I Just did Some Math

In my previous post, I mentioned how Zac and Jesse, big fans of Elon Musk and Tesla, said that what Musk has done to help restore Puerto Rico's hurricane-ravaged grid could be great PR for Tesla. Something I didn't mention is that Zac and Jesse also made a big deal about how Musk personally donated $250,000 to charities working in Puerto Rico. I'm not sure, but I think the phrase "right out of his own pocket" may have been bandied about.

I think it's good that Musk donated that money. I think that money helped a lot of people. Assuming it wasn't stolen by corrupt officials, and I have no knowledge of that sort of thing happening in Puerto Rico.

The math referred to in the title of this post has to do with just exactly how deep Musk's own pocket is. The math has to do with to what extent a quarter of a million dollars, for Musk, constitutes giving until it hurts.

If the reports are true that Musk got bonuses from Tesla in 2018 totaling $2.6 billion, then $250,000 would be less than 1/10,000th of his annual pay. If we stipulate that Musk works twice as long as a mere mortal, 80 hours a week, that means that he works 4000 hours a year, and THAT means that $250,000 is less than what he makes in a half hour.

Look at it another way: if Musk somehow came face-to-face with 685 panhandlers a day, every single day, 7 days every single week, and he gave a $100 bill to each one of them every time they met, in a year, it would add up to -- $250,000, less than Musk makes in a half-hour, assuming he works 80 hours a week. If he works 40 hours a week, then $250,000 is less than he makes in 15 minutes. [PS, 2 November 2019: Oops! And I'm always bragging on this blog about my superhero-level autistic arithmetic skills. Let's try that again: $100 each to 685 panhandlers a day is $68,500 a day, times 365 is $25 million a year. And it takes Musk a whole half of a week to earn $25 million.]

I have a feeling that Musk very rarely sees any panhandlers or homeless people. I could be wrong. Maybe he volunteers 20 hours a week in homeless shelters. It's just a feeling.

I'm not saying that billionaires are horrible people. Plenty of people will tell you that, but not me. I think billionaires can be horrible or wonderful, and I'm not sure what to think of Elon Musk. If I had to guess right now, I would guess that there is a mix of horrible and wonderful in him, and that his reality is so different than mine that I can't imagine all of the implications of being him. I'm just saying this: $250,000, for someone who makes $2.6 billion a year, is half an hour's pay if he works 80 hours a week, and 15 minutes' pay if he works 40 hours a week. I'm saying: if you think Elon Musk is just a down-to-Earth, folksy, regular guy, maybe you should keep on thinking.

"Now You Know" -- Cult Members, or Just Really Enthusiastic Tesla Fans?

Tesla doesn't advertise -- you know how I know that? I heard it on the YouTube channel "Now You Know," which is mainly about Tesla. With You Tube channels like "Now You Know," Tesla doesn't have to advertise. Zac and Jesse, the channel's hosts (sorry, I haven't been able to find their last names. Perhaps they actually don't have last names), present an extremely positive view of Tesla which only occasionally loses controls and looks like an out-and-out obvious cult. I don't think Elon Musk pays these guys, but he really should.

Then again, if Elon Musk has ever heard of Zac and Jesse, maybe it creeps him out a little that they always refer to him as "Elon," like it does me.

Then again, maybe Musk insists that all of his employees call him Elon, and Zac and Jesse are going for Employeee of the Month every day, although, as I say, they don't actually get paid by Tesla (I'm almost 100% sure).

Speaking of pay: recently, on several of their videos, responding to criticism of Tesla and Musk, which they refer to as FUD, the spreading of Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt, Zac and Jesse have mentioned that Musk's salary is $0 per year.

I researched the subject of Musk's financial compensation from Tesla, and the subject is a little controversial: some say he has no salary, some say his salary is minimum wage, some say it's a high as $53,000 a year. Some say he never cashes his salary checks, some say he donates his entire salary to charity... But I don't care about Musk's salary nearly as much as the fact that he gets billions of dollars per year from Tesla in bonuses. The same that I don't care whether Zac and Jesse's figure of $0 is exactly accurate or off by several dozen thousand dollars a year, nearly as much as I care about the fact that they don't mention the the 10-figure annual bonuses at all.

Another thing which strikes me as cultlike and disturbing: in this video from 2017, Zac and Jesse describe Tesla's efforts to set up a new electrical grid in hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico.



It doesn't bother me that Tesla's sending batteries to Puerto Rico and doing other helpful things there. What bothers me is this: Zac and Jesse don't refer to the situation in Puerto Rico as a humanitarian disaster. They also don't accuse the Trump administration of being responsible, by neglect, for the deaths of many Puerto Ricans. They should have mentioned both of those things, but they didn't. But they did mention that the whole Puerto Rican episode could be great, business-wise and public-relations-wise, for Tesla and Musk.

Zac and Jesse say many things with which I wholeheartedly agree. I agree with their negative take on conventional automakers and the petrochemical industry and climate-change deniers. I agree with them that it's extremely important and urgent that we stop using fossil fuels, completely and very soon.

I'm just not sure that Elon Musk is the Messiah.

Now, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe Elon Musk is single-handedly saving the human race. Zac and Jesse have recently compared Musk to Steve Jobs, which set off alarm bells in my head, because I've always thought of Jobs as the most successful cult leader of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, a purveyor of overpriced IT hardware which is incompatible with the rest of the IT in the world, making his cult members wholly dependent on his overpriced parts and service.

And what's the biggest complaint about Tesla, by far? Parts and service. Elon doesn't want you to get your Tesla repaired by anyone else. He wants you to wait 2 months to replace that lug nut which you can't get from anyone except Tesla. And if you're Zac or Jesse, you probably will wait, and pass the time by angrily denouncing everyone who thinks you're a chump, calling them all dishonest, corrupt dinosaurs.

Maybe I'm wrong about Steve Jobs, and maybe Musk also isn't all bad. Maybe they're only partly assholes, and partly very good. Maybe I've been all wrong all along about the quality of Apple products, which I admit I have used very rarely. I'm trying to keep an open mind about everything. One thing seems very clear: almost everyone who's ever driven a Tesla agrees that they are very good cars.

They're kinda pricy, though, too. The way that Apple products are pricy. And Starbucks coffee. And Nike shoes, and some other products as well which are purveyed by billionaires who supposedly have good hearts. I'm really trying to keep an open mind, and stay well-informed.