There may be forced labor in the Chinese value chain (mostly raw materials or tier 2/3 parts suppliers), but forced labor is not the reason for cheap cars in China. To the extent tier 2/3 suppliers and raw materials are made with forced labor, the U.S. and European manufacturers (which also buy Chinese parts and materials) are guilty too. Chinese auto factories have very little labor AT ALL. They are heavily automated- often referred to as "dark factories" because they can just turn the lights off while the machines run. Labor costs are simply not a big component.

This is just made-up nonsense for which you've provided no evidence. There are almost no EVs in the WORLD older than Teslas. The modern Chinese EV era didn't really even begin until 5 years ago, so of course the gas models are older.

Tesla does sell in mainland China (and has for a while now), but Chinese customers still mainly prefer domestic manufactures. If it was true that the Chinese models were all of poor quality, this wouldn't be the case. If you'd actually spend any time in BYDs (I have) you'd see that the materials are actually better than many Japanese models sold at similar price points.

"Especially violent cultures that have been at war with someone, somewhere since their formation."

But enough about the United States...

The average U.S. household has 1.8 cars. More than one is more common than one.

What? Toilets don't run on electricity.

Assuming you do in fact only have one vehicle, is it really such a huge deal to be without power for an hour while you run to the grocery store?

I think you are thinking of the Slate truck. They were the ones with two proposed ranges that consolidated to one.

A cheap $500 generator isn't going to fully power most houses and requires storing gasoline and manual startup. You'll also need a generator interlock installed if you want it to actually power the house instead of running extension cords to a few appliances. They are super noisy- nobody wants you running that through the night. An automatic whole-house generator runs about $15-20k installed. Many (if not most) families who are in the EV market have more than one vehicle, so you simply take the other vehicle if you need to leave. Or you simply unplug it- not that big a deal for the house to be without power for a couple hours if nobody is there.

Where are you getting 200 miles of range? While the official range hasn't been announced, the rumors are 300 miles. But even at 200 miles you are talking a 60kwh batter at least. That will power your house for a couple days.

I've seen how this one ends.

All he does is say the parent has to open an UTMA account with X Financial to receive the share. It's not really a free share. It's a promo bonus for opening an account with him for your kid.

It's actually not that complicated. This is essentially a brokerage account-opening bonus- which the major banks have done in various capacities for over a decade. Anybody can sign their kids up for their "free" share, but in exchange for $150 worth of stock, he gets all of the kid's information and makes X financial the default brokerage platform for them once they become of age (after all, they already have an account).

This. Musk isn't doing anything out of the goodness of his heart. It's a way to try to get people into his financial ecosystem. I got a much bigger cash bonus for signing up for my [major bank] brokerage account.

People want children, but most don't want 3+ children. Most wealthy families don't have 3+, they have 1-2 like everyone else. If every couple only has 1-2, you are still looking at population decline.

I don't think international experience backs that up. The places where birthrates are highest are places where people can barely afford to eat. Scandinavia still has low birthrates despite a lot of family-friendly policies. The Central African Republic has high birthrates despite being one of the poorest countries on earth.

When given a choice, most people will choose either no kids or to only have 1-2. Kids are a lot of work no matter how much money you have.

I still use forums for special-interest sites. They are the best for curating a body of knowledge like fixing/maintaining a vintage car. Sites like reddit were never good for a how-to guide. Youtube can be helpful, but video can be a clunky medium for conveying basic information like a torque specification.

This sounds a lot like the coding boot camps that were all the rage ~10 years ago. The initial ones were rigorous and funded by outside money that made them cheap. Eventually, you got a bunch of dodgy copycats charging too much money to turn out people with very questionable abilities.

Given the high-profile names associated and zero costs, it's probably a good deal for the initial class. A few will probably get rich. The rest can just go to college later. But let's not pretend this sort of model will be a sustainable alternative to college for the masses.