Dalal.Holdings

Whats weird is that none of the brilliant minds of the CCP or the European Commission could simply learn to copy the U.S. System. They just had to do it their way...

Well that is helpful. I just think it is bizarre how the EC is another layer on top of national governments and is thus seemingly far removed from the European people. I agree that in national elections in Europe there is a shift and perhaps this will eventually trickle up to the EC. However the lack of responsiveness of the European Commission to the immediate issues on the ground is a troubling structural problem…perhaps they should be directly elected by the European people instead of being chosen by national leaders. It’s like Europe has one foot in the EU system and one foot in the individual national government setup instead of going all-in on one system.

So far, none of the European members of this board have addressed the EU's proposed actions against SpaceX/Neuralink in their efforts to get at X. I guess it indicates to me that most European businesspeople/investors are truly checked out of what the European Commission is up to and explains why the EC can do whatever they want with impunity, even if it ultimately destroys the competitiveness of the Eurozone. The European business/investor community just does not care. If this happened in the United States, the business/investment community would be up in arms. But here in the U.S., we have actual property rights embedded in our legal system so there's that. And it does appear probable that a second Trump Presidency would have a second front in its trade war:

The European Commission bureaucrats, in their infinite wisdom, are not aware that global investors (such as the prominent VC below) watch these headlines and form an opinion about the bloc that will affect the flow of capital into/out of the Eurozone. Similar to CCP purge of Jack Ma, there is a reflexivity to these things. They demonstrate staggering levels of hubris while it seems no one in Europe really is willing to take a stand against this nonsense. It's probably because they all pretty much hate Elon anyway, so what's the harm if the rule of law and protection of property rights get thrown out in their fight against him, right?

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-10-17/musk-s-empire-risks-being-targeted-by-eu-for-potential-x-fines Doing business in the EU is becoming like doing business in some kleptocratic soviet style banana republic… So they are going to fine SpaceX for so-called violations made by a separate company? Make it make sense??? Is there any rule of law or common sense legal system in the EU? Ah yes, the “innovative” anti-free speech DSA where now you charge fines as percentage of GLOBAL revenue (not just revenue earned in the EU) companies that are independent of X with different investors/stakeholders. Europeans on the board, please tell me why this does not resemble in some form nationalization or state sponsored theft? Are you happy with such actions by the European Commission? “The commission has final say” What about the court system? Does a legal system that protects property rights still exist in the EU? Is the EU really happy being on the path of becoming a banana republic???

To be an Elon type CEO of a groundbreaking company, you have to be balls to the wall able to push limits and not care what others think. "Only the Paranoid Survive" -- Andy Grove A shame to see what Grove's Intel has become, despite having talented engineers/employees, it lacked someone at the top who could keep pushing the company forward. Instead, the company moved from paranoia to complacency and now the results demonstrate that

You need technical skills if you run a technical company. Elon's got it. The recent Boeing CEOs didn't. I don't trust McKinsey to tell me anything anyway

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-10-03/how-eu-s-anti-deforestation-regulation-eudr-ran-into-trouble If you do business in EU, you best comply with the EUDR, that's after you get around to GDPR (do you approve Cookies?) and don't forget the #AIAct then the DMA and finally DSA of course. Innovation comes from standing up for "human rights", protecting our cookies on websites, doing whatever Greta Thungberg wants, and protecting indigenous people around the world (this from a continent with a prodigious colonizing history). Oh and if you do not comply, we will take chunks of your revenue as penalty and don't forget about arbitrary "windfall taxes" whenever we feel like it.

Am I the only one who thinks the EU imposing such an onerous system onto every company that sells in the region is insane? And with each piece of reg the punishment is up to a percentage of a company’s entire REVENUE???

The EUDR — another alphabet soup regulation innovation created by the EU. There certainly is no shortage of innovation coming out of the european commission! They are the Steve Jobs of regulation

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-10-02/macron-warns-that-eu-needs-radical-change-is-lagging-china-us It's clearly not a controversial opinion if even the French president says so Why don't they start where the problem originates--Brussels ?

Makes no sense to me to not call Elon an innovator because reusable rockets that land upright is a major innovation that only exists because of Musk. Similar to iPhone under Jobs. Yeah, the engineers worked to make it happen as well, but without Musk, it would not be here today simple as that. Unlike Jobs, Musk even put up his on capital from Paypal to make it happen so he was the early investor/chief engineer/innovator all rolled in one. Anyway, it’s not my job to convince anyone on here. I know what the history books will say.

This is pretty easy to counter though. There are organizations with tons of talented engineers/employees that are rudderless and close to failure due to leadership that lacks vision/became way too complacent. Boeing, IBM, GE, Intel, NASA come to mind. Microsoft under Ballmer. Apple before Steve Jobs came back was nearly bankrupt. It’s not enough to have a bunch of talented employees. You need someone with a bold vision and the ability to take risks and push through failure. As quoted from Isaacson’s book, all but one engineer said they shouldn’t catch the rocket and Elon overruled and went ahead with a plan to catch the rocket. A similar discussion probably took place earlier in SpaceX when it came to reusability. Other companies with talented engineers said rocket reusability was not realistic. Trusting a committee of experts to steer the ship will mean no innovation, no risk taking, and often rule by consensus which just doesn’t work. The U.S. gov’t has an executive branch for a reason and is not steered by Congress. Warren makes his own investment decisions and does not have a team of analysts doing the thinking for him.

Jobs didn't call it gaslighting, he called it a Reality Distortion Field https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reality_distortion_field

This is hilarious if you actually believe this after all your posts about "cult of personality" and "abrasive" leaders. I can picture you (or some version of you) while Jobs was alive: "Why does Jobs get credit? It's really all the engineers who work at Apple that pulled this off!" "Jobs didn't start Apple it was really Steve Wozniak's company that he stole from him!" "Did you hear that story about Jobs being rude to his employees?" "Did you know no one at Apple wants to get in an elevator with Steve because he's fired people for that?" "Did you know he refused to admit that child out of wedlock was his?" And the cycle repeats...

It's kind of funny that Elon haters remind me of Steve Jobs haters in that they aren't able to figure out that the brash personality is a key factor behind the success. Jobs believed some holistic medicine could cure his pancreatic cancer and deferred surgery despite hollering from family, doctors, friends (which would have actually cured him) and ended up having it spread to his liver which led to ultimate demise. He wasn't going to listen to anyone else. Like Jobs, you have to accept Elon the whole package. He is not going to be a smooth talking politician. That's why he achieves what he has and why there are no Elons sprouting in the EU.

The post was about the pitfalls of being ruled by committees. I'm afraid the European Commission is exactly that.

Will Europe ever wake up ?

The great thing about private businesses is that there is someone in charge who can overrule committees. Committees are the death of innovation.

I actually don't trust Buffett to make good investments because he does not have an MBA, CPA, etc... As far as "leapfrogging", I don't think history has too many individuals who have simultaneously started & run two wildly groundbreaking businesses. I would not bet on it happening again anytime soon.

Of course, real innovation comes from degrees and being overeducated which is the EU/old world mindset. The number of letters after your name confer the impact you will have on the world. Just ask college dropouts Gates, Jobs, and Zuckerberg.

You're right. Real innovation comes from large groups of individuals (committees). Governance via committees forms the foundation of the EU and explains why they are the bastion of the world's innovation. I believe Steve Jobs also ran Apple with committees in charge and would routinely subvert his own vision in the face of them. In fact, I think even Warren Buffett makes his investment decisions after consulting a committee full of individuals with extensive business and accounting degrees. Here is a committee of highly specialized (and educated) "experts" delivering their moonshot that will bear the fruits of innovation for generations to come:

Weird how GM, Ford, Lockheed, Boeing can’t accomplish even a fraction of what Elon has with access to MORE gov’t aid. GM was rescued in whole by the taxpayer and promised us EVs and gave us the Bolt and Volt. Boeing’s SLS has received vastly more funds than SpaceX equivalent and left two astronauts stranded in space and had no reusability. But yeah, thanks for sharing the contrarian take. Always helps me to invert.

Indeed. It seems that for the first time in about 50 years we have a clear path back to the moon and then after that beyond...

In light of SpaceX's accomplishment, it's worthwhile to consider how Europe approached rocketry as of late: https://www.politico.eu/article/how-europe-screwed-up-its-rocket-program/ Thierry and his fellow regulators hard at work on the 300 page regulation Word doc Meanwhile, his nemesis Elon has been busy...