Debt Bubbles — GM vs Tesla vs Big Oil & Gas

There has been intense focus in the media this year on Tesla’s financials and Tesla’s debt. The media coverage would make you think Tesla is one of the only companies in the world that takes on a large amount of debt. Not only is that obviously not true, but a certain James Stephenson took to Twitter yesterday to highlight in bubble chart format how dramatically unbalanced that narrative is when you compare Tesla’s debt to GM’s debt.

Wowza! Why is the media not hyperventilating about GM debt?! And didn’t that company actually go bankrupt in recent years? I’m confused — are we living in the Twilight Zone?

To be fair, I don’t think GM is on the verge of defaulting on its debt and going bankwupt. But I don’t think Tesla is either. The problem isn’t that the financial and automotive journalists and editors should be hyperventilating about GM debt. Rather, it’s that they should not be manipulating common people on the street (and part-time retail investors) into thinking that Tesla is about to crash and burn financially.

This tweet from Stephenson, serendipitously, came just after an article we published from Jeremy Leggett about a ginormous shale gas & oil bubble that could actually pop.

What is that — $100–150 billion in oil & gas debt? And is the oil & gas industry’s future getting brighter or darker?