombers, the PBM Mariner and JRM Mars[8][9] flying boats, widely used for air-sea rescue, anti-submarine warfare and transport. The 1941 Office for Emergency Management film Bomber was filmed in the Martin facility in Baltimore, and showed aspects of the production of the B-26.[10]
>Martin ranked 14th among U.S. corporations in the value of wartime production contracts.[11] The company built 1,585 B-26 Marauders and 531 Boeing B-29 Superfortresses at its new bomber plant in Nebraska, just south of Omaha at Offutt Field. Among the B-29s manufactured there were all the Silverplate aircraft, including Enola Gay and Bockscar, which dropped the two war-ending atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan.[12]
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glenn_L._Martin_Company#World_War_II
Fun fact:
The B-26 Marauder was known among aircrews as the “widow maker” because of its accident rates during take off and landing.
The space shuttle and the 90s onward NASA was... still a committed group of dedicated wonder kids, but led by an epic group of management fuck-ups directing a program that ran unsafe missions until it killed so many astronauts in obvious and entirely predictable fashion that they couldn't ignore it anymore. The betrayal of the wonderful stuff at the heart of NASA by the morons that lead them is the stuff of nightmares.
Read "Carrying the Fire" to find out how it used to be. Then read "Riding Rockets" to find out how it is now. It's such a goddamned shame.
Many of us did, over the years, after one or the other outrageous things he did.
But he also gained some unsavory new ones since he's made his political affiliation clear.
So he voluntarily sends over star link hardware to be a hero in the moment. Now he wants money for something he volunteered?
-edit-
so here's the real scoop. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/04/08/us-quietly-paying-millions-send-starlink-terminals-ukraine-contrary-spacexs-claims/
Interesting read. Semi-volunteered, semi-purchased, but the SpaceX website and the CEO's comments and Musk's have all been skewed to look like they were all donations. Also, he’s jacking up the prices of the hardware.
“USAID is paying $1,500 for each standard terminal and the accompanying service, documents show. According to the Starlink website, a standard terminal set costs $600, while the monthly service charge costs $110, plus an additional $100 for shipping and handling.”
> So he voluntarily sends over star link hardware to be a hero in the moment
Not really. 80% of the terminals were purchased by third parties. So not even that.
It starts! The business plan for Starlink to become profitable was never presented.
A workable business model was NEVER presented either. He just started launching satellites, the first set of them are now obsolete because of design changes. Replacement costs a LOT!
He lost the gov't subsidy for providing rural internet service, so they lost that income.
Wealthiest man on the planet doesn't want to pay for giving humanitarian aid; reaffirming his place in the ranks of republicans who benefit from government subsidies.
It's worse than that.
He's been actively over charging by giving them the 4.5k plan instead of the 500 plan that they requested. But the terminals they had couldn't even use the higher tier plan.
What started off as a ploy to just claim losses on taxes is now turning into a war profiteering
Can we all mutually agree now that this guy doesn’t deserve anywhere near the reverence he’s gotten for so long? Hes an egotistical bore with a hero complex. Let’s stop feeding his narcism.
This is the best tl;dr I could make, [original](https://edition.cnn.com/2022/10/13/politics/elon-musk-spacex-starlink-ukraine/index.html) reduced by 89%. (I'm a bot) ***** > So far roughly 20,000 Starlink satellite units have been donated to Ukraine, with Musk tweeting on Friday the "Operation has cost SpaceX $80 million and will exceed $100 million by the end of the year." > Musk recently tweeted a controversial peace plan that would have Ukraine give up Crimea and control over the eastern Luhansk and Donetsk regions. > Though Musk has received widespread acclaim and thanks for responding to requests for Starlink service to Ukraine right as the war was starting, in reality, the vast majority of the 20,000 terminals have received full or partial funding from outside sources, including the US government, the UK and Poland, according to the SpaceX letter to the Pentagon. ***** [**Extended Summary**](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/y3hjq6/musks_spacex_says_it_can_no_longer_pay_for/) | [FAQ](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/31b9fm/faq_autotldr_bot/ "Version 2.02, ~672676 tl;drs so far.") | [Feedback](http://np.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%23autotldr "PM's and comments are monitored, constructive feedback is welcome.") | *Top* *keywords*: **Ukraine**^#1 **Starlink**^#2 **SpaceX**^#3 **Musk**^#4 **terminals**^#5
How does Starlink expect to be profitable as a company? If 20,000 users generate $100 million in costs over the course of a year (less actually but let’s be generous) that means each user has to generate $5000 in payments just to break even. That equates to $420 (heh) a month. That’s considerably higher than Starlink’s current average of $110/m in charges.
Because why ask the government to pay $26.4m when you can just make up the operating costs and ask them to pay $100m?
It’s going to cost…ONE HUNDRED BILLION DOLLARS!
*points pinky to edge of lips*
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>Extra long bout of menacingly evil laughter
Pets furless lap cat.
Nah people who worship Musk can't do math, otherwise they would already have seen that he likes to promise unrealizable thing
Or straight up ineffective and hurtful project, like that tunnel under Las Vegas for Teslas
HAH, and I was getting downvoted at the beginning of the crisis for asking where the catch was behind such "generosity".
Looking like it was a "first hit is free" marketing strategy.
Except it was the US government that paid for the first hit too. SpaceX "donated" some equipment but also had the US government buy some equipment as well, as a "contribution"; except they had the government pay 4x the normal price per unit for that equipment, so even though the SpaceX "donation" was larger by unit count they actually got net income from the whole thing.
So basically, the headline should have been "Breaking: Businessman makes huge sale"
All good businessmen know that it's much better for business if the headline says something a little different :)
Wasn't even that since the US, Poland, Ukraine and other countries paid for 80%. If they had a 25% profit margin, they did not even lose any money over it.
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This is why Teddy Roosevelt, back in his day, broke up monopolies on critical infrastructure. That is an Amercian tradition we should get back to embracing.
Exactly. Capitalism can only "encourage competition" when there are multiple competitors in the sector. If one or two companies dominate, the only "innovation" you need is to hike prices because your customers have no alternative. Oh and underpaying your workers, because they have no legitimate alternative. That's a good trick, too.
Urg. I did too. Attacked by Musk fan boys who was defending his “genius and generosity “. The guy is a sociopath and the sooner humans stop giving these guys unlimited power, the better off the species will be.
It's crazy how easy it was for him to dupe so many people, when in reality he's always been a narcissistic fuck who parades around as the hero genius.
I'll admit I fell for it, but I'm talking like 10 years ago. Within a few years of that, I was hesitant. Within the past few years, he's really show his colors. I'm shocked anyone who follows him still supports the guy. He's kind of pathetic at this point.
Yeah, he came across as Tech Jesus for a lot of us for a while there. I was having some doubts about him the last 6 months before those kids got stuck in that cave. After his pedo comment I realized he was rotten to the core and everything he had going for him were lies. Strategic, well-placed lies that brought him money, but lies nonetheless. I felt sick to my stomach for rooting for him up until that point.
Elon Musk is a POS and I really do not understand why people worship him. Also....No single person should ever be so wealthy.
Honestly, he's a giant "welfare queen." Corporate Welfare is welfare.
Elon never stops. Richest dude in the world, hustling a new angle to squeeze out another cool 100mil. Nice little bait and switch business plan. And for one second, I actually believed he wanted to use his fortune to help Ukraine. I should have known better.
Honestly it's fucking 100mil. He has a net worth of 200bil. If you have 2 grand in your bank account, you donated a dollar to Ukraine for comparison. 20 grand, then you donated 10 bucks. Fucking ludicrous.
He's a grifter. Most of his "wealth" is in over priced Tesla stocks. Now VW are getting serious in the EV business, Tesla's share price is not going to be so healthy. I used to see a few Tesla's about but now it's all VW ID series
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Costs in no way could reach 100m for just 20000 units. It's a grossly exaggerated figure to hide the fact he wants Ukraine to capitulate as he already said. Even if that fantasy figure could be true he could pay the entire bill out of his pocket change.
He wants to punish them for saying he’s an idiot for that dumbass proposal, also wants the government to give him money for no reason when he could literally do it himself. All over piece of shit this guy is
All cuz he can’t ever admit he’s wrong let alone a dip shit.
Wait he's claiming to service 20,000 units will cost up to $400M the next 12 months? Isn't the monthly service for starlink being sold for like $100/month. 20k * $100 * 12months = $24M. What am I missing?
Business grade starlink is $500 a month I believe, but even that’s 120 mil.
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Plus, that doesn't mean spacex is actually spending 500$ a month on each unit. There's surely a sizeable profit margin
Elon is ready to milk, and hes so fucking greedy, no need to calculate correctly. Just throw around some numbers
From the article: which SpaceX says costs $4,500 each month per unit Absolutely insane. War profiteering at its finest.
Well the US pentagon gladly pays exorbitant prices from basically all of its contractors. This is only getting attention because of Musk's notoriety. I'll remind everyone that the Pentagon has never passed a financial audit
Pretty sure Ukraine asked for the $500 a month tier (per unit), Elon 'generously' gave them the $4,500 a month tier without them asking for it. And now he's turned around and is expecting the pentagon to pick up the tab for something that Ukraine didn't even want in the first place.
lol let's see if it's harder to change your internet plan with spaceX or comcast.
Like a scsmmer at the flea market
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Oh nothing. You pretty much outlined what we already know. He’s just a greedy son of a bitch.
Anyone who is surprised has egg on their face lol
This whole episode is just showing me crystal clear that never ever rely on some private corporation if you really need something. This is pro public service argument imo
The fact that this is announced on twitter is pretty ridiculous too in my opinion. Shouldn't a matter this important be communicated to the Pentagon confidentially? Edit: Sorry! Should have read the article. SpaceX sent a letter to the Pentagon on 8 September, responding to a Ukrainian diplomat telling Elon to 'fuck off' in response to Elon's peace deal proposal. Edit 2: Sorry! That the 'fuck off' was after the letter was sent, Elon just used it as a scapegoat in his pettiness.
I hate the fact that twitter is used for communication between agencies or countries. I hope they stop that shit
Suggests Ukraine give Crimea to Russia and is now shutting off their access. Now, I'm not Russian to any collusions or Putin in my two cents on anything, but...
Yeah poor Elon, the war has really affected him personally. No-one else has it nearly as bad as him.
The poor guy literally stayed up ALL NIGHT trying to figure out how to end the war.
He worked 23 hours a day at Tesla, 29 hours a day at spaceX, 12 hours a day at boring co….. give the man a break. Those hours don’t even count all the time he’s spent taking care of his 17 children in 25 different households.
Also keeping an eye on those emerald mines y'know. Poor guy just can't catch a break.
Whoever is in charge of PR for this company is either horrible at their job or being completely ignored. Doing this right after all the allegations of talking with Putin and those twitter polls is not a great look.
Turns out Elon and his fans do all the PR themselves.
The fact that a billionaire who acts like a braindead memelord has “fans” speaks volumes about how garbage our culture is.
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Tesla famously doesn't have a PR department. SpaceX apparently has one. Not that you can tell from this.
A PR dept is an utter waste of money for them, since Ego Musk would just flop his ass all over their expert opinions and squawk whatever the hell he wants anyway.
*SpaceX apparently did have one. After this I have to believe most of them are looking for other jobs, like how do you even spin this?
Musk fired the PR people and took the helm. It was good for a while, even his gaffs. But since no one is around to tell him not to do stuff, he just kinda does it. This guy has been getting places by doing charisma checks. Now the dice are finally giving him low rolls.
Great summary, let’s hope for a nat 1 here soon.
Well said.
He publicly calls people 'pedos' among other shenanigans on twitter lol. I don't think Musk has any self awareness
Thats the thing with billionaires man. They're out of touch with normal people.
And often very in touch with underage people.
Ahh, the plan reveals itself. Create a dependency and sell the solution. I hope people start to realize that he's not Internet Jesus.
I've been wishing that since he made a Twitter account
First musk: I'm such a good guy because I'm making sure Ukraine has satellite internet during this war Then musk: here's what Ukraine should surrender to make Russia happy Now musk: I can no longer afford to give Ukraine internet
85% of the starlink equipment was paid for, mostly by Poland. A minority by the US, followed by the UK and others. He milked it as charity. Yet again illustrating his insufferable “I didn’t invent anything or found Tesla but will take credit for all of it” personality.
Musk is literally a supervillain. This could be the starting point of a superhero movie with Musk as the major antagonist force.
Mfs were comparing Elon to Tony Stark only a few years back 💀
even bakc than i was like "he is not smart enough for that" and got hate lol
Tony Stank
Elon was comparing Elon to Tony Stark. Hell he had a cameo in fucking Iron Man (2?)
He'll be insolvent from the twitter deal soon This is him rolling the dice on the military industrial complex maybe bailing him out
Right after the fed open up an investigation into him lol
Did you read what he is charging? Trying to extort the government. SpaceX says it has paid for about 70% of the service provided to Ukraine and claims to have offered that highest level – $4,500 a month – to all terminals in Ukraine despite the majority only having signed on for the cheaper $500 per month service.
Funny timing how it comes just a week after he made the tweet about making peace with Russia too..
Which he made immediately after having a one on one conversation with Vladimir Putin.... Edit: Some are claiming this never happened. Source? 2nd edit: it's a very obvious case of he said/he said. Elon claims after articles came out about this situation that he hasn't spoken to Putin/Kremlin in over 18 months. Ian bremmer alleges Elon told him directly he had spoken with putin/Kremlin much more recently. Given Elon has a motivation to look like he didn't speak to Putin, his continuous parroting of Russian propaganda, and general knack for lying through his teeth I'm more inclined to believe bremmer. 3rd edit: Jesus people chill I get it I should have provided my own direct source before asking for an opposing one I get it. My bad, alright?
Which happened after he tried to take credit for starlink in Ukraine and a bunch of people called him out that he was being paid for it. Then made him self look like an idiot saying "what have you done for Ukraine." to the activist whose been fighting for Ukraine for decades. I wish there was some intelligent grand plan to his madness, even if it was some evil self serving plan. Sadly though, it seems too easily explained as "just a spoiled billionaire with a fragile ego"
Oh my god him trying to one-up Gary fucking Kasparov was so embarrassing to see. What a tool Elon Musk is
One of the only men who has ever stood up to Putin, to-boot. Kasparov has long fought for democracy in Russia. Elon is an ass.
My respect for Kasparov, which was already high, skyrocketed after that exchange. The man is a global treasure.
Musk is playing 1D chess.
Holy shit that’s a new level of dumb for this guy
I dunno, Elon called that guy a paedophile once with zero evidence just because he called out his sub plan as dumb.
That was the clearest turning point where he turned from "eccentric" to right wing pandering megalomaniac. Because those followers are not so annoyingly critical.
He did a Kanye West
I believe that guy was ex british army too Or at least thats why im told my regiment gets called pedos all the time
How dare they hurl such disrespect at Savile's Savages
That's because Elon never cared about the kids. He just cared about boosting his own ego. The guy is a shit tier excuse for a human. The fact that people still support him after that event tells you everything you need to know about them.
He's a narcissist. He's worshiped by toxic kids on the internet, and now he's dependant on them. He makes his life decisions based on whether or not what he does can get him that fawning dopamine hit. They've taken the wheel and he's lost control of his life.
You mean selling a "purfume" called "Burnt Hair" wasn't a business decision by the most brilliant mind of our time? The irony is how the same crowd that followed him, thinking he was ground breaking, are the crowd that cheer hardest for his lowest common denominator troll approach, which is the thing that will inevitably dethrone him.
Musk, the master negotiator. Who usually negotiates (sides) with the dictators. Hmm, Trump 2.0?
Thank fucking God he can't ever run for president.
Luckily he can never run for president. He's originally from South Africa and not born as an American citizen. He could run for other political offices that are not in the line of succession, but I doubt his ego would allow him to settle for that.
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He's a billionaire. They exploit everything they can, that's why they're billionaires
Parasites, worms who feed off the life blood of man. That is what a billionaire is.
This is EXACTLY why big infrastructure projects built for government by private contractors go WAY over budget. Once you start building you've got them on the hook, the pols don't want to look bad by stopping the project in the middle due to cost overruns, so they have to just keep pushing forward. Contractors know this and low ball initially and then just mark shit up later and make more work for themselves they can charge extra for. Elon's doing the same thing here. Ukraine now relies on Starlink, so of course he threatens to pull it unless the US government pays him out the nose.
That's some pretty simple math. If the US is "covering 30%", that would imply we are already paying $1350 per terminal, for a $500 dollar per month service. Elon, if you see this, you are an absolute waste of vinegar.
given that sending data from a satellite to a terminal is a fixed cost, he's full of shit. He's very likely trying to charge the government the full price for every terminal that has ever existed in Ukraine, regardless of how many are functioning. It's not like he's constantly sending free satellite dishes as they're destroyed and going bankrupt for it.
He’s so grift-y. Just like Trump. And just like trump he shows his hand more every year.
This is why relying on private companies for infrastructure is a bad idea. Someone might feel like taking their ball and going home.
Privatize the profits, socialize the losses.
Just pay for it with the condition that’s it’s now a nationalised asset. The same should go for any bailout.
Seriously!! All his sudden self-insertion into these global politics - now he (the wealthiest person on Earth) says he can’t afford the bill? I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again - fuck this dude.
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Soon Elon for President! Sponsored by Puttler
If he wasn’t from South Africa, I genuinely think he’d run.
I suspect that was probably just for securities fraud, again. Which would likely result with some settlement for an amount less than he profited by the alleged fraud, again.
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He's also quite desperate now, because he has to come up with those 50 billion to pay for Twitter and selling already crashing Tesla stock is not a good idea.
Right after he had a talk with Putin.
I think I'd be a bit nervous about using his service if I was in Ukraine right now.
I think we feel a bit nervous about having him so involved in our space program.
Fuck.
The world should be a bit nervous that the wealthiest man on Earth is now Putin’s favourite sextoy and Xi’s most famous dildo.
Vladimir Putin is most likely the wealthiest person on Earth. According to that Mazinski fellow, or maybe the client he was representing before Putin had him tortured and killed let out that Putin brought the oligarchs in to a meeting and told them that if they wanted to continue operating, they would have to give their share to Putin, and that share was half. One oligarch resisted, then Putin had a kangaroo court session where they put him in a cage in the courtroom, and locked him away forever. The others played ball. At the time of the lawyer was tortured and killed, Putin's wealth was estimated to be $200B. That was like 10 years ago.
Well up until about 8 months ago he probably was the richest man.
Yup. Right after he comes out pro Putin suddenly space x wants to shut off service.
Musk's definitely acting like Putin recently acquired some damning Kompromat on him. Wouldn't surprise me if Putin is his secret Twitter financier too. How big of a get would that be worth to Putin to be a silent owner of Twitter?
This is one of those things that Musk should shut up about. Starlink is 100% reliant on its FCC license to legally operate as well as telemetry provided by the Space Force. The federal government can take that away whenever they want. They can also nationalize SpaceX under the Defense Production Act if they deem its services required for the sake of national security.
Nah, homie has a $44bln twitter acquisition to pay for. He’s counting his coins lol
He was hoping for big check from pentagon.
Musk: Look, Ukraine, I get it. War sucks sometimes, but how about you just give Russia what they want and in return I'll keep "donating" Starlink to you. Ukraine: Fuck off. Musk: I don't think I can afford to help you anymore. Kremlin: 🎉
Later that night on Tucker Carlson: "DID UKRAINE CROSS A RED LINE?!"
They hurt his feelings. HIS FEELINGS. You laugh and point while musk gets ratioed on twitter? DO LIBS HAVE NO SHAME
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He is running a charity though. It’s just that he’s the recipient.
Musk: “Look, Zelensky, you *had* your chance to finish this whole thing before my attention span wore out-but that window has unfortunately closed.”
"You have 420 minutes to come up with 69 reasons why you aren't alpha hahah"
Congress: you’re not fulfilling you government contract, you’re under investigation for this among everything else you’ve tried to do the last year.
I hate how verbatim this sounds.
Russians got some shit on Elon
Probably chipped in for twitter
I mean this is likely what they have on Trump too via Deutsche Bank (plus piss stuff, obvi) so I'd say this isn't too hot of a take. Also people saying "what money" don't seem to understand the difference between a broke country and a broke individual A broke country's bank account is still probably at least 10-11 digits (left of the decimal)
It would also explain why we’ve seen so much of that irrelevant snake Tulsi Gabbard recently. They’re gonna get their money’s worth with her in the end.
that one's even more believable because we know how cheap reps are to buy from tools like [opensecrets.org](https://www.opensecrets.org/members-of-congress/summary?cid=N00033281&cycle=2020)
$120k a year and suddenly a leader becomes a shill. It's crazy cheap
Coincidently he starts parroting Russian propaganda right after he finally says he’ll proceed with buying Twitter. Russia has a lot of interest in keeping their bots on that platform…wondering if Elon found another partner to help finance the buyout…???
He’s trying to get Twitter to let him back out by torpedoing their image. This has all been about selling his Tesla shares at the top without waiting for his legal windows.
For a guy who's made all his money off subsidies he sure hates the government
He sure hates America in it's current Democratic form that's for sure.
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“There is just a lot of super talented hardworking people in China who strongly believe in manufacturing,” the billionaire said. “They won’t just be burning the midnight oil, they will be burning the 3am oil, they won’t even leave the factory type of thing, whereas in America people are trying to avoid going to work at all.” I'm sure they strongly believe in making ends meet and not seeing their families starve to death, which they wouldn't if he paid them more and gave them a normal work week. instead of 6x 12hr days
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I definitely want my products made by tired, worried, cash-strapped people working at 3am... not
Definitely the type of environment you want for manufacturing key components to rockets, satellites, and self-driving automobiles. What could possibly go wrong?
Your business isn't worth running if you don't have suicide nets around it. Think about the overheads like your staff feeding themselves and their family. What a waste
Love how the people complaining that anyone not wanting to work 16 hours a day, 7 days a week, have no drive or work ethic, are always the same people whose days consist of doing mostly what they want to do while people scurry around accommodating them, while they sit in their offices that are bigger than most people's houses, outfitted in luxury, with a 8 figure view. I am pretty sure more people would want to work 80 hours a week if they could get paid enough to retire on a king's hoard in 30 days and be treated like a god for every second of those 80 hour weeks. What a disconnected fucking moron.
Remember when Musk claimed he worked 120 hours a week when he's clearly counting fucking around on twitter and playing elden ring and shit as work?
If by “Factory” he means “Prison Labor Camp”, then hell yah, they love working Manufacturing at 3am and living on site. What an asshole….
I’m shocked that a guy whose family benefited greatly from Apartheid in South Africa would be okay with slave labour. Shocked.
Not surprising considering his family's money comes from blood diamonds.
Emeralds, but yeah.
Libertarians want just enough laws and regulations to protect them from their slaves.
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I respect your optimism that anyone would learn from this and regulate these companies in future
I’ll say this - Putin has a way with getting into the heads of foolish, rich egomaniacs (*cough* Trump). I feel like Putin likes to go after those people the most because he knows they have no principles as long as their egos are massaged.
It used to be foreign adversaries would go after our political leaders. Now they go after our corporate leaders. Pretty obvious who has the power now.
They famously went after the last president. It was a whole thing.
It's called kompromat. I guarantee every one of them has skeletons in their closet.
The Defense Production Act should be used here. It would ensure Musk can't just turn off service on a whim.
Imagine Glen L Martin in 1940 telegraphing "I spoke to Hitler, I get his point." and some edgy thoughts, after which declaring he's turning off bomber production because it's bad for humanity.
Also for anybody who this name doesn't ring a bell, Glen L Martin and the Glen L Martin Company was one half of what would become Lockheed Martin
> During World War II, a few of Martin's most successful designs were the B-26 Marauder[7] and A-22 Maryland bombers, the PBM Mariner and JRM Mars[8][9] flying boats, widely used for air-sea rescue, anti-submarine warfare and transport. The 1941 Office for Emergency Management film Bomber was filmed in the Martin facility in Baltimore, and showed aspects of the production of the B-26.[10] >Martin ranked 14th among U.S. corporations in the value of wartime production contracts.[11] The company built 1,585 B-26 Marauders and 531 Boeing B-29 Superfortresses at its new bomber plant in Nebraska, just south of Omaha at Offutt Field. Among the B-29s manufactured there were all the Silverplate aircraft, including Enola Gay and Bockscar, which dropped the two war-ending atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan.[12] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glenn_L._Martin_Company#World_War_II Fun fact: The B-26 Marauder was known among aircrews as the “widow maker” because of its accident rates during take off and landing.
This is so spot on. Hopefully the Elon fans wake up.
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Problem is that like any good cult, towards the end those that remain are the most zealous diehards.
Then they can join him on the Haley-Bopp comet.
slave dog muddle fanatical intelligent cooing truck overconfident combative quicksand -- mass edited with https://redact.dev/
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The space shuttle and the 90s onward NASA was... still a committed group of dedicated wonder kids, but led by an epic group of management fuck-ups directing a program that ran unsafe missions until it killed so many astronauts in obvious and entirely predictable fashion that they couldn't ignore it anymore. The betrayal of the wonderful stuff at the heart of NASA by the morons that lead them is the stuff of nightmares. Read "Carrying the Fire" to find out how it used to be. Then read "Riding Rockets" to find out how it is now. It's such a goddamned shame.
Many of us did, over the years, after one or the other outrageous things he did. But he also gained some unsavory new ones since he's made his political affiliation clear.
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Not just him, [many wealthy US businessmen were very enamored with fascism.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_Plot)
Absolutely, they love the idea of slavery and labor camps.
Sounds familiar
So he voluntarily sends over star link hardware to be a hero in the moment. Now he wants money for something he volunteered? -edit- so here's the real scoop. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/04/08/us-quietly-paying-millions-send-starlink-terminals-ukraine-contrary-spacexs-claims/ Interesting read. Semi-volunteered, semi-purchased, but the SpaceX website and the CEO's comments and Musk's have all been skewed to look like they were all donations. Also, he’s jacking up the prices of the hardware. “USAID is paying $1,500 for each standard terminal and the accompanying service, documents show. According to the Starlink website, a standard terminal set costs $600, while the monthly service charge costs $110, plus an additional $100 for shipping and handling.”
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Actually the US, UK, and Poland paid for a bunch of the terminals.
> So he voluntarily sends over star link hardware to be a hero in the moment Not really. 80% of the terminals were purchased by third parties. So not even that.
God, I'm so sick of Elon.
It starts! The business plan for Starlink to become profitable was never presented. A workable business model was NEVER presented either. He just started launching satellites, the first set of them are now obsolete because of design changes. Replacement costs a LOT! He lost the gov't subsidy for providing rural internet service, so they lost that income.
Broke ass billionaire Maybe don't go around buying twitters next time. Genius
Wealthiest man on the planet doesn't want to pay for giving humanitarian aid; reaffirming his place in the ranks of republicans who benefit from government subsidies.
It's worse than that. He's been actively over charging by giving them the 4.5k plan instead of the 500 plan that they requested. But the terminals they had couldn't even use the higher tier plan. What started off as a ploy to just claim losses on taxes is now turning into a war profiteering
Holy shit fuck this guy. Elon supporters share a lot of similarities with Trump supporters, change my mind.
Thank god this psycho isn’t eligible for the presidency at this point
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Yeah, and the other methods of amending the Constitutuon are blocked in much the same way.
You would think, but I’ve come to concluded not to expect anything from the GOP.
Can we all mutually agree now that this guy doesn’t deserve anywhere near the reverence he’s gotten for so long? Hes an egotistical bore with a hero complex. Let’s stop feeding his narcism.
Elon Musk later went on to solve the crisis in Ukraine by calling the war a paedophile.
Rich guy finds way to profit during conflict. Wow. I bet that’s never happened before. /s