Electric Shock

Elon Musk got into a little trouble with the Securities and Exchange Commission.  It seems that he was accused of pretending to take his company private to increase the price of Tesla stock, and now he has to step down as chairman of the company's board of directors . . .but he can still be the chief executive officer.

Meanwhile, Jeff Sessions has apparently decided that Musk will not be arrested for smoking marijuana during a potcast - er, podcast. 

This is rather awkward for the only domestic competitor to what passes for Detroit's Big Three these days, as Tesla is all about the future while GM, Ford and Fiat Chrysler are increasingly stuck in the past.  Ford and the Chrysler brand group have all but committed themselves completely to gas-guzzling SUVs and pickups, while GM pays lip service to developing more electric vehicles or even keeping the ones it already makes up to date.  We need Tesla to show the Detroit Three how to make electric vehicles, and profit from it.  You don't do that by causing the stock to be inflated.      

Did Musk lie?  More likely - this is just my personal take here - he wanted to take Tesla private and wanted to buy out the stock, but he didn't have the money.  He must have thought he had it, and he thus made a promise he realized too late that he couldn't keep.  It's not a lie if you believe it.

Whatever.  Anyway, I doubt Tesla will suffer from this setback too much.  It makes good cars, they're perfect in every way, and I say that from the experience of driving one.  Elon Musk is not the reincarnation of Preston Tucker, who had his own bad break with the stock-market cops and only built fifty of his sedans.  Tesla is indeed the future.  GM, Ford and Fiat Chrysler ought to wake up and create more modern vehicles.