Elon Musk. Twitter. Babylon Bee.

[mike]

No mention of Twitter in Motley Fool's report on Tesla stock today.

Today's decline follows yesterday's update for fourth-quarter vehicle production and deliveries. After expecting 50% growth at the start of 2022, Tesla told investors it delivered a total of 1.31 million electric cars for the full year, representing an increase of just 40% over 2021. Production, however, grew 47% year over year. That gap is what is scaring investors today.


The fear is that the combination of growing competition and slowing global economies has derailed Tesla's growth plans. If the company is producing vehicles that are simply becoming unsold inventory, it could be time to rethink Tesla's future growth path. But the company had an explanation that suggests things aren't as bad as investors seem to think.

[Josh]

Tesla stock down another 15% today. Not a good way to start the new year. It is now at $105. A year ago it was over $400/share so has bled about 3/4th of its value. Seems like Elon needs to stop messing around with Twitter and get back to his core business which is whiffing on its production targets.

We’re in a severe global recession, the worst of my life, which affects how much people can buy expensive, high end vehicles.

[Ken]

No mention of Twitter in Motley Fool's report on Tesla stock today.

Today's decline follows yesterday's update for fourth-quarter vehicle production and deliveries. After expecting 50% growth at the start of 2022, Tesla told investors it delivered a total of 1.31 million electric cars for the full year, representing an increase of just 40% over 2021. Production, however, grew 47% year over year. That gap is what is scaring investors today.


The fear is that the combination of growing competition and slowing global economies has derailed Tesla's growth plans. If the company is producing vehicles that are simply becoming unsold inventory, it could be time to rethink Tesla's future growth path. But the company had an explanation that suggests things aren't as bad as investors seem to think.

Tesla's inflated stock price was based on the assumption that Tesla was going to continue to grow exponentially and erode the worldwide market share of the legacy automakers. And also that Tesla commands some sort of technological advantages that will let it continue to command higher margins than other traditional automakers. It was part of the myth of Elon that it was going to be able to do that.

If Tesla can't maintain exponential growth and high margins then it looks more and more to be just another auto maker which means its value should be more in line with other legacy auto makers like Toyota or VW. Tesla stock still has a long way to drop if that is the case.

[Ken]

Tesla stock down another 15% today. Not a good way to start the new year. It is now at $105. A year ago it was over $400/share so has bled about 3/4th of its value. Seems like Elon needs to stop messing around with Twitter and get back to his core business which is whiffing on its production targets.

We’re in a severe global recession, the worst of my life, which affects how much people can buy expensive, high end vehicles.

We are not in a severe global recession. The US unemployment rate is about 3.7% and the US economy is on target to have grown about 2.0% or so in 2022. There might be a recession coming in 2023 but we are not in one now. A recession is defined as a fall in the GDP in two successive quarters. The Conference Board actually projects growth to slow to about 0% in 2023 and then rebound to positive territory in 2024: https://www.conference-board.org/research/us-forecast

By contrast, GDP dropped by 5.1% during the "great recession" of 2008 and unemployment reached 10%.

[Josh]

Tesla stock down another 15% today. Not a good way to start the new year. It is now at $105. A year ago it was over $400/share so has bled about 3/4th of its value. Seems like Elon needs to stop messing around with Twitter and get back to his core business which is whiffing on its production targets.

We’re in a severe global recession, the worst of my life, which affects how much people can buy expensive, high end vehicles.

We are not in a severe global recession. The US unemployment rate is about 3.7% and the US economy is on target to have grown about 2.7% or so in 2022. There might be a recession coming in 2023 but we are not in one now. A recession is defined as a fall in the GDP in two successive quarters. The GDP is still currently growing.

Ah, yes, change the definition of “recession” (and “unemployment”) so you can claim everything’s fine.

[Ken]

We’re in a severe global recession, the worst of my life, which affects how much people can buy expensive, high end vehicles.

We are not in a severe global recession. The US unemployment rate is about 3.7% and the US economy is on target to have grown about 2.7% or so in 2022. There might be a recession coming in 2023 but we are not in one now. A recession is defined as a fall in the GDP in two successive quarters. The GDP is still currently growing.

Ah, yes, change the definition of “recession” (and “unemployment”) so you can claim everything’s fine.

I'm not changing definnitions, Just reminding you of what they actually are.

We are currently here: https://tradingeconomics.com/united-sta ... 0of%202020.

This is a graph of GDP growth through 2022. We are still in positive numbers, which is not a recession, but actually very close to the long-term average.

[Josh]

GDP “growth” that is entirely inflation.

[Ken]

GDP “growth” that is entirely inflation.

No, it is inflation-adjusted. The published numbers are always real GDP growth, not nominal. That is the only way you can compare them year to year.

[Josh]

GDP “growth” that is entirely inflation.

No, it is inflation-adjusted. The published numbers are always real GDP growth, not nominal. That is the only way you can compare them year to year.

Unless the inflation numbers are fake. The current fake inflation rate is 6.5% or so. Everybody knows real prices have gone up way more than that.

[Ken]

GDP “growth” that is entirely inflation.

No, it is inflation-adjusted. The published numbers are always real GDP growth, not nominal. That is the only way you can compare them year to year.

Unless the inflation numbers are fake. The current fake inflation rate is 6.5% or so. Everybody knows real prices have gone up way more than that.

Have they? This is the one most people may most attention to.