Latest news with #StateBoardofInvestment
Yahoo
26-04-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Joe Soucheray: Was politics a factor in Mary Moriarty's charity to Tesla vandal?
Having never driven a Tesla, but having sat in one in order to pretend to a friend that I thought the dominating computer screen was fascinating, I sensed no revulsion or any particular distaste for the car. Everybody dances to a different beat and if you want an electric car, a Tesla, then have at it, even if the front of a Tesla looks like the underbelly of a dolphin. And the Tesla truck is perhaps the ugliest machine ever manufactured. Some cars are so ugly that they become cool. You'd a pay a pretty penny these days for an Edsel, not in spite of its horse collar grill, but probably because of it. The Tesla truck looks like an industrial toaster or a hastily slapped together prop for a 1952 invasion-from-Mars movie. What were you thinking, Elon? There is no accounting for taste and the vehicle's novelty cannot be denied. Besides, the way we're going, cars will end up looking like hot dog buns and the Tesla truck will someday be as revered as a Ferrari. A fellow doesn't mean to pile on – Teslas have been getting keyed – but we have learned some lessons. Apparently, many of you who bought Teslas really, deep down, didn't care about saving the Earth. You cared about making a statement that you cared about saving the Earth. Otherwise, so many of you wouldn't now be plastering your cars with stickers that say, 'Don't blame me, I bought mine before Musk got to Washington.' But then Musk joined President Donald Trump and because the two of them are ideologically evil, it is now acceptable to insist that you find Musk dastardly, even though when you bought the car, you thought Musk was ideologically a genius. I guess the stickers promote a wish to have the cake and eat it, too. What changed? Well, Trump. Our governor hasn't helped. It would be a stretch to say that Tim Walz incited the destruction of property, but a couple of weeks back, on that whatever that tour of his is, he took great glee in Tesla's falling stock price. It is now believed that the governor didn't realize that his own State Board of Investment had 1.6 million shares of Tesla stock in its retirement fund or that Tesla owns a manufacturing plant in Brooklyn Park. In a riotous display of first-world angst, Teslas have been shot at, keyed and kicked. Tesla dealerships have been vandalized. And locally we have the astonishing case of Dylan Bryan Adams, a financial analyst in the Minnesota Department of Human Services. Adams was arrested recently in Minneapolis for allegedly keying at least six Tesla cars to the tune of more than $20,000 in damages. Allegedly seems redundant. Teslas are virtually rolling film studios. The cars filmed Adams in the act. It is unlikely Adams will be fired or even have a note placed in his file. He's been with the state since 2018 and nobody in the Walz administration has ever suffered any consequences for their incompetent handling of a $250 million food fraud. $20,000 is peanuts. In fact, Mary Moriarty, the Hennepin County attorney, has decided not to press felony charges against Adams. Instead, Adams was offered 'diversion,' meaning restitution and some community service work. It almost sounds like Moriarty said, 'Oh, what the hell, he was only keying Teslas.' It'd hard to know if Moriarty's charity to Adams reflected her politics. You have to wonder if she thought about it at all. My question will go unanswered. Adams was out walking his dog when he struck. Why wasn't he at work? Joe Soucheray can be reached at jsoucheray@ Soucheray's 'Garage Logic' podcast can be heard at Jim Gelbmann: Our partisan endorsement process is unrepresentative, polarizing and self-serving Ed Lotterman: What if the Fed set a trap for Trump? Skywatch: A crow, a cup and a water snake Real World Economics: Powell hits first; Trump hits back Working Strategies: Random thoughts: Stretching job titles and happy places
Yahoo
22-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Joe Soucheray: Walz is more like Trump than he would care to believe
Tim Walz has been touring out of state lately, appearing at town halls, small venues, perhaps at even Chautauquas, in a mimicry of a comedy act or lecture tour, apparently to set us all straight on the error of our ways. Last week, Walz was in Eau Claire, Wis., pacing a stage on which a stool had been placed for a bottle of water, like the spartan props of Lewis Black or Chris Rock. As Walz went for the bottle, his friendly audience could absorb his latest profundity. Walz said he put a Tesla stock app on his phone to get a little boost during the day watching shares of Tesla stock. '$225 and dropping,' Tim said, thumb pointing down. The crowd cheered because, you know, Elon Musk. We'll be here a long time if we were to track Walz's profundities. Outside the venue and all around the country, Tesla dealerships were being vandalized, Tesla cars shot at, keyed and kicked, and Tesla owners, who were never terribly sincere about saving the Earth in the first place, are buying bumper stickers that read 'Don't blame me, I already owned the car.' Into bed with this destructive crowd climbs Walz, supposedly a governor. Such irrationality suggests that he might not be safe around the Mona Lisa, either, lest he produce a pocket knife and disfigure her face. Supposedly a governor, who should know better. Tesla employs more than 150,000 American workers, many of whom probably voted for Kamala Harris and Walz. Those workers own Tesla stock. In Minnesota, the State Board of Investment, as of June 30, 2024, had 1.6 million shares of Tesla stock in its retirement fund and 211,000 shares in its non-retirement fund. Mutual funds in retirement plans own Tesla shares. Your Aunt Ethel probably owns Tesla stock and probably the good sisters of St. Joseph, too. No kind of fellow preening and begging to be taken seriously as a statesman would denigrate an American company of such magnitude nor would he take glee in the company's declining share price. Walz is more like Donald Trump than he would care to believe in the sense that you wonder if anybody can get to him and make him see the light, or at least do some homework. In 2017, Tesla purchased a Minnesota company, Perbix in Brooklyn Park, a creator of sophisticated and automated automobile manufacturing equipment. Perbix employed 150 people at the time, with Musk vowing to recruit more workers. Walz should be the new mug on their dart board. In another whistle stop, Walz joined the governor of California, Gavin Newsom, who has a podcast along with a million other people. The two of them came to lament MAGA people and conservatives in general. Well, OK. But then … 'I could kick their ass,' Walz said, meaning, again, MAGA people and conservatives in general. 'I think I scare them a little bit.' You do, Tim, you do, but not because you've been to the gym. You let a city burn. You commit mortal financial sins and are in denial of them. No administration in the history of the state has ever experienced such repetitive fraud. No governor has ever blown such a bountiful surplus. You signed off on an unnecessary new State Office Building, another bill down the drain. If that's cutting-edge progressive leadership, who wants it? Opinion | Joe Soucheray: St. Paul Johnson's hockey team was the pride of the city Opinion | Joe Soucheray: A little DOGE goes a long way. Be careful with the mail. Opinion | Letters: St. Paul's West End has long had to fight for its character Opinion | Joe Soucheray: Transgender inclusion in sports is not fair unless compromises are made Opinion | Joe Soucheray: House DFL rolls by different rules than the rest of us. About going to work, for example. We've been through all this, but Walz continues to surf along the populist wave of people who don't care. Worse, maybe Walz doesn't care. Maybe they will start caring, depending how much Tesla stock they have in their retirement nest eggs. Full disclosure is required. I am not a Tesla owner, nor have I personally purchased any Tesla stock. Normal people call me a car nut. I need noise and big round instruments with sweeping needles. Oh, and smells, too, the sweet perfume of the petroleum miracle. I spend enough time sitting in front of a computer screen. Joe Soucheray can be reached at jsoucheray@ Soucheray's 'Garage Logic' podcast can be heard at
