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Elon Musk Taunts UAW: “Tesla Pays Workers More And We Have Fun”

Elon Musk Taunts UAW: "Tesla Pays Workers More And We Have Fun"

Authored by Mike Shedlock via MishTalk.com,

With perfect timing, Musk made…

Published

6 months ago

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Elon Musk Taunts UAW: "Tesla Pays Workers More And We Have Fun"

Authored by Mike Shedlock via MishTalk.com,

With perfect timing, Musk made a couple of taunts at striking UAW workers. His goal is obvious.

Data from the BLS, chart by Mish

Earnings Per Hour Notes

  • The Motor Vehicle hourly rates are for Michigan workers only. The BLS did not have nation-wide numbers.

  • The data series for construction workers and production workers starts in March of 2006 so that is where I started the chart.

Understanding the Chart

The chart does not tell the full story. UAW workers get far more benefits and huge bonuses that are not factored into hourly earnings.

UAW workers also get annual bonuses that are not factored in.

The motor vehicle decline from $28.35 per hour to $20.65 per hour stems from UAW renegotiations after GM and Chrysler went bankrupt.

To survive at all, the UAW granted concessions and put in a tiered wage structure where new employees were paid less. Factor in retirements and hourly wages fell.

Total UAW Unit Labor Costs vs Tesla

  • Big Three: Analysts estimate $66 an hour

  • Tesla: Roughly $45 at Tesla

  • UAW Demands: Meeting Fain’s initial demands would boost costs to $136 according to Wells Fargo analysts.

Tesla does not pay more in hourly wages, but via stock options, Musk has made millionaires out of many workers.

Stock options are not a company expense. Stock options come out of shareholders pockets.

Whatever the UAW Strike Outcome, Elon Musk Has Already Won

“Any wage increase further advances Tesla’s already tremendous cost advantage in EVs over its older U.S. peers, which are contending with generations of legacy expenses while trying to steer a costly transition to electric from gas-powered vehicles.”

The Wall Street Journal comments Whatever the UAW Strike Outcome, Elon Musk Has Already Won

Musk won before the strike began early Friday. He won before negotiations started two months ago. From the get-go, General Motors, Ford Motor, and Chrysler parent Stellantis were expected to spend more on wages because of the union’s pressure. The question is just how much of an increase, and so far their offers haven’t pleased the union, igniting this past week’s work stoppage.

Fain this past week sounded annoyed when asked about Tesla’s cost advantage. 

“Competition is code word for race to the bottom, and I’m not concerned about Elon Musk building more rocket ships so he can fly in outer space and stuff,” Fain told CNBC on-air Wednesday.

“Our concern is working-class people need their share of economic justice in this world.”

Economic Justice

In the name of “economic justice” Fain would bankrupt the Big 3 again.

Here’s the math: $136 * 32 hours per week * 52 weeks = $226,304. Note the UAW demand for a 32 hour workweek. At a 40-hour workweek, pay would be $282,880.

Sorry guys, that will never fly. Whatever does fly, plays into Musks hands.

Musk has suggested that employee stock options make his factory workers the highest compensated in the industry, saying “quite a few” line workers have become “millionaires over the years from company stock grants.”

At Tesla, the average pay for a manufacturing technician can range from $23 to $32 an hour, according to estimates by Glassdoor. Tesla advertises factory jobs in California with expected pay ranging from $24 to $67 an hour plus cash and stock awards and other benefits.

Tweet of the Day

Perfectly Timed Taunt

“Tesla and SpaceX factories have a great vibe. We encourage playing music and having some fun.

Very important for people to look forward to coming to work! 

We pay more than the UAW btw, but performance expectations are also higher.

Quite a few of our factory techs who work on the line have become millionaires over the years from company stock grants.”

Tesla does not pay more than the UAW, at least in hourly pay. But workers who have been at Tesla for a long time have made a killing on options with any kind of reasonable timing.

The taunt at the UAW is aimed at encouraging the UAW to not settle quickly. It has a decent chance of working.

Fain has already responded about economic fairness and the race to the bottom.

Automakers Announce Layoffs

Chance of Rapid Acceleration

If workers have little to do because of a part shortage by a strike, the only reasonable thing to do is announce layoffs.

This has a good chance of escalating rapidly.

Reflections on What Sucks

Inflation Sucks

Inflation is what sucks and there is plenty of blame to spread including the Fed, Congress, and three stimulus packages.

But Biden’s Big EV push is behind much of this recent angst.

It takes fewer hours to build an EV. Biden is pushing them like mad despite the fact that consumers do not want them because the infrastructure isn’t in place. Ironically, increased mileage standards have negative benefits according to a government study (at long last getting something right).

So now the union wants a 32-hour workweek with a 36 percent raise (down from 40 percent) more benefits, and ability to strike over plant closures despite the fact it takes fewer workers to produce an EV.

There is no one other than Biden to blame for this latest round of economic and environmental madness.

This union battle was created by Biden, the EPA, the Labor Relations Board and other administration regulatory clowns.

Unprecedented UAW Strike, Where’s it Headed? Keep Em Guessing Says Fain

I discussed winners and losers in Unprecedented UAW Strike, Where’s it Headed? Keep Em Guessing Says Fain

Time Will Tell the Winner

There are two definitions of win, short-to-midterm and long term.

The long term view is easier to state. GM and Chrysler (now Stellantis) already went bankrupt once over untenable wages and benefits. It could easily happen again. And If the bondholders (not that I feel much sympathy for them) were not totally screwed in the last settlement, it would have been much worse for the unions.

Short term, I suspect everyone loses, but Fain and the UAW will temporarily cheer.

Record profits said Biden. Lovely. Then what? Then a preposterous deal, then bankruptcy?

The above discussion is from the point of view of the Big 3 vs the UAW. I left off a winner, Elon Musk.

Tesla benefits no matter what happens because the Big 3 costs are certain to rise.

The big loser is the consumer who will pay more for cars.

Meanwhile let’s discuss the benefits of improved gas mile standards.

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Analysis of Gasoline Standards

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration NHTSA did an impact assessment of 4 fuel standard proposals and compared them to the cost of doing nothing. Guess what.

 Buried deep on Page 56,342 of volume 88 of the Federal Register, the agency makes this concession about its latest proposed rules: “Net benefits for passenger cars remain negative across alternatives.” In plain English, this means that mandating ever-more-stringent fuel economy for passenger cars will harm society.

Through 2040, the total reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from passenger cars and light trucks would be a mere 2.01 percent less vs doing nothing at all with emission standards!

The NHTSA also considers impacts on the economy including “consumer cost, national balance of payments, environmental, and foreign policy implications.”

Here is the NHTSA’s bottom line: “Net benefits for passenger cars remain negative across alternatives” vs doing nothing at all.

The Shocking Truth About Biden’s Proposed Energy Fuel Standards

For discussion, please see The Shocking Truth About Biden’s Proposed Energy Fuel Standards

Regardless of how we assess the winners and losers in the UAW battle, over the short and long haul we all lose from the push to pay more for the regulatory and environmental madness of this administration.

*  *  *

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Tyler Durden Sun, 09/17/2023 - 17:30

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Low Iron Levels In Blood Could Trigger Long COVID: Study

Low Iron Levels In Blood Could Trigger Long COVID: Study

Authored by Amie Dahnke via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

People with inadequate…

Published

11 hours ago

on

March 9, 2024

By

Low Iron Levels In Blood Could Trigger Long COVID: Study

Authored by Amie Dahnke via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

People with inadequate iron levels in their blood due to a COVID-19 infection could be at greater risk of long COVID.

(Shutterstock)

A new study indicates that problems with iron levels in the bloodstream likely trigger chronic inflammation and other conditions associated with the post-COVID phenomenon. The findings, published on March 1 in Nature Immunology, could offer new ways to treat or prevent the condition.

Long COVID Patients Have Low Iron Levels

Researchers at the University of Cambridge pinpointed low iron as a potential link to long-COVID symptoms thanks to a study they initiated shortly after the start of the pandemic. They recruited people who tested positive for the virus to provide blood samples for analysis over a year, which allowed the researchers to look for post-infection changes in the blood. The researchers looked at 214 samples and found that 45 percent of patients reported symptoms of long COVID that lasted between three and 10 months.

In analyzing the blood samples, the research team noticed that people experiencing long COVID had low iron levels, contributing to anemia and low red blood cell production, just two weeks after they were diagnosed with COVID-19. This was true for patients regardless of age, sex, or the initial severity of their infection.

According to one of the study co-authors, the removal of iron from the bloodstream is a natural process and defense mechanism of the body.

But it can jeopardize a person’s recovery.

“When the body has an infection, it responds by removing iron from the bloodstream. This protects us from potentially lethal bacteria that capture the iron in the bloodstream and grow rapidly. It’s an evolutionary response that redistributes iron in the body, and the blood plasma becomes an iron desert,” University of Oxford professor Hal Drakesmith said in a press release. “However, if this goes on for a long time, there is less iron for red blood cells, so oxygen is transported less efficiently affecting metabolism and energy production, and for white blood cells, which need iron to work properly. The protective mechanism ends up becoming a problem.”

The research team believes that consistently low iron levels could explain why individuals with long COVID continue to experience fatigue and difficulty exercising. As such, the researchers suggested iron supplementation to help regulate and prevent the often debilitating symptoms associated with long COVID.

“It isn’t necessarily the case that individuals don’t have enough iron in their body, it’s just that it’s trapped in the wrong place,” Aimee Hanson, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Cambridge who worked on the study, said in the press release. “What we need is a way to remobilize the iron and pull it back into the bloodstream, where it becomes more useful to the red blood cells.”

The research team pointed out that iron supplementation isn’t always straightforward. Achieving the right level of iron varies from person to person. Too much iron can cause stomach issues, ranging from constipation, nausea, and abdominal pain to gastritis and gastric lesions.

1 in 5 Still Affected by Long COVID

COVID-19 has affected nearly 40 percent of Americans, with one in five of those still suffering from symptoms of long COVID, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Long COVID is marked by health issues that continue at least four weeks after an individual was initially diagnosed with COVID-19. Symptoms can last for days, weeks, months, or years and may include fatigue, cough or chest pain, headache, brain fog, depression or anxiety, digestive issues, and joint or muscle pain.

Tyler Durden Sat, 03/09/2024 - 12:50

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Walmart joins Costco in sharing key pricing news

The massive retailers have both shared information that some retailers keep very close to the vest.

Published

14 hours ago

on

March 9, 2024

By

As we head toward a presidential election, the presumed candidates for both parties will look for issues that rally undecided voters. 

The economy will be a key issue, with Democrats pointing to job creation and lowering prices while Republicans will cite the layoffs at Big Tech companies, high housing prices, and of course, sticky inflation.

The covid pandemic created a perfect storm for inflation and higher prices. It became harder to get many items because people getting sick slowed down, or even stopped, production at some factories.

Related: Popular mall retailer shuts down abruptly after bankruptcy filing

It was also a period where demand increased while shipping, trucking and delivery systems were all strained or thrown out of whack. The combination led to product shortages and higher prices.

You might have gone to the grocery store and not been able to buy your favorite paper towel brand or find toilet paper at all. That happened partly because of the supply chain and partly due to increased demand, but at the end of the day, it led to higher prices, which some consumers blamed on President Joe Biden's administration.

Biden, of course, was blamed for the price increases, but as inflation has dropped and grocery prices have fallen, few companies have been up front about it. That's probably not a political choice in most cases. Instead, some companies have chosen to lower prices more slowly than they raised them.

However, two major retailers, Walmart (WMT) and Costco, have been very honest about inflation. Walmart Chief Executive Doug McMillon's most recent comments validate what Biden's administration has been saying about the state of the economy. And they contrast with the economic picture being painted by Republicans who support their presumptive nominee, Donald Trump.

Walmart has seen inflation drop in many key areas.

Image source: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Walmart sees lower prices

McMillon does not talk about lower prices to make a political statement. He's communicating with customers and potential customers through the analysts who cover the company's quarterly-earnings calls.

During Walmart's fiscal-fourth-quarter-earnings call, McMillon was clear that prices are going down.

"I'm excited about the omnichannel net promoter score trends the team is driving. Across countries, we continue to see a customer that's resilient but looking for value. As always, we're working hard to deliver that for them, including through our rollbacks on food pricing in Walmart U.S. Those were up significantly in Q4 versus last year, following a big increase in Q3," he said.

He was specific about where the chain has seen prices go down.

"Our general merchandise prices are lower than a year ago and even two years ago in some categories, which means our customers are finding value in areas like apparel and hard lines," he said. "In food, prices are lower than a year ago in places like eggs, apples, and deli snacks, but higher in other places like asparagus and blackberries."

McMillon said that in other areas prices were still up but have been falling.

"Dry grocery and consumables categories like paper goods and cleaning supplies are up mid-single digits versus last year and high teens versus two years ago. Private-brand penetration is up in many of the countries where we operate, including the United States," he said.

Costco sees almost no inflation impact

McMillon avoided the word inflation in his comments. Costco  (COST)  Chief Financial Officer Richard Galanti, who steps down on March 15, has been very transparent on the topic.

The CFO commented on inflation during his company's fiscal-first-quarter-earnings call.

"Most recently, in the last fourth-quarter discussion, we had estimated that year-over-year inflation was in the 1% to 2% range. Our estimate for the quarter just ended, that inflation was in the 0% to 1% range," he said.

Galanti made clear that inflation (and even deflation) varied by category.

"A bigger deflation in some big and bulky items like furniture sets due to lower freight costs year over year, as well as on things like domestics, bulky lower-priced items, again, where the freight cost is significant. Some deflationary items were as much as 20% to 30% and, again, mostly freight-related," he added.

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Walmart has really good news for shoppers (and Joe Biden)

The giant retailer joins Costco in making a statement that has political overtones, even if that’s not the intent.

Published

15 hours ago

on

March 9, 2024

By

As we head toward a presidential election, the presumed candidates for both parties will look for issues that rally undecided voters. 

The economy will be a key issue, with Democrats pointing to job creation and lowering prices while Republicans will cite the layoffs at Big Tech companies, high housing prices, and of course, sticky inflation.

The covid pandemic created a perfect storm for inflation and higher prices. It became harder to get many items because people getting sick slowed down, or even stopped, production at some factories.

Related: Popular mall retailer shuts down abruptly after bankruptcy filing

It was also a period where demand increased while shipping, trucking and delivery systems were all strained or thrown out of whack. The combination led to product shortages and higher prices.

You might have gone to the grocery store and not been able to buy your favorite paper towel brand or find toilet paper at all. That happened partly because of the supply chain and partly due to increased demand, but at the end of the day, it led to higher prices, which some consumers blamed on President Joe Biden's administration.

Biden, of course, was blamed for the price increases, but as inflation has dropped and grocery prices have fallen, few companies have been up front about it. That's probably not a political choice in most cases. Instead, some companies have chosen to lower prices more slowly than they raised them.

However, two major retailers, Walmart (WMT) and Costco, have been very honest about inflation. Walmart Chief Executive Doug McMillon's most recent comments validate what Biden's administration has been saying about the state of the economy. And they contrast with the economic picture being painted by Republicans who support their presumptive nominee, Donald Trump.

Walmart has seen inflation drop in many key areas.

Image source: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Walmart sees lower prices

McMillon does not talk about lower prices to make a political statement. He's communicating with customers and potential customers through the analysts who cover the company's quarterly-earnings calls.

During Walmart's fiscal-fourth-quarter-earnings call, McMillon was clear that prices are going down.

"I'm excited about the omnichannel net promoter score trends the team is driving. Across countries, we continue to see a customer that's resilient but looking for value. As always, we're working hard to deliver that for them, including through our rollbacks on food pricing in Walmart U.S. Those were up significantly in Q4 versus last year, following a big increase in Q3," he said.

He was specific about where the chain has seen prices go down.

"Our general merchandise prices are lower than a year ago and even two years ago in some categories, which means our customers are finding value in areas like apparel and hard lines," he said. "In food, prices are lower than a year ago in places like eggs, apples, and deli snacks, but higher in other places like asparagus and blackberries."

McMillon said that in other areas prices were still up but have been falling.

"Dry grocery and consumables categories like paper goods and cleaning supplies are up mid-single digits versus last year and high teens versus two years ago. Private-brand penetration is up in many of the countries where we operate, including the United States," he said.

Costco sees almost no inflation impact

McMillon avoided the word inflation in his comments. Costco  (COST)  Chief Financial Officer Richard Galanti, who steps down on March 15, has been very transparent on the topic.

The CFO commented on inflation during his company's fiscal-first-quarter-earnings call.

"Most recently, in the last fourth-quarter discussion, we had estimated that year-over-year inflation was in the 1% to 2% range. Our estimate for the quarter just ended, that inflation was in the 0% to 1% range," he said.

Galanti made clear that inflation (and even deflation) varied by category.

"A bigger deflation in some big and bulky items like furniture sets due to lower freight costs year over year, as well as on things like domestics, bulky lower-priced items, again, where the freight cost is significant. Some deflationary items were as much as 20% to 30% and, again, mostly freight-related," he added.

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