rkbabang Posted March 12, 2014 Share Posted March 12, 2014 Choice quote: On March 6, at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Maryland, Christie had this to say: “We need to talk about the fact that we are for a free-market society that allows your effort and ingenuity to determine your success, not the cold, hard hand of the government,” as reported by Bloomberg. http://www.forbes.com/sites/markrogowsky/2014/03/11/in-new-jersey-tesla-crashes-into-the-hypocrisy-of-chris-christie/?partner=yahootix Yes, Republicans are pro-freemarket the way Democrats are anti-war. It sounds nice in their speeches, but ends there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardGibbons Posted March 13, 2014 Share Posted March 13, 2014 I find it fascinating. While there's corruption in government, usually the people involved try to hide it or make excuses. It's rare that the corruption is so starkly visible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hyten1 Posted March 13, 2014 Share Posted March 13, 2014 if tsla is able to sell directly to customers, should other automakers be able to as well? hy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ERICOPOLY Posted March 13, 2014 Share Posted March 13, 2014 if tsla is able to sell directly to customers, should other automakers be able to as well? hy Of course. Just like Apple has their stores where they sell computers and phones directly to consumers. Next, Chris Christie is going to sign legislation to ban Apple from selling a computer directly. Tesla services my car at cost. What does a dealership do for me? Services my car at a profit. It feels like a Chris Christie jobs program. Socialist! :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hyten1 Posted March 13, 2014 Share Posted March 13, 2014 i agree and am all for sellling directly this is definitely a interesting fight with wider implication than just tsla Also eric, correctly me if i am wrong, the current situation is not quite like your apple analog. there are current existing "auto dealer" laws that are in place. now i am not saying i agree with the law or these laws are on the up and up. so its not quite the same, exactly. obviously there are some room for interpretation of the law. now i am not familiar with the law so someone correct me on this. hy if tsla is able to sell directly to customers, should other automakers be able to as well? hy Of course. Just like Apple has their stores where they sell computers and phones directly to consumers. Next, Chris Christie is going to sign legislation to ban Apple from selling a computer directly. Tesla services my car at cost. What does a dealership do for me? Services my car at a profit. It feels like a Chris Christie jobs program. Socialist! :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ERICOPOLY Posted March 13, 2014 Share Posted March 13, 2014 i agree and am all for sellling directly this is definitely a interesting fight with wider implication than just tsla Also eric, correctly me if i am wrong, the current situation is not quite like your apple analog. there are current existing "auto dealer" laws that are in place. now i am not saying i agree with the law or these laws are on the up and up. so its not quite the same, exactly. obviously there are some room for interpretation of the law. now i am not familiar with the law so someone correct me on this. hy if tsla is able to sell directly to customers, should other automakers be able to as well? hy Of course. Just like Apple has their stores where they sell computers and phones directly to consumers. Next, Chris Christie is going to sign legislation to ban Apple from selling a computer directly. Tesla services my car at cost. What does a dealership do for me? Services my car at a profit. It feels like a Chris Christie jobs program. Socialist! :D He's probably also taking money from the firefighters. You've got all those GM cars you know! http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2014/01/gm-to-recall-370000-silveradosierra-trucks-for-fire-risk/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ERICOPOLY Posted March 13, 2014 Share Posted March 13, 2014 Also eric, correctly me if i am wrong, the current situation is not quite like your apple analog. there are current existing "auto dealer" laws that are in place. now i am not saying i agree with the law or these laws are on the up and up. so its not quite the same, exactly. obviously there are some room for interpretation of the law. I think you are right about this. He is the Governor of a state where the free market has been banned. And what is his position on this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LC Posted March 13, 2014 Share Posted March 13, 2014 I wonder if any big owners of auto dealerships in NJ were helpful in Christie's political career? ::) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ERICOPOLY Posted March 13, 2014 Share Posted March 13, 2014 quoting: Although Porsche sold only 155,000 cars last year, dwarfed by the VW brand's sales of 4.7 million cars, the sports-car maker reported a 173% surge in operating profit to €2.6 billion, making nearly as high a profit contribution to the group as the VW brand passenger-car division. Profit at the VW brand unit fell 21% to €2.9 billion. http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304914904579436621769480200?mod=WSJ_LatestHeadlines&mg=reno64-wsj Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rkbabang Posted March 13, 2014 Share Posted March 13, 2014 quoting: Although Porsche sold only 155,000 cars last year, dwarfed by the VW brand's sales of 4.7 million cars, the sports-car maker reported a 173% surge in operating profit to €2.6 billion, making nearly as high a profit contribution to the group as the VW brand passenger-car division. Profit at the VW brand unit fell 21% to €2.9 billion. http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304914904579436621769480200?mod=WSJ_LatestHeadlines&mg=reno64-wsj Margins are important. Selling more cars doesn't necessarily equal making more money. This reminds of me of people who think Apple is failing because most phones sold in the world are Android. I have no position in any auto manufacturer, but it does makes me laugh a little at the people who would never invest in Tesla because it is overvalued, yet think Fiat is a great investment because "look how many cars they sell!" "Millions!". Now if they can just increase their margins.... But what if they never do. Chrysler is a company that (if we had a free market) should have went bankrupt almost 40 years ago if it wasn't for government intervention and Fiat isn't the first to try to turn that ship around in the years since. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Palantir Posted March 13, 2014 Author Share Posted March 13, 2014 ^You don't think Fiat has any high margin brands? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rkbabang Posted March 13, 2014 Share Posted March 13, 2014 This is about SpaceX rather than Tesla, but I found this interaction between Elon Musk and Senator Richard Shelby pretty amusing. from: http://nextbigfuture.com/2014/03/bad-relations-in-russia-are-now.html Shelby asks Musk what he thinks about ULA's 68 consecutive launches. Musk: "I would also like to point out that there were two highly publicized failure investigations, one into Delta IV Heavy and one into Atlas, that the Air Force conducted. ULA has a very good track record; it is not quite as perfect as 68 launches." Gass (ULA CEO): "We measure mission success by our customer's declaration, so if they declare a mission is a success, we use the same record". Shelby: "Mr. Musk, in October 2012, a secondary payload aboard a Space X Falcon 9 was sent into the wrong orbit because one of the Merlin engines powering the Falcon 9 failed." Musk: "Right. Well, by ULA's definition of success, that mission was perfect." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rkbabang Posted March 13, 2014 Share Posted March 13, 2014 ^You don't think Fiat has any high margin brands? They do, but I'm not sure if buying Chrysler was a mistake or not. Time will tell. Also the stock was pretty cheap a few months ago. Much more so than now. I looked at it, but didn't pull the trigger. Chrysler worries me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JBird Posted March 13, 2014 Share Posted March 13, 2014 This is about SpaceX rather than Tesla, but I found this interaction between Elon Musk and Senator Richard Shelby pretty amusing. from: http://nextbigfuture.com/2014/03/bad-relations-in-russia-are-now.html Shelby asks Musk what he thinks about ULA's 68 consecutive launches. Musk: "I would also like to point out that there were two highly publicized failure investigations, one into Delta IV Heavy and one into Atlas, that the Air Force conducted. ULA has a very good track record; it is not quite as perfect as 68 launches." Gass (ULA CEO): "We measure mission success by our customer's declaration, so if they declare a mission is a success, we use the same record". Shelby: "Mr. Musk, in October 2012, a secondary payload aboard a Space X Falcon 9 was sent into the wrong orbit because one of the Merlin engines powering the Falcon 9 failed." Musk: "Right. Well, by ULA's definition of success, that mission was perfect." Hahaha. Thanks for posting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffmori7 Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 Musk about the New Jersey situation: http://www.teslamotors.com/blog/people-new-jersey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rkbabang Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 Musk about the New Jersey situation: http://www.teslamotors.com/blog/people-new-jersey Thanks for posting this. The thing about Musk I like is that he doesn't beat around the bush or mince words, but just says it like he sees it. I love this paragraph: The rationale given for the regulation change that requires auto companies to sell through dealers is that it ensures “consumer protection”. If you believe this, Gov. Christie has a bridge closure he wants to sell you! Unless they are referring to the mafia version of “protection”, this is obviously untrue. As anyone who has been through the conventional auto dealer purchase process knows, consumer protection is pretty much the furthest thing from the typical car dealer’s mind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liberty Posted March 18, 2014 Share Posted March 18, 2014 Interview for dutch tv from a few months ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moody202 Posted March 18, 2014 Share Posted March 18, 2014 Margins are important. Selling more cars doesn't necessarily equal making more money. Great point...VW is a perfect example. They seem to be focused on being #1, not on profitability. How many times have we seen this movie play out? Since we are on the topic....I like Toyota as an investment. Not a value play but it's trading <10 on PE and brand is stronger than ever! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phaceliacapital Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 Like GM, largest car company by revenues, bankrupt nonetheless. Scale only matters if you can do it in the right segments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jouni1 Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 http://www.cnbc.com/id/101503303 tesla is the new apple. IF musk is as successful as henry ford, the stock will be a double, says cramer (and GS)! ::) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fareastwarriors Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 Tesla Can Topple the Car-Dealer Monopoly http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2014-03-20/tesla-can-topple-the-car-dealer-monopoly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Palantir Posted March 20, 2014 Author Share Posted March 20, 2014 http://www.cnbc.com/id/101503303 tesla is the new apple. IF musk is as successful as henry ford, the stock will be a double, says cramer (and GS)! ::) I find it hard to disagree with this assessment. I think Musk is more gifted than Steve Jobs and will go on to do far greater things than the Apple co-founder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffmori7 Posted March 21, 2014 Share Posted March 21, 2014 Wow, Larry page would rather give his money to Musk than to charity! http://www.slate.com/blogs/business_insider/2014/03/20/google_ceo_larry_page_elon_musk_would_get_my_inheritance_over_charity.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rkbabang Posted March 21, 2014 Share Posted March 21, 2014 Wow, Larry page would rather give his money to Musk than to charity! http://www.slate.com/blogs/business_insider/2014/03/20/google_ceo_larry_page_elon_musk_would_get_my_inheritance_over_charity.html Something tells me he's going to get some flak for saying that. He is correct though, giving money to Elon Musk rather than to someone like Bill Gates, would do humanity more good and help pull more people out of poverty in the long run. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beerbaron Posted March 22, 2014 Share Posted March 22, 2014 Wow, Larry page would rather give his money to Musk than to charity! http://www.slate.com/blogs/business_insider/2014/03/20/google_ceo_larry_page_elon_musk_would_get_my_inheritance_over_charity.html Something tells me he's going to get some flak for saying that. He is correct though, giving money to Elon Musk rather than to someone like Bill Gates, would do humanity more good and help pull more people out of poverty in the long run. This reminds me of those NPO trying to make a laptop for 100$ or less for the last 10 years. They have been getting grants and donations for many years yet, they can't compete with free markets bringing better priced products. It goes to show that scale and incentives are powerfull tools in regards to success! BeerBaron Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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