Elon Musk’s polarizing political actions since acquiring Twitter, later rebranded X, in 2022 dramatically hurt the automaker’s U.S. sales, underscoring how deeply its fortunes are intertwined with the billionaire’s persona.
The findings quantify for the first time how the political actions of the world’s wealthiest person – including his role in U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration – may have cost Tesla billions in lost vehicle sales while benefiting rival electric carmakers.
Tesla’s U.S. sales would have been between 67% and 83% higher, or about 1 million to 1.26 million additional vehicles, from October 2022 to April 2025, had it not been for what researchers call the “Musk partisan effect,” according to a working paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research by Yale University economists.
These guys actually made me realize satellite grids are not a good idea, they’re in places they’re not supposed to be and use lights that weren’t authorized, meaning about 1/3 of ground-based telescope exposures are being ruined right now. Negative externalities abound.
Musk can shoot whatever he wants into orbit. He even shot up one of his shitty cars.
How about horizon pollution, I can see those shitty things with my own eyes.
How about the huge increase in risk of a Kessler effect?
How about that for most people this won’t even be necessary as most people don’t need low latency satellite internet? I’m sorry if you’re on a boat in the middle of the ocean and have to deal with a high ping while playing fortnite or something but your low ping is not worth the downsides
Kessler syndrome is not a big deal here. These particular satellites are so low they would self-deorbit after like 5 years. That’s an argument that more should be at such a low altitude. Let them collide, and drop out of the sky
You also forgot all those rural people that still don’t have another way to get internet. Yes they should have an option
bah… get outta here with science…he shot up a car just as a stunt.
Or destroying the ozone layer.
Up to 4-5 Starlink satellites now burn up in Earth’s atmosphere daily, releasing aluminum oxide particles that catalyze ozone destruction. Each 250kg satellite releases about 30 kg of aluminum oxide when it burns up, forming nanoparticles that persist in the stratosphere for 20–30 years, continuously damaging the ozone layer. With plans for up to 42,000 Starlink satellites (plus thousands more from other companies) all on 5-year replacement cycles, annual reentries could exceed 8,000 by the 2030s, adding 360 metric tons of aluminum oxide per year, 640% above natural levels.
The Montreal Protocol, which successfully phased out CFCs and enabled ozone recovery, does not cover aluminum oxide pollution from satellites. The FCC currently categorizes satellites as “extraterritorial activities” exempt from National Environmental Policy Act review, meaning no environmental assessment is required before launch approval. By the time the full impacts appear in the 2040s–2050s, the damage could be irreversible.
That’s wild. Can you link us a source for that?
Absolutely!
https://phys.org/news/2024-06-satellite-megaconstellations-jeopardize-recovery-ozone.html
Wow you’re really selling me this Elon guy /s
Hades, I’m not ready for this…
Their orbit is too low for Kessler syndrome. If every starlink blew up today, it would only take a few years for all the debris to fall to earth. It’s the higher geosynchronous orbit you gotta worry about.
You mean where he put a car.
That was apparently in heliocentric orbit.
I can’t help but think we could have done it with a reasonable number of sats. we put so many up it was like it was just a flex to make spacex profitable