Even before the current political situation I wouldn't have bought a Tesla. They have a documented quality problem and not very good customer service at least outside of the US.

Why would I buy a car that is not only more likely than most to break but when it does break it's hard to get fixed. Spare parts are notoriously hard to get hold of and you usually have to deal with Tesla directly which is a problem because they don't have a lot of dealerships in the UK. Also they won't come to you, so if your car won't start you have to arrange a pickup.

USA could have spent money developing an electrified economy but the republicans are focusing on bringing back coal mining and reshoring shoe manufacturing instead.

This admin has set the USA back 100 years.

ETA - what I mean is that China is rampaging on in electrification, developing manufacturing skills, infrastructure, and design/engineering/technology around renewables and electrification. Europe is thinking about it but not going crazy to the extent China is, because legacy - China doesn’t have 100 years of cars and 150 years of trains; they’re building new. USA meanwhile is actively regressing under Republican policies.

Oddly libertarians never acknowledge that market leaders ask for theses things. The biggest threat to the free market are capitalists themselves.

But even that is incorrect.

Yes, Xi Jinping is powerful as the Chairman of the party, but the communist party of China is not the military, and there is a fair amount of decentralization in decision making.

Further, the guy above goes "look at how Xi is suplexing Taiwan?!?!" even though he isn't because guess what, he doesn't actually have the power to do so.

Also, none of this has anything to do with the topic of EV production, which is in the hands of a private company which largely operates independently of the government, much like millions of other companies that operate in China.

Which is why I said the dude is just spewing brainless US state propaganda and Red Herring.

Okay there's a ton of spyware in the car, but - just . . don't . . . connect it. Or whatever.

Here in the UK Musk is just seen as an idiot. Some decent European EV solutions coming along but the Chinese cars are so much better value than Tesla OR the main European makes. Couldn't happen to a nicer megalomaniac and as a plus I love seeing the monthly SpaceX explosions

Further, the guy above goes "look at how Xi is suplexing Taiwan?!?!"

I think you're the only one reading it that way. The rest of us understand that it happens within a context of an autoritarian regime.

which is in the hands of a private company which largely operates independently of the government

Independent untill the party decides they're not independent. (Eg).

And you think ICE cars don't have spyware these days?

I don't know why you didn't just fund NASA properly.

Independent untill the party decides they're not independent. (Eg).

Again another non-sequitor that has nothing to do with the topic at hand. Nobody disagrees that China doesn't like people publicly criticizing their government.

That has rigorously NOTHING to do with the normal operation of companies that do not engage with politics in China, which is what I was talking about before you barged in.

Also, it is the US that has been kidnapping people into unmarked vans and arresting people at airport, detaining them for however long, and deporting them to countries that aren't their own for as little as having a meme criticizing the current US regime.

So really, which one is the dictatorship?

The sooner we stop seeing China as enemies, the better. We need them more than ever now that the US has decided to go full mask off.

BYD is free to operate as it wishes in China, along with several millions of other companies. And their products are good.

I don't know why you didn't just fund NASA properly.

that do not engage with politics in China

There's no such thing. A person nor company can unilaterally decide "not to engage with politics", as politics engages with them in thousands of ways. The best they can do is self-censorship, which, even when successfull, is in itself a form of political engagement.

which one is the dictatorship?

False dichotomy

We need them more than ever now that the US has decided to go full mask off.

Who's "we" in this case? And why would they "need" someone now, because of stuff in the US?

I don't think that has ever been true, really. Nor should it be, Laissez Faire is a trainwreck waiting to happen, probably literally and figuratively.

Textbooks will tell you that the USA, and other countries like China and Russia, are a regulated "Market System" which in some markets teeters on strict Oligopoly.

China would love so much to rule the world, that’s why it hasn’t entered any war in the past 40+ years

The Hundred-Year Marathon - Wikipedia

(en.wikipedia.org)

the global south are happy to enter the comparably advantageous economic deals

are they happy? and are the deals advantageous? can you back up your claims?

As for “dictator”, look at the approval rates of Xi in China

oh yes, the approval rating of a dictator in a dictatorship is very valid metric . (hint hint: they are irrelevant even if they were not fixed. any kind of approval rating bears zero relevance to whether the country is a totalitarian state or not, or whether the country is a threat to its neighbours or not).

Xi became president for life almost a decade ago, Putin ignored term limits in like 2008. Musk is failing to do what they have done, and he doesn't even express any real power over the president given he hid his role from the courts and left the white house with a black eye.

And? I concede that both of them are doing their best to end US as a superpower, but when was the last time either of them cost the US $500 Billion in tax revenue as well putting 283,000 Americans out of work in just 4 months? Again this all goes back to a car company that isn't run by Xi or Putin. Tesla is run by a Nazi.

The report shows that “DOGE Actions” led to 283,172 job cuts in the first four months of 2025, and “DOGE Downstream Impact” was cited as the reason for another 6,945 job losses, which the report indicates largely come from non-profits and education organizations.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/irs-cuts-doge-musk-watchdog-b2776213.html

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5278325-doge-layoffs-job-cuts-report/

USA could have spent money developing an electrified economy but the republicans are focusing on bringing back coal mining and reshoring shoe manufacturing instead.

This admin has set the USA back 100 years.

ETA - what I mean is that China is rampaging on in electrification, developing manufacturing skills, infrastructure, and design/engineering/technology around renewables and electrification. Europe is thinking about it but not going crazy to the extent China is, because legacy - China doesn’t have 100 years of cars and 150 years of trains; they’re building new. USA meanwhile is actively regressing under Republican policies.

It would be under NASA, but the argument is moot, since it wouldn't happen under a MAGA Nazi administration. It will have to wait until Americans take back our government. Then we can nationalize Space X, confiscate the DOGE Goblin's fortune, and deport him back to South Africa.