Revenge 249
To go around this law, not all Tesla Stores are selling
cars. Some are called galleries where you can’t buy a car.
When you are ready to buy a car, you have to go home
and order one on the Internet. The question is if Tesla
can educate a customer without trying to sell a car? Tesla
said they could and were sued by the National Automobile
Dealers Association. “The dealer association is a very pow-
erful lobby on the local level,” Elon said. “Really powerful.
And we’re a tiny little mouse compared to them on the level
of politics. Hopefully the right thing will happen.”^194
In 2010, Tesla became the first public American car
company since Ford in 1956. Marking the first day of
trading, Elon rang the bell at Wall Street together with his
family.^54
The television showMad Money with the host Jim
Cramer analyzed the company. “You don’t want to own
this stock,” Cramer shouted as he always does. “You don’t
want to lease it. You shouldn’t even rent the darn thing.”
Elon replied to the criticism in an interview. “Yeah sure Jim,
you know we are not Bear Stearns, but I think that we are
going to do okay,” Elon said. “I think that Jim recommended
Bear Stearns, so frankly, he’s a contra indicator.”^34 On the
March 11, 2008, episode ofMad Money, a viewer submitted
the question if he should be worried about Bear Stearns
in terms of liquidity and get his money out of there. “No!
No! No! Bear Stearns is not in trouble,” Cramer replied. “If
anything, they’re more likely to be taken over. Don’t move