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Tesla released its quarterly earnings report on Tuesday, its first since the companys chief executive, Elon Musk, took up residence in the Trump White House and immediately began trying to fire federal workers, gut regulators, and illegally withhold funding from recipients who are entitled to it. The numbers are, to use a technical term, grim: Teslas net income for the first three months of the year was $409 million, down precipitously from $1.4 billion over the same period in 2024. According to The New York Times, things could have been much worse: Had Tesla not been able to supplement its sales by earning $400 million in interest and close to $600 million selling emissions credits, it would have been hundreds of millions of dollars in the red. Hours later, Musk tried to reassure investors by revealing that he planned to dedicate “significantly” less time to his work at the Department of Government Efficiency starting next month, but would still spend a day or two per week on the project. This is roughly analogous to announcing that, on account of your house being on fire, you intend to scale back the volume of gasoline you have been pouring the flames at some point in the weeks ahead. Valiantly trying to spin a 71% drop in profits is presumably not the future Musk envisioned when he endorsed Trumps candidacy, or spent more than quarter-billion dollars on his campaign, or started appearing as an honored guest at rallies, bouncing around the stage like a child allowed to eat one too many Cadbury eggs on Easter. The second Trump administration was supposed to be a presidency run by billionaires for the benefit of billionaires hoping to climb a few spots in the Forbes rankings. But like many of the CEOs who lined up behind Trump this time around, Musk is learning the hard way that voluntarily associating oneself with an aspiring autocrat who keeps flirting with causing a generational recession can be very bad for business. Tuesdays news is only the latest bit of evidence that Musks decision to lumber into right-wing politics has had real consequences for some of the companies he runs. Teslas stock price is down from an all-time high of $480 per share in December to around $280 as of this writing, and earlier this month, the company announced that its first-quarter deliveries were down 13%. Musk recently sold X to his artificial intelligence company, xAI, at a $33 billion valuation, which for those doing math at home is $11 billion less than he paid for the platform formerly known as Twitter in 2022. In an increasingly competitive electric vehicles market, the stigma associated with buyingor even owninga Tesla has put the company in a precarious position. In March, Musk and Trump grew desperate enough to stage a live Tesla infomercial at the White House, a stunt that I doubt made people already turned off by his brand any likelier to buy a car from him. Teslas reputational nosedive has been particularly disastrous for Musk, whose estimated net worth has plummeted from close to $500 billion in December to around $300 billion today. Although he remains the worlds wealthiest person by a considerable margin, this is an astonishing amount to lose in such a short period, especially given that its been driven in significant part by his terminal inability to stop posting. To give you a sense of scale, the reduction in Musks net worth over the past four months is roughly equal to Mark Zuckerbergs total net worth as you read this sentence. Musks influence is waning, too, both inside and outside the government. His preferred candidates blowout loss in Wisconsins high-stakes state supreme court election raises uncomfortable questions about his staying power within the Republican Party establishment. DOGE-led efforts to hollow out agencies like the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Federal Trade Commission are getting tied up in court, and even if the Trump administration ultimately prevails, it will be years before the resulting dearth of regulatory oversight makes up for a 12-figure reduction in Musks net worth. The infamous five things emails that Musk purported to require of all federal workers have apparently fallen by the wayside already; one employee told The Washington Post that they use an AI chatbot to fire off a word salad response each week, which is inspiring to me in the same way that Black Lives Matter protesters using leaf blowers to blow tear gas at the cops who fired it was inspiring to me. Meanwhile, when Musk ventures into spaces that are not populated by crypto scammers, Trump acolytes, or some combination thereof, normal people relish the opportunity to share how they feel about him. Earlier this month, for instance, when Musk livestreamed himself playing video games to demonstrate the capabilities of Starlinks in-fight WiFi service, users took to the comments to say things like YOU HAVE NO FRIENDS AND YOU WILL DIE ALONE, and YOU WILL ALWAYS FEEL INSECURE AND IT WILL NEVER GO AWAY. Mark Zuckerberg, another Big Tech luminary who tried to ingratiate himself to Trump, has to be second-guessing himself, too. During the transition, the Meta CEO paid multiple visits to Mar-a-Lago and quickly rebranded as the sort of manosphere enthusiast who decries the scourges of fact-checking and government censorship of social media platforms. Perhaps thats why, when Zuckerberg called the FTC in March to try and settle a blockbuster case challenging Facebooks acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp, he reportedly seemed confident that Trump would back him up. The FTCs Trump-appointed chair rejected his offer, though, and the support Zuckerberg expected never materialized. As it turns out, the price of getting the president to make a gigantic antitrut lawsuit go away is greater than fawning over his agenda in the occasional podcast interview. Many of this countrys largest corporations followed Silicon Valleys lead after the election, throwing tens of millions of dollars at Trumps inauguration committee and engaging in a spirited competition to see who could most vociferously disavow their diversity, equity, and inclusion policies in public. (Some inauguration donors, including Target, McDonalds, and Delta, opened their wallets after not doing so for more than a decade, per CNBC.) Even as Trump runs roughshod over both civil liberties and the global economy, few have changed course, holding out hope for the long-promised capitalist utopia of a lighter regulatory burden and a number-go-up stock market. In reality, their share prices are down, their investors are getting restless, and the government is no more sympathetic to their plight than it was three months ago. Thanks to the uncertainty generated by Trumps on-again, off-again interest in waging harebrained trade wars, a big bounceback does not seem likely anytime soon. This is not to suggest that the administrations anti-worker, anti-consumer, anti-regulatory agenda will never redound to these companies benefit. But the basic bet that so many boardroom types made by trying to curry favor with Trump was that electing a Business President would make their businesses money, too. Instead, the most consistent beneficiary of Donald Trumps second term has been Donald Trump, who is having the time of his life hawking an eponymous memecoin and TRUMP 2028 hats. Everyone else is stuck fighting for scraps.
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Every now and then, you run into a tool that truly wows you. Its rareespecially nowadays, when everyone and their cousin is coming out with overhyped AI-centric codswallop thats almost always more impressive on paper than in practice. And that, if you ask me, makes it all the more satisfying when you track down a tool that really, truly impresses. My friend, today is one of those days. Prepare to have your mind blown. Be the first to find all sorts of little-known tech treasures with my free Cool Tools newsletter from The Intelligence. One useful new discovery in your inbox every Wednesday! Your instant audio enhancer Our tool for today comes from a company youve almost certainly heard of. But Id be willing to wager you didnt know it offered this off-the-beaten-path treasure. The gem of which we speak is a simple little web app called, fittingly, Enhance Speechby Adobe. Enhance Speech lets you upload any audio recording of someone speaking. Its technically designed for podcasters, but it could be useful for practically anythinga spoken memo, a recorded conversation, even a recorded phone call. The site takes any recording you feed it and instantly improves its audio qualityremoving background noise and enhancing the sound of the speaking so its crisp, clear, and easy as can be to hear, no matter how sloppily or in what kind of environment it was recorded. Adobes Enhance Speech site couldnt be much simpler or easier to use. Itll take you about two minutes to perform an enhancement. And you dont need to create an account or anything: Just open up the Adobe Enhance Speech site in any browser, on any device in front of you. Click or tap the Choose Files buttonor drag and drop an audio file directly from your device onto the page, if youre using a computer. Enhance Speech works with most common audio file formats, including WAV, MP3, AAC, FLAC, and M4A. In a matter of moments, the site will serve up an enhanced version of your recording that you can either play on the page or download. You can play your enhanced audio right on the site or download it with one quick click. You can also just check out the built-in sample on the sites main page to see how impressive of a difference its enhancements make. It really is something. Enhance Speech is entirely web-basedno downloads or installations required. Its free to use with recordings up to 30 minutes in length and 500MB in size, with a one-hour-per-day upload limit. You can lift those limits and unlock a variety of advanced features with a premium plan, but that absolutely isnt necessary for the services core featuresand the limits are plenty generous for most casual use. Enhance Speech follows Adobes standard privacy policy, which ensures no personal data is ever shared or used in any eyebrow-raising way. Ready for more productivity-boosting goodness? Check out my free Cool Tools newsletter for an instant introduction to an audio app thatll tune up your days in delightful waysand a new off-the-beaten-path gem in your inbox every Wednesday!
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Getting your tax refund is the only fun part of filing your taxes every yearwhich can make it especially galling when Uncle Sam takes his sweet time sending your money. Waiting for a refund in 2025 has some added stress, considering the recent IRS layoffs, the departments plans for a 25% reduction in force, and the heartburn-inducing game of acting director musical chairs that played out during this years tax season. With all of that turmoil in the IRS, any taxpayer still waiting on a refund may worry their tax return got lost in the shuffle. The good news is that the IRS is still processing tax returns and refunds at a steady clip, even with a reduced workforce. Additionally, this department offers taxpayers a number of resources to soothe your worries about the status of your refund. Heres what you need to know about receiving your tax refund this year if it still hasnt hit your bank account. Believe it or not, tax refunds are on track If youve waited more than the 21 calendar days the IRS claims it takes to process your refund, you can be excused for assuming the DOGE cuts are responsible for the delay. But the IRS filing season statistics tell a different story. Despite the reduced workforce, the IRS is processing returns and refunds at a similar rate to last year. As of April 11, 2025, the IRS has processed 74,858,000 refunds for the 2025 tax seasona 0.2% increase compared to the 74,685,000 refunds processed as of the same time frame in 2024. Its also instructive to look at last years statistics from later in the tax season. The 2024 refunds processed by mid-April last year represented 71.2% of all refunds for the calendar year. That means its not unusual for more than a quarter of taxpayers to still be refund-less at this point in the tax season. Additionally, by May 10, 2024, nearly 90% of refunds had been processed for the yearwhich correlates pretty well to the nearly 92% of taxpayers who file on time. The remaining refunds paid out after mid-May 2024 were generally owed to late filers who got an extension. If you filed your taxes as of the April 15 deadline, youll probably receive your owed refund by mid-May at the latest. So is there a tax refund delay? While the beleaguered IRS is working full steam ahead under difficult circumstances, there are several global and individual reasons why you may not have received your refund: Filing volume: The volume of tax returns received by the IRS goes up steeply the closer it gets to April 15. The increased filing volume creates a bottleneck for IRS workers, which can delay your refund. Paper filing: Uncle Sam prefers e-filing, and taxpayers who file a paper return may have to wait four or more weeks to receive their refunds. Refund via check: If you requested a paper check instead of ACH deposit, that can also delay your refund. Tax credits: If you claimed the Earned Income Tax Credit or the Child Tax Credit, that can delay your refund. Errors: An error on your return can delay your refund. Amended return: Filing an amended return can also cause your refund to take longer to process. Wheres my refund? One of the best updates to modern taxation is the IRS Wheres My Refund? tool, which allows you to check the status of your refund. Typically, you can use this tool within 24 hours of e-filing your current-year tax return. To check your refund status, you will need your Social Security number (or individual taxpayer ID number, or ITIN), your filing status, and the exact amount of your refund. There are three potential refund statuses: Return Received: This status indicates the IRS has received your tax return and is currently processing it. Refund Approved: This status shows that your refund has been approved and will be submitted as of the date listed. Refund Sent: This status indicates that the IRS has sent the refund either via ACH or paper check through the mail. ACH could take up to five days to appear in your bank account, and a paper check could take several weeks to show up in your mailbox. When to pick up the phone Calling the IRS for help is about as appealing as a colonoscopy, especially if you expect the wait time for reaching a real live human being to rival the run time for Wickedthe directors cut. However, you may need to reach out to the IRS by phone if there is no change to the refund status listed on the Wheres My Refund? tool after 21 calendar days or if the tool asks you to contact the IRS. Just remember that the IRS cant answer questions about your delayed refund until youve hit the 21-day mark. If youre ready to call the Taxpayer Assistance hotline, you can reach it at 800-829-1040 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. local time. The IRS is still working as designedfor now The 2025 tax season may seem more fraught than usual, but the IRS is still processing about the same number of returns and refunds as it has in past years. The delay on your refund may be related to when or how you filed your taxes, whether you took any tax credits, or if there is an error on your return. You can check the status of your refund using the online Wheres My Refund? tool, and give the IRS a ring if the status hasnt changed after 21 days. Just remember that if you do need to call, the IRS worker who answers the phone is almost definitely having a worse tax season than you are.
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