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
62.0k Upvotes

91% Upvoted

2.0k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

1.7k

u/DouglasHundred 19h ago

I mean, it's an economic system they designed to work for their exclusive benefit, so it's hardly a surprise.

906

u/ovirt001 19h ago edited 18h ago

There was a period of a few decades where taxes and regulations reined in wealth concentration. Since the 80s that has been carefully rolled back.

1.1k

u/reddollardays 19h ago edited 14h ago

Fuck Reagan, such a sociopath.

ETA: Thanks for the awards, appreciate the sentiment - SOLIDARITY IS KEY!

Anyone else, please consider donating to the ACLU or a certain SMB character's legal defense fund. Eat the rich.

126

u/NatPortmansUnderwear 19h ago

At least Reagan went through the great depression and understood how bad tariffs are, unlike genius T.

327

u/GoldandBlue 19h ago

I have seen 3 Republican presidents in my lifetime. All 3 destroyed the economy. When will we learn?

215

u/JaneksLittleBlackBox 19h ago

When will we learn?

Never, so long as their voters are delusional enough to believe the RNC is god’s chosen party on Earth.

I grew up Mormon and GTFO of that cult at 18, but I saw enough from my parents and extended family to know they’ll always vote straight-ticket Republican because they’ve bought into the Republican “family values, God, Bible” bullshit for so long that the party will always have the delusional Christian vote.

111

u/makebbq_notwar 18h ago

It’s interesting talking to Republican lawmakers one on one. The utter contempt they have for Christian conservatives is just amazing. They see Evangelicals, Mormons, and others as gullible fools who can be led around like sheep.

101

u/JaneksLittleBlackBox 18h ago

They see Evangelicals, Mormons, and others as gullible fools who can be led around like sheep.

Because they are and can be, and these snakes know it based on 50 years of leading them around like sheep.

4

u/purseaholic 15h ago

Because they are. Mormonism is a cult that got out of control. Of course men love it as they are in charge, but I fail to see the appeal for women.

3

u/PLeuralNasticity 16h ago

And all the pedophiles are easy to honeypot, kompromise and push to the top

Predation is a MAGA leader qualification

No coincidences in the Aryan nation

Life in prison for child rape on tape

Their only alternative landscape

Unless they follow every order

Get locked up with no quarter

2

u/madcoins 12h ago

Yep you tell the world “I’m prone to fascist ideologies and I’m not big into critical thinking” when you’re part of organized monotheistic religions. Don’t be surprised when you’re manipulated and used.

40

u/Minute-System3441 18h ago

It’s interesting because most people I know who actually follow the OG Christian denominations, do not vote GOP.

Whereas, the American-invented prosperity-gospel hucksters - pulled it out of my --- denominations - worship at the altar of the GOP, are all staunch Republican voters. And, they have been told to dislike and disapprove the other older “socialist” denominations.

7

u/bmyst70 13h ago

The funny thing is that it's patently obvious in The Bible that Jesus Christ himself was very much a liberal. Which is why the conservatives of his time literally crucified him. He challenged their power structures in ways they didn't like.

4

u/DBPanterA 15h ago

Bingo.

Often say there are “Christians” and those that are “Christ-like.” Those that are Christ-like attempt to emulate what is written in the gospels. They know the social, political, and economic message on those pages. They know that Jesus Christ would make Bernie Sanders look like Chuck Grassley.

Christians, on the other hand….

16

u/PaulTheMerc 17h ago

When you have a giant flashing sign that says "I believe in shit with no proof whatsoever, often contrary to proof in fact!", at that point it isn't mostly the other person's fault for taking advantage.

1

u/makebbq_notwar 17h ago

I’ve heard evangelicals described this way by Newt Gingrich, Mike DeWine, and Ralph Norman over the years. Abortion was a great wedge issue to lead the sheep around with for decades. Now it’s Trans and DEI.

1

u/youmestrong 15h ago

Because it’s so damn obviously true.

18

u/Minute-System3441 18h ago

The shows that really made me think of the Republican mindset and MO for me were Colony and The Man in the High Castle.

The second a new power takes control, every principle they’ve ever preached - flag, Constitution, bumper stickers, performative patriotism - goes straight out the fucking window. Like it never mattered.

Republicans would be the first to pivot, aligning with whoever holds power, purely for selfish gain.

A theory? Sure. But history’s already proven it twice.

Most of the South opposed the Revolutionary War - until it was won. Then, suddenly, those same people were die-hard, flag-waving, Constitution-thumping Americans. You think they’d have backed the revolution if someone had warned them slavery would be under threat in just 85 years? Not a fucking chance.

Same script, Civil War edition: Their ancestors fought against the very nation and Constitution they claimed to revere. Had the Confederacy won, today’s faux-devotion to the U.S. would’ve evaporated overnight.

This is Republicanism in a nutshell.

7

u/JaneksLittleBlackBox 18h ago

The Man in the High Castle is a perfect representation of conservative patriotism now. The Nazis nuke DC and suddenly every American “patriot” immediately becomes a Nazi. J. Edgar Hoover being a rat-fuck Gestapo officer was perfect and hilarious.

7

u/Minute-System3441 18h ago edited 17h ago

Straight up. They also just proved it once again with Russia.

Prior to the late 1980s, even mentioning Moscow would get you blacklisted as a commie sympathizer. Now? They’re trading fist bumps with oligarchs and taking Putin’s side over their own countrymen and allies. Nothing exposes their ‘principles’ as pure opportunism like watching Cold Warriors morph into Kremlin cheerleaders.

31

u/korben2600 18h ago

I can just imagine their contempt if Obama had like 15 kids from 6 different women while skipping out on child support. Or was hawking overpriced made-in-china bibles with his name on the cover while paying off porn stars. You know, "family values". They wouldn't have anything if they didn't have hypocrisy and double standards.

2

u/Maleficent-Way5072 17h ago

This is a very good point!

5

u/Turbulent_Country359 18h ago

Same! I was born in 1980 and was a kid during the “everyone who disagrees with me is a godless commie” Benson era. The church took a hard right and never recovered. For goodness SAKES, we were taught that there were literal, actual DEMONS on the left who were “trying to lead us astray”. Of course, Kimball, Packer, and others were awful, too.

I had my name removed from that church 14 years ago.

3

u/fatpat 15h ago

"Mark my word, if and when these preachers get control of the [Republican] party, and they're sure trying to do so, it's going to be a terrible damn problem. Frankly, these people frighten me. Politics and governing demand compromise. But these Christians believe they are acting in the name of God, so they can't and won't compromise. I know, I've tried to deal with them.” - Barry Goldwater

2

u/broniesnstuff 17h ago

My reply to this would be "But don't you think that makes you vulnerable if the party's values change, but you always vote for them anyway? Who benefits from being able to dictate to you what your values are?"

2

u/crashtestpilot 14h ago

good time to bring up taxing churches.

2

u/1inTheAir 14h ago

I salute you for escaping the cult. I’m a fellow escapee at 18. That was 28 years ago. It’s fucking mental looking at it all from the outside.

1

u/smittyphi 16h ago

I'm still LDS as are my siblings and mom. I think most of us voted for Democrats in the last election, at least at the national level. I admit it's depressing seeing many LDS friends defend Trump. Republican values do not mesh with LDS.

1

u/JaneksLittleBlackBox 16h ago

Republican values do not mesh with LDS.

They don’t mesh with Christ’s either, and yet..

1

u/AkillaTheHung 9h ago

This right here. We really need to collapse the western church in order to collapse the GOP.

1

u/Cheeze_It 4h ago

Then they don't know their Bible. And when you tell them, you're outcasted. Sucks for them. Their bubble will eventually pop.

21

u/Particular_Rub7507 18h ago

But they keep saying they are going to FIX the economy, so I guess that’s what people believe instead of the facts

13

u/LaTeChX 18h ago

Even now Trump is saying the economy is sick and needs short term pain (after saying everything would be great day one). We had less inflation than the rest of the world after COVID and Trump's deficit, and were poised for a miraculous soft landing. Only for him to come back in and fuck it up.

3

u/wrgrant 18h ago

What they mean is "The Fix is In" /s

3

u/MauPow 16h ago

"Sometimes you have to break things to fix them"

  • Person who doesn't know how to fix things

2

u/Particular_Rub7507 16h ago

Gut comes in and smashes teapot with a hammer. “Sometimes you have to break things to fix them.” Next thing dude says is, “I always said I would make some mistakes. But we need to move fast.”

2

u/HappyHuman924 18h ago

Oh, they fix it alright. See what I did there? :)

29

u/Minute-System3441 18h ago

Oh, they have a track-record way longer than that. Republican administrations, while boasting about their economic expertise and business acumen, have been responsible for the following ‘wins' across 3 ‘centuries' now:

  • Civil War Recession 1861–1865
  • Post-Civil War Recession: 1869–1870
  • Long Depression: 1873–1879
  • Depression of 1882–1885
  • Panic of 1907
  • Post-World War I Recession: 1920–1921
  • Great Depression: 1929–1933
  • Recession of 1953
  • Recession of 1957–1958
  • Recession of 1969–1970
  • Recession of 1973–1975
  • Early 1980s Recessions
  • Recession of 1990–1991
  • 2001 Recession
  • Great Recession: 2007-2009
  • COVID-19 Recession
  • And the soon to be 2025 - Greater Recession or even New Depression

10

u/Poe_42 18h ago

If only the Republicans lost the civil war all of this could have been avoided....

17

u/Minute-System3441 18h ago

Today’s GOP wouldn’t recognize Lincoln - and he’d vomit at what they’ve become. Modern ‘Republicanism’ is just oligarchy in a flag pin, a 180° from its origins.

The ‘party of Lincoln’ is now the party of Lochner, a time when even their Supreme Court judges tried to chain workers to corporate fiefdoms and to this day still want to doom workers and the pours to eternal serfdom.

1

u/ScF0400 14h ago

Well if they did slavery would still exist which would be worse... Although with the way things are going, it's not about race but class now. Slavery coming back for low to middle income. Or rather cannon fodder and rabble.

2

u/ReallyNowFellas 14h ago

it's not about race but class now

Six of one/half dozen of another for a race that's had downward class pressure put on them for their entire existence in this country.

1

u/Poe_42 13h ago

Kinda my point to who I was replying to

3

u/ReallyNowFellas 14h ago

Wait dude I'm mostly with you but you're seriously taking shots at Abe Lincoln?

2

u/WhoAreWeEven 11h ago

**2025 Great Recession, Some Say the Greatest Recession, My Uncle Went to Harvard and He Knows Recessions He Said this Is Greatest Recession Hes Ever Seen™

8

u/REPL_COM 18h ago

I try telling my boomer family members who are hardcore republicans this simple fact. They just cry it’s not Trumps fault… uh huh sure

3

u/doughball27 18h ago

the wealthy want the economy destroyed over and over again. i'd highly suggest reading marx on this. he described war as a necessary part of the capitalistic plan, since it destroys oversupply and resets the game in a way that favors the already super rich to come in and buy up assets cheaply.

since we can no longer have wars, thanks to the threat of nuclear anhilation, capitalists have devised a way to simulate what happens in war through designed economic destruction. we saw it with the tech bubble, the great recession, and then again now. expect it every 10 - 20 years.

2

u/GuaranteeDeep6367 15h ago

Holy shit, Littlefinger was right. "Chaos is a ladder."

3

u/yomam0a 17h ago

When we separate the church from the state. I said what I said. Remove religion from politics, period.

3

u/Akuuntus 14h ago

But "Republicans are better for the economy" is repeated everywhere as if it's a core truth of the universe, so the actual results of their policies are ignored.

2

u/C64128 18h ago

It's almost like they're trying to eliminate any voters that aren't on their side.

2

u/Spiritual_Regular557 17h ago

Just in time to see it all come down

2

u/Yaboymarvo 5h ago

Never because they pass the blame on the previous democratic president and their smoothed brain voters eat it up.

1

u/cive666 18h ago

Until you get fox new banned.

1

u/sabotourAssociate 18h ago

Let me guess some of them are TV/movie personas. Like you don't even have to reach deep in the bag conservative fell for the cheapest tricks.

1

u/mr_herz 18h ago

Every generation gets the freedom to make its own mistakes

1

u/blindsk02 18h ago

As a moderate Dem, thats not exactly fair;

Bush during the 2000s didnt destroy the economy, the Dot Com bubble followed quickly by the twin towers attack and subsequent wars did.

The financial crisis at the end of his term also was not a direct result of government policy or lack of policy but rather banks being gambling addicts

And in the 1st term of Trump the economy was continuing the upward trend following the financial crisis until COVID shut down the entire world and its economies.

Its not accurate to imply they directly ruined it, when there were massive world events that took place in those times

2

u/Ina_While1155 17h ago

Deregulation in the financial industry that allowed banks to engage in hedge fund trading with derivatives because of the repeal of the Glass Steagall Act in 1999 did mean the governments cutting of regulations did play a part in the meltdown of 2007-8 yes.

1

u/blindsk02 16h ago

There was never a repeal BUT forget that, the changes had little effect on the crisis in 2008 based on most everyone consensus. Heres NPR which has one of the more bleak views out there for the changes effects:

"The 1999 changes to Glass-Steagall led to much bigger banks, but that was, at best, just one factor in the 2008 financial crisis."

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/10/14/448685233/fact-check-did-glass-steagall-cause-the-2008-financial-crisis

1

u/Ina_While1155 10h ago

That article says it played a part, just not the whole part.

1

u/jimgress 17h ago

They'll never learn because the voter base for the GOP will literally ruin their country and economy because we elected a black guy once. They don't want any marginalized group to make any advantage and they will ruin themselves just to see them suffer. Same as it was during the reconstruction era, same as it was with Jim Crow, same as it was with closing public pools and schools instead of integrating.

We can pretend it's some abstract ideas that drive them, but just look at the actions and who it fucks over the most.

The rest is all bullshit. Lies they tell to themselves and others.

2

u/GoldandBlue 17h ago

I agree completely. School choice started immediately after Brown V BOE. Pro-Life took off as a response to the equal rights amendment. I am sure immigration has nothing to do with the shade of immigrants coming in.

But that's what happens when this country is more offended by the word Racist, than they are by racism.

1

u/Crackertron 16h ago

When Fox News is banned

1

u/Cheeze_It 4h ago

You really think a majority of people learn? I mean REALLY learn?

Not many people learn from their own mistakes. Very few learn from other peoples' mistakes.

1

u/Cheeze_It 4h ago

Most people don't learn from their own mistakes. Very few learn from other peoples' mistakes.

1

u/space_age_stuff 18h ago

If it makes you feel better, the last time tariffs wrecked the economy this bad, Dems had a congressional majority that lasted almost 60 years and we reined in the economy with a 70% wealth tax for anyone worth more than $1M. So it's not impossible to do that again, with enough momentum.

2

u/GoldandBlue 18h ago

ill believe that when I see it

0

u/ReallyNowFellas 14h ago

If you've seen 3 Republican presidents in your life then one of them was George HW Bush and he didn't destroy the economy.

2

u/MauPow 16h ago

I too saw that video yesterday

1

u/tennisgoddess1 17h ago

Yup, has genius T even watched the Reagan anti tariff video?

1

u/Suspiciouslynamed74 17h ago

STABLE Genius.