I think I drank the cool-aid.

I got a chance to see Elon Musk speak a couple of days ago.

I want to start out by saying I think pretty much the whole green movement is bullshit. I don't believe oil is evil. I think it's just fine. Mechanics are covered in oil all day every day. You don't hear about any increased cancer rates. Oil is also reabsorbed by the earth. Do you remember the hysterical "we are all going to die" when the PB thing happened? The accident was going to open a volcano in the middle of the ocean. Are there still affects today? Sure. But, we aren't all going to die from oil. I think the whole movement is somewhat based on hysteria because they don't understand science and goopy oil is ugly. There is bacteria that eats oil for effs sakes.

Having said that - I was somewhat relieved he was more of an engineering guy than a marketing guy. Engineers by definition hate marketing guys. They make a lot of promises that are hard to keep. Or impossible. He was actually concerned about thrift. I mean, lets be honest - I wouldn't have a problem with Elon Musk if he hadn't used taxpayer funds. It's something that has been bothering me about The Valley for about 10 years. We used to operate outside of government interference except in pockets. It's why this place became so magical. Now tech CEO's are government groupies. It's ridiculous.

Sure sometimes these guys pay the loan back as Elon has - but the government still raises our taxes to be able to provide a loan. And the government never pays us back. So it's basically the same as if he hadn't payed the loan from a taxpayer standpoint at least.

Still, after seeing him speak I was thrown into this Silicon Valley nostalgia. We are scrappy. A lot of people think tech is out to rob them, but the truth of the matter is that Silicon Valley is made of companies who do really hard things. Crushingly hard. Sometimes these things only advance in baby steps. A lot of the things you see today have roots from when I first started in tech. They were just impossible to do at the time. As the years go by fresh faces take a look and see things just a little differently and you take the next step.

I do think electric cars can be a viable product. Should we all be forced to buy them - no! They are great for people who are city bound. However, it pisses me off taxpayer funds were being used to force people into a product. It's socialism at its best.

I believe green energy is worse for the environment than what we have. Take for example the Exide plant that recycles batteries has been ordered to reduce production due to lead emissions. No one knows how long these batteries are going to last. I'm sure it's not forever. Even my robotic mower that had similar sized batteries only lasted a few years. And it's not a car that got used every day! I can't even get my rechargable camera batteries to last very long. I think batteries are worse for the environment than oil. And solar panels so far have to be ground up and encased in concrete to be disposed of. How the eff is that better for the environment that what we have now? I think green energy is the least efficient power source. Hence the most expensive. Never in the history of man have we progressed on higher energy costs. The industrial revolution came about in large part due to us using coal over renewable energy. Like wood! Coal is a cheaper energy.

Having said all that - I do think the shorts will get crushed barring a complete market meltdown. This guy is way scrappier than I thought.