Monday, August 31, 2020

I guess this can go on forever.



I was wrong.

3 comments:

  1. Capital of Texas RefugeeMonday, August 31, 2020 4:15:00 PM

    How can a company be thought of as ultra-valuable based solely on its perceived market capitalization?

    Thankfully the company I'm advising has remained privately held, doesn't give a shit about market cap except in terms of what can be sold, and highly values a good rate of return on the money that gets spent.

    Berkshire Hathaway actually has some real market value to it, although Buffett's pumped a lot of money into metals because he doesn't trust where the USD is going. Can't blame him really, wouldn't surprise me if his cash reserves are in CHF and SGD instead of USD now.

    But this "7th spot for most valuable company" thing is like that member of the Jenner-Kardashian family of media whores and thieves saying that she was a billionaire only for people to want to believe the lie.

    Baby, I don't care how much money you have, doesn't change what you are.

    (Goes double for your neighbor.)

    But "they" have such high hopes for Tesla!

    Actually, I don't give a shit anymore as long as SpaceX eventually causes NASA to shrink from its currently excessive bureaucracy with mad $20+ billion plans for a non-reusable launch system to something that outsources all of this ambitious space stuff.

    Because why wouldn't we get in on some of that?

    Maybe the UAE will decide to have an outsourced space program, that'd be interesting. Peace with Israel and cooperation in Yemen makes a lot of other things possible.

    But it'd be like that bit in one of those Riddick movies with the prophet guy looking for ummah somewhere out there in the galaxy, actually.

    Let them find it for all I care, it might make their wish-seeking on Earth less awful if they thought they had a peaceful exit from their existential struggles.

    BTW, you know all you'd need is raging dust storms and with your current heat, it'd actually be even more miserable than Dubai. :-)

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  2. "Actually, I don't give a shit anymore as long as SpaceX eventually causes NASA to shrink from its currently excessive bureaucracy with mad $20+ billion plans for a non-reusable launch system to something that outsources all of this ambitious space stuff."

    Same. But then what? Uber was a marvel for breaking the bureaucracy of the cab industry. But they don't make a profit. I sort of feel that if you don't have profits - this isn't capitalism. Tesla is already that company. Eventually they all become what they seek to destroy.

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  3. "Uber was a marvel for breaking the bureaucracy of the cab industry."

    Market innovations aren't always rewarded, and those that are may not be able to stay the course.

    But they can make way for more successful successors.

    Remember WordStar?

    Oh, wait, of course you don't, because you probably don't remember the horrors of CP/M-80 and MS-DOS.

    During the interim phase of WordStar's demise, which was around the early to mid-1990s, they had a better competitor or two.

    Someone's going to come along and do Tesla and SpaceX better, but for now?

    They're forcing Big Auto and Big Government Space to improve if they won't actually reinvent themselves.

    So I don't care whether Tesla makes a profit, because they're going to clear enough space either for something better to compete with Big Auto or for Big Auto to be forced into reforms.

    The same for SpaceX as well. Just as long as SpaceX causes the implosion of the bureaucrat "we're a bunch of rocket scientists" fakes at NASA, whatever comes out of the wreckage might be better suited for actual space exploration instead of rock collecting within the local solar system.

    "I sort of feel that if you don't have profits - this isn't capitalism."

    It's tulip mania for a different era.

    ZMOG HYBRIDZ ARE AWZOMEZ

    ... except, actually, they're not, because most are just slightly higher performance vehicles crippled by an electric engine fed by potentially terrifying battery systems.

    At least SpaceX hasn't gone Full Columbia yet.

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