Elon Musk, the ass

Elon Musk

Elon Musk is an ass after all. Not that he’d ever really not been one, but I’d figured[1] he’d at least come through on N95 masks and ventilators badly needed in the COVID-19 pandemic.[2] I haven’t heard anything bad yet about the masks but the ventilators, well, they are a facepalm moment, another Thai submarine fiasco,[3] as it turns out they’re actually CPAP machines, used to treat sleep apnea, not the sort hospitals can use to treat COVID-19.[4] Will Musk call hospitals and their workers pedophiles like he did with the cave diver who pointed out that the submarine was useless?[5]

Kathryn Krawczyk, “’Ventilators’ donated by Elon Musk can’t be used on coronavirus patients, health officials say,” Week, April 2, 2020, https://theweek.com/speedreads/906406/ventilators-donated-by-elon-musk-cant-used-coronavirus-patients-health-officials-say


Recession

Gig workers promised relief through the unemployment insurance system are going to have to wait. Which is something many (including me) can’t do.[6]

In the meantime, some labor activists said, many gig workers remain at risk. Many drivers for ride-hailing apps, for example, cash out their earnings more than once a week, said Moira Muntz, a spokeswoman for the Independent Drivers Guild, a Machinists Union-affiliated group that represents more than 80,000 drivers in New York City. “They’re not even paycheck-to-paycheck — they’re day-to-day,” she said.[7]

The state bureaucracies say they aren’t set up to handle these claims and blame the companies for failing to provide wage data.[8] Undoubtedly, this is all true, but it’s hard not to suspect that some of this is due to indifference: We blame the unemployed for being unemployed, just like we blame the poor for being poor[9] and the sick for being sick (see our healthcare system).

Tony Romm, “Uber drivers and other gig economy workers were promised unemployment benefits. It may be a long wait,” Washington Post, April 2, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/04/02/uber-airbnb-lyft-unemployment-coronavirus/


  1. [1]David Benfell, “Elon Musk, groan, again,” Not Housebroken, April 4, 2020, https://disunitedstates.org/2020/03/22/elon-musk-groan-again/
  2. [2]Sydney Brownstone and Brendan Kiley, “50,000 N95 masks delivered to UW researcher’s home thanks to Elon Musk, Tesla,” Seattle Times, March 22, 2020, https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/health/truckload-of-50000-n95-masks-headed-to-uw-researchers-home-thanks-to-elon-musk-tesla/; Steve Hanley, “Tesla Cuts Jobs In Nevada, Sends Ventilators To New York,” Clean Technica, March 29, 2020, https://cleantechnica.com/2020/03/29/tesla-cuts-jobs-in-nevada-sends-ventilators-to-new-york/; Zachary Shahan, “Elon Musk: Should Have 1000 Ventilators Next Week, + 250,000 N95 Masks For Hospitals Tomorrow,” CleanTechnica, March 21, 2020, https://cleantechnica.com/2020/03/21/elon-musk-should-have-1000-ventilators-next-week-250k-n95-masks-for-hospitals-tomorrow-cleantechnica-exclusive/;
  3. [3]Li Zhou, “Elon Musk and the Thai cave rescue: a tale of good intentions and bad tweets,” Vox, July 18, 2018, https://www.vox.com/2018/7/18/17576302/elon-musk-thai-cave-rescue-submarine
  4. [4]Kathryn Krawczyk, “’Ventilators’ donated by Elon Musk can’t be used on coronavirus patients, health officials say,” Week, April 2, 2020, https://theweek.com/speedreads/906406/ventilators-donated-by-elon-musk-cant-used-coronavirus-patients-health-officials-say
  5. [5]Tim Higgins, “Elon Musk Cleared by Jury in Defamation Case Over ‘Pedo’ Tweet,” Wall Street Journal, December 6, 2019, https://www.wsj.com/articles/elon-musk-cleared-by-jury-in-defamation-case-over-pedo-tweet-11575678498
  6. [6]Tony Romm, “Uber drivers and other gig economy workers were promised unemployment benefits. It may be a long wait,” Washington Post, April 2, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/04/02/uber-airbnb-lyft-unemployment-coronavirus/
  7. [7]Tony Romm, “Uber drivers and other gig economy workers were promised unemployment benefits. It may be a long wait,” Washington Post, April 2, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/04/02/uber-airbnb-lyft-unemployment-coronavirus/
  8. [8]Tony Romm, “Uber drivers and other gig economy workers were promised unemployment benefits. It may be a long wait,” Washington Post, April 2, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/04/02/uber-airbnb-lyft-unemployment-coronavirus/
  9. [9]Thomas M. Shapiro, “Introduction,” in Great Divides: Readings in Social Inequality in the United States, ed. Thomas M. Shapiro, 3rd ed. (New York: McGraw Hill, 2005).

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