| This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, a big slug of Bloomberg Opinion's opinions. Sign up here. An American Airlines jet and a US military helicopter collided over Washington last night, resulting in the deaths of all 67 people aboard both aircraft. It would be odd not to mention this tragedy, but it won't be a focus of this newsletter. For the most up-to-date information, I encourage you to head over to the Bloomberg News live blog, and meanwhile I leave you with this quote from former US Navy pilot Jack McCain, son of the late Senator John McCain: "I'm a hawk pilot. I've flown the NCR airspace. I've got about as much knowledge as you can have save for me being one of the VIP fliers out there. Here's me, not commenting, waiting for a proper investigation to be done. Take a hint. The world doesn't need your uninformed aviation hot take."
I'm continuously fascinated by all the Tesla owners who have gone out of their way to purchase bumper stickers that say some iteration of "I bought my car before I realized Elon Musk was crazy." More than 1,000 people have purchased this one from Amazon in the past month, and this one on Etsy is in 198 carts, with eight people buying it in the last 24 hours. The customer reviews are incredible: "Now we don't have to be embarrassed" is a nice blanket statement because, really, there are so many things one could be embarrassed about. You could be mortified that Musk has flirted with Nazi symbols. Or that he's trying to purge veterans from the US government. Or that his company SpaceX had an investor who was a Russian oligarch. Or maybe none of those things bother you and you're just upset about how badly he's managing his EV business. As Liam Denning writes: Tesla Inc. missed earnings estimates for the fourth quarter. The bigger issue is that the miss would have been even worse if Tesla hadn't pulled a couple of levers. Another big slug of greenhouse gas credit sales combined with an unusually large dollop of "other income," due mostly to an accounting change related to Bitcoin holdings, added up to $1.5 billion. Tax-adjusted, that's half of Tesla's entire earnings for the quarter right there. These earnings aren't just weak but low quality, too.
Liam says a lot of Tesla's poor performance comes down to pricing. According to yesterday's earnings, it costs $35,000 to produce the average Tesla — a historic low for the company. That sounds rather impressive, until you realize that figure has barely budged over the past four years. "This makes margins vulnerable in a price war — which is exactly what has happened with EVs amid slowing sales growth in the US and intense competition in China," he explains. But what about that fancy robot Musk sent to Kim Kardashian last year? Or the self-driving vehicles he promised? On the earnings call, Liam says, Musk declared that "the reality of autonomy is upon us," before going on to say that it wasn't quite upon us: A robotaxi service in Austin will launch over the summer. John Authers called it "exciting, but nothing new." I wonder: What would happen if a rider tried to slap a certain bumper sticker on the back of their robotaxi before hopping inside? A wee bit of positive news to brighten your day: Ruth Pollard says "there may finally be a potential avenue for justice" for Afghan women and girls who have been "crushed under the brutal rule of the Taliban." Last week, International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan applied for arrest warrants for the Taliban's Supreme Leader Haibatullah Akhundzada and Chief Justice Abdul Hakim Haqqani, who share a grotesque list of alleged violations, including murder, imprisonment, torture and rape. "The case against Akhundzada and Haqqani should worry those nations that have chosen to normalize ties with the Taliban, including China, India, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Russia," Ruth writes. "It also presents a conundrum for US lawmakers. … Despite America's damaging and chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 that preceded the Taliban's sweep into Kabul, the US was, as of October, the nation's largest donor and the fate of women and girls is still a concern. In the turmoil of President Donald Trump's first weeks in office, it is not clear how the government views this latest development." Unfortunately, this Patricia Lopez column doesn't inspire much confidence. During the war in Afghanistan, the US government made a promise to Afghans who agreed to fight alongside US troops: If you join our cause, you and your family will have a place in America when this is all over. And yet, in halting the US Refugee Admissions Program, the administration abruptly canceled the trips of 1,600 vetted Afghans who were about to fly to the US. "Thousands more were still being processed but now are in limbo — some hiding in Afghanistan, others scattered across several countries," she writes. Lives are at stake: The Taliban considers these Afghans to be active traitors. "If we don't get them out and soon, they're done," Shawn VanDiver, founder and president of #AfghanEvac, told Patricia. "They will be hunted down and killed. And they did everything for US troops over there." So much for promises made, promises kept. Americans have been pretty preoccupied with egg prices lately, and who can blame us? Bird flu is getting worse. Scientists are dropping the p-word. And shoppers are just recovering from the Covid inflation hangover. But Claudia Sahm says something else might be influencing the American psyche: tariffs, which President Donald Trump promised to impose — at an eye-watering rate of 25% — on Mexico and Canada as soon as Saturday. Of course, he may yet change his mind, but it would be wrong to say that Trump's policy isn't already having an impact. "Even the threat of tariffs comes with costs, because it can change people's behavior," Claudia writes. "Contrary to the president's claims, most people expect tariffs to affect them directly as consumers — through higher prices. When asked about a hypothetical 20% across-the-board tariff, they said that almost half of the cost would mostly be passed on to US consumers in higher prices." Eat those six-egg omelettes while you still can, folks. Even with DeepSeek's success, US export controls are still valuable. — Editorial Board Freight carriers are cheating truck drivers with rent-to-own deals. — Thomas Black The US Coast Guard is low on money, ships and sailors. — James Stavridis Since when did China's internet become so cool? — Tyler Cowen The Labour Party can raise taxes with one weird trick. — Chaminda Jayanetti DeepSeek isn't the only company building systems that are free to use. — Parmy Olson Why does Keir Starmer spend so much time making decisions he hates? — Rosa Prince Norway's government collapsed. Kash Patel and Tulsi Gabbard got grilled. The chip wars didn't go as planned. McDonald's inked a historic partnership. Barnes & Noble was saved by TikTok. Total Zyn domination. Pick me foods are everywhere. An asteroid with life material. Hypermasculine jawlines are in. Notes: Please send pickle bouquets and feedback to Jessica Karl at jkarl9@bloomberg.net. Sign up here and find us on Bluesky, TikTok, Instagram, LinkedIn and Threads. | 
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