How much would it cost to protect Musk?
A few months ago, foreign media reported that Tesla and related companies like SpaceX invest millions of dollars annually in Musk's security.
American security experts pointed out that Musk's security team now resembles a small special operations unit.
Last year's lawsuit also revealed that even in private moments, like when he is in the restroom at the company, Musk rarely leaves the sight of his bodyguards.
Although the security team is already quite luxurious, it will probably still need to be strengthened.
Mainly because: Mr. Musk has transformed into 'Minister Musk'!
Just recently, Musk officially took office at the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency, abbreviated by him as 'DOGE', the same as the nickname for Dogecoin. Avid Dogecoin fan Musk then found a Shiba Inu as the logo for this department.
It looks harmless, but what needs to be done is very cruel. Musk previously said he could cut at least $2 trillion from a $6.75 trillion federal budget.
While improving efficiency, it undoubtedly cuts off others' financial routes, easily provoking public anger.
Stinginess, Musk's traditional skill.
Musk's announced reform plan can be described as cutting with a large knife.
In addition to the budget cuts mentioned above, the plan also includes streamlining the existing 428 federal agencies in the U.S. down to 99, with large-scale layoffs in government departments, reaching a layoff rate of 77%.
In simpler terms, it boils down to four words: streamline and simplify.
The difficulty will definitely not be small, but from experience, Musk is indeed the best choice.
At Tesla, he reduced the energy consumption of small cars from the original 0.5-0.8 yuan/km to 0.06-0.29 yuan/km. Moreover, as the scale grew, he did not expand hiring; on April 15 this year, he even announced a 10% global layoff at Tesla to cut costs and improve productivity.
To achieve this, every link and detail must be optimized to the extreme.
Maximize energy recovery using a single-pedal mode, install sunshades to improve air conditioning cooling efficiency, reasonably set the air conditioning temperature between 18-22 degrees for maximum energy saving, inflate tire pressure to the specified 2.9, install hubcaps to reduce wind resistance, and so on.
Integrated die-casting technology is a key innovation for Tesla to reduce costs.
Integrated die-casting refers to the integration of body components, where multiple separate, scattered small parts in the original design are redesigned for high integration and then formed in one go using large die-casting machines, omitting the welding process to directly obtain a complete large component.
The Tesla Model Y produced by the Shanghai Tesla Gigafactory uses integrated die-casting technology for its rear floor assembly system. Compared to traditional methods, the body system saves over 10% in weight and reduces costs by 40%.
In short, the benefits are simplifying production processes, increasing production efficiency, and reducing costs and vehicle weight.
This has also piqued the interest of other car manufacturers, who are very attentive to it.
At the press conference, car companies were once obsessed with competing over who had the largest die-casting machine, from 6,000 tons, 8,000 tons to over 10,000 tons.
Besides Tesla, Musk's performance in other companies also lives up to the title of 'efficiency fanatic'.
His SpaceX has directly brought the cost of rocket launches down to rock-bottom prices.
Last year, there were a total of 221 rocket launches globally, with SpaceX leading with 96 launches. Another shocking statistic: in terms of payload mass statistics, SpaceX's total launch mass reached 1,286 tons, accounting for about 80% of the global launch mass.
According to its official data, the global average launch cost in aerospace is between $10,000/kg and $20,000/kg, but SpaceX's Falcon 9 only costs $2,720/kg.
With the success of the 'chopsticks picking up rockets' recovery model, future costs may be even lower.
Additionally, Musk's handling of Twitter has shocked netizens worldwide.
After acquiring Twitter, he cut the workforce from 8,000 employees down to only 1,500, keeping only those who genuinely worked hard and were efficient, while redesigning Twitter's programs and server architecture, resulting in Twitter not only not crashing but actually becoming more efficient.
With such precise and ruthless methods, Musk is about to take action against American civil servants.
02
How to cut off others' financial routes, Musk has figured it out.
How will Musk cut off other people's financial routes?
The first step is to recruit capable assistants.
On the 14th local time, the U.S. Department of Efficiency posted a job advertisement on its official X platform account, requiring applicants to have 'super high IQ', 'be willing to work more than 80 hours a week', and 'be able to focus on tedious cost-cutting tasks'.
Musk supplemented in a post: 'Indeed, this will be a tedious job, create many enemies, and pay zero. How cost-effective!'
The second step is the internet approach.
Compared to restructuring his own company, restructuring government agencies is ultimately different and requires more caution.
A single misstep could lead to endless troubles if someone catches a handle; even if not immediately held accountable or retaliated against, being targeted four years later would be enough to give Musk a headache.
But Musk has clearly already thought of countermeasures. Before officially starting work, the first thing he did was to seek public input: please tell us which expenditures and departments need to be cut; we will disclose all actions and set up a ranking of the most foolish expenses.
Subsequently, he reposted many 'foolish taxpayer uses' listed by fans, which certainly made American netizens indignant:
$1.66 million for research on the impact of COVID-19 on Russian women;
$2.7 million for research on how Russian cats walk on treadmills;
$33.2 million for research on transgender monkeys...
Musk also mentioned that all actions of the Department of Government Efficiency will be disclosed online to achieve maximum transparency.
He subtly completed the survey of public opinion and mobilized participation.
In this way, cutting unnecessary departments and personnel, and reducing wasteful expenditures, can be justified rather than decisions made impulsively.
Third, he unveiled the inherited methods from the Tesla era.
Musk's methods include many world-renowned tricks, such as 'first principles', 'idiot index', 'jerk productivity', and so on.
However, there may be more practical possibilities in the 'five-step efficient work method'.
These five steps are questioning, deleting, simplifying and optimizing, accelerating operation speed, and automating.
For example, deleting means deleting everything you can delete.
Previously, when Tesla manufactured battery packs at the Nevada factory, small plastic caps were installed on the ends of the battery packs to prevent contact points from bending. These battery packs were then sent to the Fremont factory, where the plastic caps were removed. Sometimes, insufficient plastic caps would also cause delays in battery pack transportation.
So Musk asked why to use plastic caps, and everyone chimed in but didn't provide a convincing answer. Musk then said, 'Then let's get rid of this item.'
After following through, it proved that there have never been issues with contact point bending since.
Musk is also very 'extreme' regarding automation.
He advocates automating every job that can be automated. He believes that once the steps of a job can be basically determined, it should be automated to improve efficiency.
In July this year, he claimed that the Tesla Shanghai Gigafactory has achieved 95% automation production, with the automation rate of the welding workshop approaching 100%, almost a factory without human workers, capable of automatically producing a Model Y every 30 seconds.
With these tricks, American civil servants will have to learn to live on tighter budgets.
03
Self-interest under change: paving the way for dreams.
Musk certainly does not have a habit of offending people. In this world, all is about profit; in this world, all is about gain. Behind Musk's disruption of others' financial routes is also consideration for his 'great cause'.
Previously, Musk encountered significant external resistance on the road to achieving his dreams.
For example, being 'ignored' in important occasions.
In 2021, Biden held a clean energy vehicle seminar, inviting CEOs from companies like GM and Ford to discuss vehicle electrification, but Tesla was unfortunately left out.
Musk couldn't help but complain: 'No Tesla clean energy vehicle activities? That sounds a bit strange!'
More than this, what drives Musk crazy is another kind of 'discriminatory treatment'.
Other car manufacturers' electric vehicles can receive tax credits of up to $7,500 per vehicle, but Tesla was initially left out of such benefits, which instead went to traditional fuel vehicle companies. The reason is that receiving subsidies has a prerequisite: the cars must be produced in factories that have formed the United Auto Workers (UAW).
However, in the U.S., it is well known that Musk has a disdain for unions, and anyone who wanted to form a union has been fired by him. Tesla is also the only major automaker in the U.S. without a union.
Thus, Musk was once so angry that he exclaimed: 'Biden is just a puppet of the UAW!'
Now, with Musk promoted to 'Minister Musk' thanks to his 'contributions', past resistance may turn into support in the future.
Many speculate that his main purpose in pushing the establishment of the Department of Government Efficiency is to 'reduce excessive regulation' so that relevant departments no longer interfere with his rocket launches for various reasonable or unreasonable reasons.
On the other hand, Tesla can also gain many 'benefits'.
Since Trump's election, Tesla's market value has increased by $300 billion, a figure that exceeds the total market value of Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis.
But such a surge in market value may just be the beginning.
Recently, foreign media have been continuously reporting good news about Tesla.
For instance, some media reported that Trump's transition team plans to cancel the electric vehicle tax credit policy introduced by the Biden administration.
This way, although it may slow down the spread of electric vehicles in the U.S., at the same time, the competitiveness of Tesla's competitors, who rely heavily on subsidies, will be greatly reduced, while Tesla's already profitable competitiveness will rise.
In addition, media reported a few days ago that Trump's team plans to make 'building a federal framework for fully autonomous driving (FSD) vehicles' one of the Department of Transportation's priorities.
If new regulations can make FSD vehicles possible, Tesla is likely to be the biggest winner.
Using capital to acquire power and expanding capital with power, the path Musk has chosen seems to be widening.