If Congress can’t go a seamless decision to fund the federal authorities by Sunday, Republicans could have induced yet one more authorities shutdown. Speaker Mike Johnson seemed to be prepared to work with the Democrats to make one thing occur, the Washington Put up stories, however then Elon Musk began tweeting, and earlier than we knew it, the persevering with decision was lifeless. It wasn’t only one tweet, both. Musk spent hours trashing the invoice, posting one thing like 70 instances in an try and cease its passage. Finally, he was profitable, however that does elevate one vital query — Who the heck is working Tesla whereas Musk performs president?
Final we heard, Tesla was not a automobile firm and had, as an alternative, been remodeled into an AI/robotics firm that was going to resolve autonomy within the close to future. That’s a giant deal, and it looks as if one thing that licensed mega-genius Elon Musk needs to be focusing all of his consideration on. He’s obtained different firms to run, too, however should you take him at his phrase, as soon as Tesla solves autonomy and begins promoting private robots to each single particular person on the planet, it can flip right into a multi-trillion-dollar enterprise that’s so precious, cash will basically turn out to be irrelevant. Shouldn’t Musk be targeted on making that occur?
Nope, as an alternative, he’s dictating home coverage by pressuring lawmakers into doing what he desires. Which he can do, apparently, as a result of there are successfully no limits on how a lot cash the rich can spend in elections, and in the event that they don’t do what he says, he can merely fund main challenges in opposition to them in 2026. Isn’t it nice that the wealthy and highly effective can do no matter they need, intrude in politics at any time when they need and guarantee they get tax cuts whereas elevating taxes on common working folks?
Don’t fear, although, Elon might have misplaced his gajillion-dollar pay bundle once more, however he nonetheless plans to struggle to get that again on attraction. You understand, as a result of he’s working so arduous at Tesla, each day and evening, and actually does deserve so as to add one other $50 billion to a fortune that already makes him the wealthiest man who has ever lived. In all seriousness, although, if the Supreme Court docket wasn’t principally made up of partisan hacks who’re joyful to twist the regulation to be no matter they need it to be, would anybody really purchase Musk’s argument that he deserves this bonus? Aren’t CEOs an integral half to a enterprise’ success? If they’re, then how is Tesla going to operate whereas its chief runs the nation from his Twitter account?
The subsequent nonetheless a few years are going to be simply nice as we watch the wealthy strip our democracy for components, enriching themselves and screwing over the remainder of us. And whereas Trump will likely be an vital a part of that, Musk is the one with the cash, which provides him an unbelievable quantity of affect even though nobody voted for him, and the so-called Division of Authorities Effectivity is nothing greater than an advisory committee with no actual energy. Apparently, that’s additionally extra vital than something Tesla is doing, too. As a result of the person actually isn’t targeted on fixing autonomy proper now.
Whereas rich oligarchs like Musk might have cash and energy, it’s vital to do not forget that there are extra of us than there are of them, and so they want us way over we’d like them. It gained’t be straightforward, however we don’t have to only sit again and let the rich trample throughout us. On the very least, we will band collectively and comply with cease shopping for Teslas. Musk wants these gross sales to prop up his meme inventory and keep his affect over the nation, however he can’t drive anybody to purchase one. Within the meantime, let’s all make sure to assist the Amazon employees who’re standing as much as Musk’s billionaire buddy Jeff Bezos. They aren’t going to take the abuse anymore, and neither ought to any of us.
