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Tesla CEO Elon Musk lashed out at government orders to stay home as a “fascist” in an outrageous tirade on Tesla’s 1Q 2020 earnings call.
While answering analysts’ questions about liquidity amid the coronavirus pandemic, Musk called for shelter-in-place orders “to forcibly imprison people in their homes against all of their constitutional rights.”
Musk said he was concerned that he would not be able to resume operations at the company’s factory in Fremont, California, and said that possibility should be considered “a serious risk” given that Tesla produces most of its cars there, in addition to its plant with headquartered in Shanghai. Tesla had initially said the factory would remain open despite shelter-in-place orders until the county where it is located said it could not be considered an essential business. Six counties, including Alameda, where the Tesla factory is located, recently extended their shelter requests there until the end of May.
Musk had spoken about government restrictions on citizens during the coronavirus pandemic earlier on Twitter, but expressed his opinion in Wednesday’s call by encouraging government officials to invest in infrastructure. He praised China for having a “much better” infrastructure than the United States.
“This is the time to think about the future, and also to ask, is it right to infringe on people’s rights like what is happening right now?” Musk said.
“I think people are going to be very angry about this and very angry. It is as if someone should be, if someone wants to stay in the house, that’s great, they should be allowed to stay in the house and they should not be forced. But to say that they cannot leave their house, and they will be arrested if they do, this is fascist. This is not democratic. This is not freedom. Give people back their damn freedom. “
At another point in the call, he said, “So, the expansion of the shelter into place or, frankly, I would call it forcibly imprisoning people in their homes, against all their constitutional rights, but that’s my opinion, and breaking people’s liberties somehow that’s horrible and wrong, and not why people came to the United States or built this country. What the hell. Excuse me. It is an outrage, an outrage. It will cause great harm not only to Tesla but many companies. And although Tesla will weather the storm, there are many small companies that will not, “he said.
Bay Area orders do not say that people cannot leave their home, but they do restrict non-essential business opening and prohibit many other activities, such as large public gatherings.
Some states, including Michigan and Texas, have seen protests about orders to stay home as fears of economic deterioration grow. But public health officials have warned that too quickly a reopening could result in Covid-19 accelerating and developing new hot spots that could overwhelm health systems.
–Jordan Novet contributed to this report.
To update: Some quotes were originally poorly transcribed and have been updated based on the audio recording.
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LOOK: Protests about organized stay-at-home orders in various US cities. USA
