At this point, I'm kinda wondering if Musk's deal to finance the Twitter acquisition included some Brewster's Millions-style clause where he gets to keep the company and the $44B if the company goes bankrupt within 90 days.
> Monty Brewster is a Minor League Baseball pitcher with the Hackensack Bulls. He and his best friend, Spike Nolan, the Bulls' catcher, are arrested after a post-game bar fight. A man offers to post their bail if they will come to New York City with him. At the Manhattan law office of Granville & Baxter, Brewster is told that his recently deceased great-uncle Rupert Horn, whom he has never met, has left him his entire $300 million fortune but only if he can complete a challenge with several conditions.
> Brewster can choose to receive $1 million upfront or attempt to inherit the whole estate by spending $30 million in 30 days. In the former case, the law firm becomes the executor of the estate, collecting a fee for performing this service and dividing the remainder among several charities. In the latter case, Brewster may not own any assets that are not already his at the end of the 30 days. He must get value for the services of anyone he hires, he may not give it away (except for 5% in gambling losses and 5% to charity) nor may he willfully damage anything bought with the money. Finally, he must keep it secret. If he fails to meet all terms, he forfeits any remaining balance and inherits nothing. Brewster decides to take the $30 million challenge, and Angela Drake, a paralegal from the law firm, is assigned to accompany him and keep track of his spending.
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brewster%27s_Millions_(1985_fi...
Richard Pryor stars, along with John Candy playing his best friend.
Have a nice weekend!
please post improvements if there's easier ways... ;)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brewster%27s_Millions
Most recently it appears to be a popular theme in China and India.
And that goes back further to the The Million Pound Bank Note by Mark Twain.
It isn't a difference in kind from calling a rescue diver a pedophile, or pretending he's going to take Tesla private, or any of the million bad decisions he's made over the years. It's just a difference in outcome.
I think Elon Musk's character as we've publicly known him last few years explains this behavior elegantly and comprehensively enough. As someone else in this thread said, he's a "techno-feudalist", he gives the orders and peasants comply. He's been operating on this mode for a decade now.
https://www.arabianbusiness.com/public/images/2014/09/03/alw...
https://www.businessinsider.com/prince-alwaleed-supports-dor...
This prince ran afoul of the prince you are thinking off and spent some time in a hotel in KSA pondering what is more important: his health or his money. And let history record he was sensibly more concerned with his health.
https://peakoil.com/publicpolicy/prince-alwaleed-finally-rel...