r/technology • u/DontFearTheCreaper • 20h ago

Social Media Tech CEOs who grinned behind Trump at inauguration lose billions in wake of tariffs

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-tariff-bezos-musk-zuckerberg-b2727147.html
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u/a-base 20h ago

Much like the 2008 housing crisis in the US, these things tend to work out very well for billionaires - at a cost to the poor, lower- and middle- class.

  • Their losses are just theoretical, it's not like they have to cash out their stocks or sell assets and take any real loss.
  • Even with these 'losses' they are still billionaires and can access cash in numerous ways. They can quite comfortably ride out any period of instability.
  • More likely than riding it out, they'll use it to their advantage. With markets crashing they are perfectly positioned to swoop in, scoop up anything they like, and make out like bandits.

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u/anonymous_lighting 20h ago

i hear ya but to that same point do they really gain anything if their wealth increases by 10% after the fact? 

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u/sump_daddy 20h ago

Its not just that. Its their CONTROL. They will be able to buy many new and diverse businesses, dirt cheap because they are on the ropes. The FTC and other federal orgs designed to stop monopolies from forming or abusing their positions will be gutted, of course, so there will be no guardrails to complete consolidation into a dystopian corporatocracy.

"just a few more billions"? Thats not their end game, Zuck literally is mapping out where Meta vertically controls a significant portion of the country (of course alongside important allies at Amazon, XAI, Alphabet, etc)

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u/restingstatue 19h ago

This. Money itself can only buy so much. But when you can change laws? Geopolitical boundaries? Definitions of human rights? Become untouchable and take your mask off to show your truly malevolent nature? Ahhh, that's the real dream of sociopaths.

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u/TakuyaLee 19h ago

No one is untouchable. No one. Did no one learn from the French Revolution? The rich actually had a good thing going in the US, but some of them don't think that's enough.

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u/carcar134134 18h ago

The French aristocracy didn't have access to f-22's and a global surveillance network.

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u/kos-or-kosm 17h ago

Nor did they have access to sophisticated propaganda techniques and massive media networks to disseminate said propaganda. "People have gotten dumber" is a sentiment I encounter a lot, and I fundamentally disagree. Humanity has gotten smarter over time and has learned better and better ways to trick each other.

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u/N3ptuneflyer 18h ago

Shit will have to get way worse before it actually becomes dangerous to them. Look at Russia, as long as those oligarchs suck up to Putin they are untouchable. The idea that the American public will rise up in revolt is ridiculous. The French were literally starving to death while the rich were living in luxury.

We will still have food to eat, a roof over our heads, a bed to sleep in, and a phone to entertain us. They need to maintain a bare minimum of livability and the American public will avoid revolting in fear of losing that much.