I have never and will never understand investing. It’s all feelings, emotion, and smoke & mirrors. Maybe that’s the reason I’ve never enjoyed gambling. I dunno.
When I watch some of the stories that come across the net, I just shake my head. The Jeckel/Hyde shitshow that is Elon Musk and Tesla Motors. The man is brilliant, but an almost complete ass. He seemingly has not a clue how to manage people effectively. Steve Jobs? Same thing. His arrogance may have cost him his life.
Then, down in Utah we have Trevor Milton and Nikola Corporation. Maybe he’ll end up with a cell adjoining Elizabeth Holmes. These two are certainly from the same mold. What’s wrong with people who invest in these companies, especially the big investors? Show me a video of the truck coasting powerless down a hill? Hell, yes! Is $20M enough? I have more!
Honestly, I don’t give a flying care about some rich ass who loses a ton of money on such dumbassery. I do care about the regular people who are just trying to keep up with this dumpster fire that’s known as ‘the middle class’ and lose money they can’t afford to.
Which brings us to a couple of American companies working in the aircraft field, which I’m kinda fond of. I remember when Spike Aerospace hit the news back in ’14 or so. I immediately went to their website, which looked like a designer had spent a day or so on, with the help of a sixth-grade boy who was really good at ‘designing airplanes’. Later that day, a new web site went up. I emailed them and asked them why they hadn’t managed to get the new site up in time for their world debut. Major f-up, I think. A decade on, almost, and they have missed every one of their stated milestones.
Then we have Boom Supersonic. Kind of the same story. Cool drawings and missed milestones. United announced intentions to buy 15 of the aircraft, which means absolutely nothing. Remember Concorde? It had two customers, the British government and the French government. Eighteen companies had originally placed orders for Concorde!
Boom was working with engine maker Rolls Royce, but that fell through. I have to think that RR got smart. Then Boom announced they were working with Kratos, whose TDI division makes small turbofans, the largest of which develops 200 lbs. of thrust. Wait a minute! Rolls Royce, Pratt & Whittney, GE, and Safran, all rather huge companies, all pass and you select a small company that makes engines with 1/100th the thrust you will need, and apparently no supersonic experience! Oh, hell yeah! That’s gonna work great!
For those who might not remember, let’s revisit Concorde for a moment. A brilliant and gorgeous plane, whose noise (sonic booms) and fuel-hungry engines doomed it to a small market. It had a smallish cabin and interior noise was quite high for a passenger airliner. it was also expensive to fly on!
Sorry, but I just don’t see this playing out even remotely as pictured. I see a crap-ton of money going into companies like these, with zero likelihood of the successes they portray. As with the ‘first supersonic passenger aircraft era’, what eventually happens won’t resemble the projections. Concorde had eighteen signed customers…
