Mark Rober and Tesla

 https://youtu.be/IQJL3htsDyQ?si=CoODlivC2phsrmhR

I like Mark Rober.  I like him a lot.  He knows his stuff as an engineer (former NASA guy) and anyone dedicated enough to make multiple squirrel obstacle courses has a quirky sense of humor I can appreciate.

But that video may have gone too far.  It may not be totally on the up and up.  A bunch of counter arguments have chimed in during the week that video was posted.  A couple give nods to some of the results while claiming overall that some of his tests are biased or just wrong.  In a comparing apples to oranges sense of wrong.  Some have instantly attributed the video as trash.  Naturally from account names indicating their Tesla fans is a common theme in many.  

But in this age of conspiracy fueled age of baseless accusations, irrational fan boy defense and people with large followings not concerned about accuracy over views can we trust any of it?  Can’t we instead trust almighty capitalism for what’s going on with Tesla?  And it turns out you don’t just need to look at the cliff the stock price dropping off the cliff like the coyote inside was holding an anvil.

Resale values of Tesla have plummeted.  And they haven’t been good for a long time.

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2025/03/20/business/even-used-teslas-are-falling-out-of-favor

https://www.sacurrent.com/news/resale-value-of-tesla-cars-sliding-into-toilet-both-in-san-antonio-and-nationwide-37037216

https://www.newsweek.com/tesla-resale-price-going-down-2046464

That’s right.  Declining since early 2024.  And no signs of improvement or any talk of what is being done to get it back.

Resale value of cars is a personal peeve for me.  Being a product of parents who bought quality (American made!) vehicles and drove them to death while simultaneously having their siblings think that a trade in “before it loses its resale value” and absorbing the interest rates of a brand new loan.  I’m sticking with my personal philosophy of debt being a terrible thing and that US consumers unhealthy love affair with overspending is ludicrous.  Especially now and what the next four years holds.

The gematria crowd doesn’t give you much to work with here.  Sure some of the terrorism stuff like vandalizing Tesla dealerships and painting swastikas on cars is there.  Outrage porn is better for engagement than talk of actual financial matters that may have some benefit.  It’s also low key because the majority of the gematria and really odd stuff tends to admire the biggest douchebags instead of being interested in real science.  Maybe if we had, oh government regulations that worked we would have some independent tests on Teslas looking at the more outrageous safety claims and give us help towards a real answer.

And maybe the roadrunners will actually run through a cliff like in cartoons.