I have never believed much in the Tesla bears but this is worrying. Without their main production and assembly facility open, they can't make money.
The factory in Nevada produces batteries and powerwalls.
The factory in China has reopened but its capacity is low and it's far away from their main markets in North America and Europe. The one in the Netherlands assembles cars based on components from the US.
This comes a day after they opened deliveries for what could have / should have been their next big cash cow, the Model Y.
I would imagine lots of people currently using public transport might be thinking their own car is a more reliable option than public transit which is probably about to close, or taxis which might stop operations.
Public transport users are probably more likely to buy a second hand car. They can sell it in 3/6/9 months for much closer to what they're likely to pay for it.
Alternatively, maybe they could borrow a car from a neighbour who is currently working from home.
Even more worrying about this is the downstream effects this will have if they are forcing major manufacturing centers to go idle.
I’m involved with a small manufacturing company that makes highly specialized components for capital equipment and production lines. Combinatorics of the options (and being able to offer replacement parts for everything we have sold for nearly 30 years) mean these parts are made to order from raw materials, so we cannot easily stockpile a few and shut down manufacturing.
If we lost most of our business, we would be forced to either close or charge $20k for a normally $100 part when one breaks in someone’s medical supplies manufacturing line (Breakages go up drastically when you suddenly switch to 24/7 operation). Even if we didn’t directly loose business, we could still be crippled if we suffered equipment failure, and the makers of the equipment were not on someones ‘critical infrastructure’ list to obtain replacement parts from.
"Another email sent to a Tesla employee instructs employees who are following the shelter in place order to take paid vacation days for days they do not show up to work and to contact human resources if they run out of those days."
What the heck? It comes out of their vacation balance?
I believe that if a government mandates a shutdown of businesses, said government should pay for it. The employees directly that is, not the businesses.
Also, businesses should have enough savings to keep paying for all of their employees in a crisis like this.
The employees in turn have to remember they have the power. If they decide to just not return unless they get paid and their already scarce vacation days back, the company is screwed.
The US is in the enviable position of being able to print money, and it should.
Taxes are not about revenue collection, they're about controlling inflation. Print lots of money, distribute it evenly to everyone, and make a one time levy on all bank deposits to remove the same amount from the economy. You can call it stock buyback buybacks if you like ;)
There may still be some initial inflation, as this action just released a lot of purchasing power to the masses. But people are tightening the purse, and long term things should level out.
You could also take the view that trying to mitigate economic collapse by printing obscene amounts of money is something that failed states do because they have no other options. The correlation between hyper-inflation and regime change is very strong but the sample size is limited so we can't infer all that much bout the order of causation.
You don't need to print money. You could have businesses pay salaries and refund back those salaries as tax credits. You can offer short term loans to those small businesses who have cash flow issues. You can forgive all taxes during the lockdown (so the rent and wages you just paid does not generate taxes)
There are many ways a government can help during an economic crisis.
>The employees in turn have to remember they have the power.
not really. They aren't software engineers in high demand. An acquaintance works 2 jobs - he've got a family - one job is at Tesla, and now both of these jobs are off. There is some deep unjustice that the cost of all these lockdowns/etc. is paid by the most disadvantaged members of society while Mnuchin (who has a well established track of record of exploiting for personal gain the tough fate regular people fell into during a 2008 crisis) is going to get a $1T to use at his will.
Yesterday it was claimed that the Fremont factory would still continue to work unlike all the other factories because they got some 'essential job' exception. That was interesting news, resulting in some political complaining, and this reversal is news as well.
Very misleading headline by the Chronicle. From the article:
> In an email obtained by The Chronicle, Justin Kirkland, a plant manager, wrote to some Tesla employees at the Fremont plant Monday night that they should report to work until they hear otherwise from the company.
> Another email sent to a Tesla employee instructs employees who are following the shelter in place order to take paid vacation days for days they do not show up to work and to contact human resources if they run out of those days.
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[ 3.1 ms ] story [ 90.5 ms ] threadThe factory in Nevada produces batteries and powerwalls.
The factory in China has reopened but its capacity is low and it's far away from their main markets in North America and Europe. The one in the Netherlands assembles cars based on components from the US.
This comes a day after they opened deliveries for what could have / should have been their next big cash cow, the Model Y.
Is anyone selling them even if they are?
Alternatively, maybe they could borrow a car from a neighbour who is currently working from home.
I’m involved with a small manufacturing company that makes highly specialized components for capital equipment and production lines. Combinatorics of the options (and being able to offer replacement parts for everything we have sold for nearly 30 years) mean these parts are made to order from raw materials, so we cannot easily stockpile a few and shut down manufacturing.
If we lost most of our business, we would be forced to either close or charge $20k for a normally $100 part when one breaks in someone’s medical supplies manufacturing line (Breakages go up drastically when you suddenly switch to 24/7 operation). Even if we didn’t directly loose business, we could still be crippled if we suffered equipment failure, and the makers of the equipment were not on someones ‘critical infrastructure’ list to obtain replacement parts from.
What the heck? It comes out of their vacation balance?
Also, businesses should have enough savings to keep paying for all of their employees in a crisis like this.
The employees in turn have to remember they have the power. If they decide to just not return unless they get paid and their already scarce vacation days back, the company is screwed.
1. Gov pays employees for missed days, biz closes for unpaid vacations.
2. Gov pays biz for missed revenue, biz extends paid vacations.
Also don't forget that gov does not even earn/save money, so "gov pays" is an instant failure in a rational discussion.
Isn't that's what's normally written in history textbooks shortly before "hyperinflation, economic collapse, failed state"
Taxes are not about revenue collection, they're about controlling inflation. Print lots of money, distribute it evenly to everyone, and make a one time levy on all bank deposits to remove the same amount from the economy. You can call it stock buyback buybacks if you like ;)
There may still be some initial inflation, as this action just released a lot of purchasing power to the masses. But people are tightening the purse, and long term things should level out.
There are many ways a government can help during an economic crisis.
not really. They aren't software engineers in high demand. An acquaintance works 2 jobs - he've got a family - one job is at Tesla, and now both of these jobs are off. There is some deep unjustice that the cost of all these lockdowns/etc. is paid by the most disadvantaged members of society while Mnuchin (who has a well established track of record of exploiting for personal gain the tough fate regular people fell into during a 2008 crisis) is going to get a $1T to use at his will.
> In an email obtained by The Chronicle, Justin Kirkland, a plant manager, wrote to some Tesla employees at the Fremont plant Monday night that they should report to work until they hear otherwise from the company.
> Another email sent to a Tesla employee instructs employees who are following the shelter in place order to take paid vacation days for days they do not show up to work and to contact human resources if they run out of those days.
I imagine there are states that will be willing exempt them from forced shutdowns.