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Trump Names Elon Musk, Uber CEO to Advisory Team – TheHill

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Re: Trump Names Elon Musk, Uber CEO to Advisory Team – TheHill

#51

Did not see that coming... The cynic in me says this is entirely about PR, but if it's not, this is a suprisingly positive step in the right direction. I'm not sure what to make of it and wonder what will come of it.

I take this as a sign that politics are out, and simple business administration is in. Of course real cynics will yell too much power is being given to business people.

I am in awe of how quickly our distaste for lobbyists and money in politics has faded now that a woman is not running for president.

People keep saying Trump's cabinet and team is "business leaders and political outsiders" when it's hard to imagine people more "inside" than lobbyists.

Re: Trump Names Elon Musk, Uber CEO to Advisory Team – TheHill

#52
post #4

Honest question, what does this mean for all the talk of Silicon Valley doom and gloom under Trump's presidency? Was all that just fear mongering? How do we understand this move?

Seems like he's just asking for their opinion on the actual state of economy.

Let's hope Musk repeats the line, "How about you stop subsidizing Tesla AND the Coal industry and see who wins the market?"

Re: Trump Names Elon Musk, Uber CEO to Advisory Team – TheHill

#53
post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"in this respect because he clearly values his own opinion over everyone else." Musk or Trump? :) Musk might be liberal on some kind of social issues, but he's more of a libertarian than anything, he's not remotely some kind of 'bernie' guy. Musk told his wife, as they were having their 'first dance at the wedding' - that 'he's the alpha' in the relationship. Does that sound progressive? Or how about dumping his wife…

Evidence that Musk has not "the faintest grasp of economics"? I'm not sure that you can make that claim about anyone who has a company that they created that is worth >$1bn. Also, as long as people don't reject Flat-earth, climate-denial, or intelligent design, they are condoning those things. The Republican party have been masters of allowing these beliefs to come along for the ride for years. 2 of them seem to be r…

Basically nobody believes in 'Flat Earth' it's ridiculous that you'd put that in there.

And it's surprising how many CEO's in tech don't have a grasp of economics.

Elon doesn't know what the Fed's QE program does or what it means.

Watch investors speak about what they think of the future, and of business, then watch Elon, Zuck etc. speak. There's a marked difference. The investors are economically literate, and usually speak in those terms. Founder don't.

Elon is in 2 business that are fundamentally affected by things like currency, interest rates, consumer credit - Solar City and Tesla. And he never - ever - talks about it.

Most engineers are financially and especially economically illiterate.

But I don't think you actually need to understand econ really well to be a CEO or a good entrepreneur, I just think it's really weird that they don't.

Re: Trump Names Elon Musk, Uber CEO to Advisory Team – TheHill

#54
post #29

I remember seeing a bunch of "Elon Musk for president!" among certain social groups. And I was thinking that's like "He's my favorite musician! I want him removing my appendix!" But that said, this is just noise anyway. It's not like these guys, however much we like them, will have any say in policy.

That reminds me of a Dylan Moran joke: "Arnold Schwarzenegger is the governor of California. There's a perfectly ordinary English sentence. How did that happen!? ... He went over to the heavy thing, and lifted it, and put it back down and didn't move it anywhere. And then he did it again, hundreds of times, and he said to people who stopped to observe this aberrant behaviour, "Look how good I am at lifting the heavy thing in my underpants." Now, that may seem a little dim. But it was they who said "You're the man. You're the one we want to deal with immigration, and water rates, and taxes, and all that."

Re: Trump Names Elon Musk, Uber CEO to Advisory Team – TheHill

#55
post #40

This isn't surprising. Elon Musk and Travis Kalanick are both admirers of Ayn Rand and likely supporters of Donald Trump (although they probably couldn't express their support prior to November 8th).

I have no idea if the source is credible but a simple Google search got me this: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/elon-musk-on-donald-trump-j...

It's credible. Here's the interview the quote came from:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ecfn9ULApXo

Re: Trump Names Elon Musk, Uber CEO to Advisory Team – TheHill

#57

Please no more politics! I thought we were on a one week long hiatus from this crap. Please, down vote this article if you have the ability.

The experiment was called off by dang a while back https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13131251

IMHO This is pretty relevant stuff for anyone interested in the future of the companies these men run.

Re: Trump Names Elon Musk, Uber CEO to Advisory Team – TheHill

#60
post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"in this respect because he clearly values his own opinion over everyone else." Musk or Trump? :) Musk might be liberal on some kind of social issues, but he's more of a libertarian than anything, he's not remotely some kind of 'bernie' guy. Musk told his wife, as they were having their 'first dance at the wedding' - that 'he's the alpha' in the relationship. Does that sound progressive? Or how about dumping his wife…

> Musk told his wife, as they were having their 'first dance at the wedding' - that 'he's the alpha' in the relationship. Oh god if that happened... is it possible to die from cringing?

It's such a crazy and demeaning thing to say to someone, especially 'right after the fact' at the wedding, after the vows.

'Buy the way, this is the other part of the deal you just signed!'

I stick my foot in the mouth all the time, but I would never do anything like that.

He's crazy rich, powerful and famous, marrying a young, probably a little naive woman ... the 'roles' seem rather obvious, no reason to demean the poor girl.

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