glomag

I like your characterization of Musk as “the flavor flav of Tesla”. He is or tries to be a hype man, a personality, capable of creating a cult of personality. He hired engineers and workers and told them to build things he wanted. The solutions those people created to his (and the other members of the board of directors) demands are what Tesla became. I’m not convinced he knows anything about running a company (Twitter).

Thanks for the reply. So you spend about 17% of your income on housing. (assuming 5k is the total for all three). Some people are currently looking at spending 25-30% of their income or more on housing just to get the cheapest houses available. Imagine if you had to spend 9000 each month just to be able to live in one house and maybe you can understand why some people are upset.

If you meant 5000 each for the three houses then hopefully the two not currently owner-occupied are either being rented out or generating equity through appreciation. Therefore they function more as an investment asset than a primary residence.

“Tesla Motors was incorporated on July 1, 2003, by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning. Eberhard and Tarpenning served as CEO and CFO, respectively.” “Tesla’s first car, the Roadster, was officially revealed to the public on July 19, 2006.”

"The Prius was developed by Toyota to be the “car for the 21st century; it was the first mass-produced hybrid vehicle, first going on sale in Japan in 1997 at all four Toyota Japan dealership chains, and subsequently introduced worldwide in 2000.”

I will concede that Musk may have made some marketing decisions that contributed to the popularity of Tesla cars vs other brands but I do not believe that “Without Elon we wouldn’t have a viable electric car industry.” If there is money to be made in a business then someone will inevitably step in to fill the market niche. That’s a core tenant of how capitalism is supposed to promote the efficient use of resources.

Also, I’m not sure who the “we” in your comment is referring to. I personally do not have any type of car industry, viable or not. Are you suggesting that US car manufactures should be nationalized and owned collectively by all citizens?

Furthermore, I do not support electric cars as a major contribution to the solution to climate change.

One problem is that housing affordability is currently at or near record lows.

https://www.nar.realtor/blogs/economists-outlook/housing-affordability-conditions-tumble-in-october-2023

“A mortgage is affordable if the mortgage payment (principal and interest) amounts to 25% or less of the family’s income.”

What percent of your family’s income do you pay (or have paid in the past) for the principle and interest on your mortgage?
Since your high income gives you some flexibility in choosing a housing situation I’m curious how much of your income you decided to allocate to this expense.

Could you please elaborate on the claim that loans are essentially required for modern life in the US? You might be able to make the argument for a mortgage but even that is not absolutely required. Possibly student loans could be seen as required but those are largely government subsidized/administered and typically given out to younger people who haven’t yet gone through a bankruptcy.