Elon Musk and Twitter are not a match made in heaven

Plus: Employers are losing the RTO fight. [Bloomberg]( Follow Us [Get the newsletter]( This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, a severed floor of Bloomberg Opinion’s opinions. [Sign up here](. Today’s Agenda - Musk may not be [a careful steward of Twitter](. - Employers aren’t [making the return-to-office case](. - Beware [unregulated commodity trading](. - Russia will have a [hard time selling oil in Asia](. From Musk ’Til Dawn The thought of Elon Musk buying Twitter was at first like the idea of a dog driving a truck. Sure, it was physically possible, but come on. Well, buckle up, everybody: Elon Musk is in fact [buying]( Twitter. [Funding secured]( and everything. “So what?” you might be asking, or “What is Twitter?” It’s funny because most people don’t use it! Except Elon Musk, the world’s richest and online-est man, uses it constantly. So did a former extremely online president of the United States, whose only [penalty]( so far for trying to overturn the 2020 election has been a (now [maybe not so]() permanent Twitter ban. Important people use it, in other words. And now it will be the plaything of a man who has used it to call critics [pedophiles](, serially [violate]( SEC rules and [body-shame]( lesser billionaires, among other sins. The most-clicked Bloomberg Opinion column this month has been Matt Winkler’s [argument]( in favor of Musk’s managerial excellence, a column that got a significant boost after Musk [tweeted]( about it. Whether you agree or not, you can’t deny Musk’s success at his day job, which is driving up Tesla’s stock price. A [Musk distracted by reshaping Twitter]( in his own image could derail Tesla, Matt Levine writes, or it could just be another of the weird obsessions that keeps Musk’s magic powers alive, like audiences [clapping]( for Tinkerbell. The fate of the small but influential Twitter is a different story. Its shareholders won’t have to care what happens to the company after this deal is done, Matt Levine notes. But the rest of us will, and [nothing in Musk’s managerial record]( fills Tim O’Brien with much confidence he will be a careful driver of this truck, which will now be overloaded with LBO debt. Oh, well, there’s always [autopilot](. Bonus Tech-Billionaire-Plaything Reading: Mark Zuckerberg’s retail store is an [expensive way to push the Metaverse](. — Parmy Olson Worth asking. Permanent Severance One of the big mysteries of the Apple TV+ show “Severance” is what, exactly, the workers on the show do for their fictional company, Lumon. These people are so ruthlessly dedicated to work-life balance that they get an implant making them forget everything that happens at the office, which sounds appealing. But their jobs are apparently meaningless, making the deal even worse for the at-work personas trapped in a hell of never leaving the office.  “What would you say you do here?” is a recurring theme of job-related entertainment, going back at least to the gold standard of the genre, 1999’s “Office Space.” It’s more relevant than ever in 2022, but with slightly different emphasis — on the “here” this time — when many bosses are eager to refill office space the pandemic emptied. Hard work is its own reward and all that, but must it always take place in a commercial space a miserable commute away from one’s home? Employers argue it does, because of corporate culture and serendipity and reasons, but Adrian Wooldridge notes [employers are losing that argument](, no matter how many [music/dance experiences]( or [waffle parties]( (spoiler alert) they offer. Workers now have two years of WFH data on their side. This is a dilemma for employers with big, expensive spaces to fill. But it’s not an unalloyed win for the workers. As nice as it is to go a full workday without wearing real pants, never leaving the house can be its own kind of hell, or at least turn the work-life balance thing on its head. As Matthew Brooker points out, [we can never really sever ourselves]( into two people, at least not without incurring significant psychological damage. The trick is to learn to work with that reality, no matter where we’re working. Hot Commodity Traders If, as Warren Buffett once famously said, an ebbing tide exposes who is swimming naked, then the Ukraine war has left a lot of commodities traders purple and shivering. Prices have fluctuated wildly in everything from wheat to nickel, driving margin calls and general misery. Regulators have caught on to [how dangerous unregulated commodities trading]( can be, Javier Blas writes, and they should act fast to protect the financial system.    What this protection should [not include is another round of Lehman-style bailouts](, Bloomberg’s editorial board writes. Troubling as it may have been, the too-big-to-fail thing ultimately worked out OK when it came to massive banks. It won’t be productive or even necessary for traders hopped up on leverage to gamble on silver or whatever. Telltale Charts Russia can still sell crude oil to Asia, but it’s much [more expensive and takes much longer]( than selling to Europe, writes Julian Lee. It definitely takes more boats. The financial system is so bloated with money that [banks don’t want any of yours](, writes Robert Burgess. Don’t expect good savings rates even as other rates rise. Further Reading [No rush on those hearings](, Jan. 6 committee, really! (That was sarcasm.) — Jonathan Bernstein A U.S. [solar company’s protectionist lawsuit]( highlights conflicts in President Joe Biden’s climate policies. — Liam Denning Rising rates [won’t make homes more affordable](. — Conor Sen Inflation expectations are [running away from the Fed](. — Lisa Abramowicz “Poisoned” data is [a threat to AI systems](. — Tim Culpan Demand is [up for vocational and two-year schools]( and down for four-year colleges. This may be just what the economy needs. — Aaron Brown [Boomers have it better in retirement]( than previous generations, believe it or not. — Allison Schrager ICYMI Donald Trump says [he won’t join Twitter]( even if Musk lifts his ban. A New York court found [Trump in contempt](. Area crypto [billionaire explains “yield farming](.” Hilarity ensues. Kickers Somebody in the U.S. government [suggested nuking the moon](. (h/t Mike Smedley) China is [using guard geese to enforce Zero Covid](. (h/t Scott Kominers) Nuclear submarines [have a unique social hierarchy](. [Close relationships are more critical]( to a healthy life than good genes. Notes: Please send guard geese and complaints to Mark Gongloff at mgongloff1@bloomberg.net. [Sign up here]( and follow us on [Instagram](, [TikTok](, [Twitter]( and [Facebook](. Like getting this newsletter? [Subscribe to Bloomberg.com]( for unlimited access to trusted, data-driven journalism and subscriber-only insights. Before it’s here, it’s on the Bloomberg Terminal. Find out more about how the Terminal delivers information and analysis that financial professionals can’t find anywhere else. [Learn more](. You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Bloomberg Opinion Today newsletter. [Unsubscribe]( | [Bloomberg.com]( | [Contact Us]( [Ads Powered By Liveintent]( | [Ad Choices]( Bloomberg L.P. 731 Lexington, New York, NY, 10022