Tesla’s Elon Musk trended on social media Wednesday after a series of Trump-esque tweets like “FREE AMERICA NOW” and “Give people their freedom back!,” calling the lockdown “de facto house arrest.”
Writes Fast Company: “Of course, it’s easy for Musk and other billionaire titans of industry to scream their heads off demanding lockdowns end and Americans get back to work. But that’s because those billionaires aren’t going to be working day in and day out in retail shops, and on factory floors, and waiting tables with the workers who generate the wealth for their businesses. The billionaires like Musk will keep a safe distance from any work area where it’s likely the disease will spread if Americans go back to their crowded workspaces before its truly safe for them to do so.”
Marketwatch reports: “Leading up to his Twitter rant … Tesla was forced to delay the reopening of its Fremont factory after six Bay Area counties extended the lockdown until the end of May. Tesla had planned to reopen the facility, closed since March 23, on May 4, when the lockdown order was supposed to be lifted. Before you put too much stock into Musk’s take on the coronavirus, you might want to take a look at his track record. He called the panic ‘dumb’ last month and predicted that, by the end of April, the U.S. would probably see ‘close to zero new cases.’ As it stands now, with thousands of new cases each day, the U.S. has the highest case toll at 1.01 million, as well as the highest death toll at 58,368, which is more than the 58,220 lives that were lost in the Vietnam War.”
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