If Congress can’t go a seamless decision to fund the federal authorities by Sunday, Republicans can have induced yet one more authorities shutdown. Speaker Mike Johnson gave the impression to be keen to work with the Democrats to make one thing occur, the Washington Put up experiences, however then Elon Musk began tweeting, and earlier than we knew it, the persevering with decision was useless. It wasn’t only one tweet, both. Musk spent hours trashing the invoice, posting one thing like 70 instances in an try to cease its passage. In the end, he was profitable, however that does elevate one necessary query — Who the heck is working Tesla whereas Musk performs president?
Final we heard, Tesla was not a automotive firm and had, as an alternative, been reworked into an AI/robotics firm that was going to unravel autonomy within the close to future. That’s an enormous deal, and it looks as if one thing that licensed mega-genius Elon Musk must be focusing all of his consideration on. He’s obtained different firms to run, too, however in case you take him at his phrase, as soon as Tesla solves autonomy and begins promoting private robots to each single individual on the earth, it’ll flip right into a multi-trillion-dollar enterprise that’s so invaluable, cash will basically grow to be irrelevant. Shouldn’t Musk be centered on making that occur?
Nope, as an alternative, he’s dictating home coverage by pressuring lawmakers into doing what he needs. 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 major 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 each time they need and guarantee they get tax cuts whereas elevating taxes on common working individuals?
Don’t fear, although, Elon could have misplaced his gajillion-dollar pay package deal once more, however he nonetheless plans to combat to get that again on attraction. You understand, as a result of he’s working so exhausting 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 pleased 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 necessary a part of that, Musk is the one with the cash, which provides him an unimaginable quantity of affect even if 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 necessary than something Tesla is doing, too. As a result of the person definitely isn’t centered on fixing autonomy proper now.
Whereas rich oligarchs like Musk could have cash and energy, it’s necessary to do not forget that there are extra of us than there are of them, and so they want us excess of we want them. It received’t be simple, 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 preserve his affect over the nation, however he can’t power anybody to purchase one. Within the meantime, let’s all be sure you help 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.
