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/sum1sedate-me 20h ago

Oh yea. I bet they’re planning on layoffs as we speak to get some liquidity and then do stock buy backs. They never end up the butt of the joke, we do.

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u/gizamo 20h ago

Trump will probably throw money at the companies he deems loyal. They'll use that money for buy backs, too.

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u/thekrone 19h ago edited 19h ago

Remember how Trump is working to establish a "sovereign wealth fund"?

You can be absolutely guaranteed that, as long as he is in charge, that fund will only invest in two types of companies:

  1. Trump's own
  2. Trump-loyal (foreign or domestic)

He's crashing the market (which will make stocks cheap). He'll take the tariff money and use it to bail out companies with leadership who are willing to fall in line (or just give him personally a bunch of money), as well as directly give himself billions of dollars... all using taxpayer dollars and while fucking over the working class folks trying to buy groceries.

I genuinely would not be surprised if the tariffs are removed as soon as the sovereign wealth fund starts investing. The market will then bounce back, and prices might come down a bit (but I wouldn't count on it being significant).

Loyalists and oligarchs will pull in billions while making Trump look like a genius (to his followers anyway) because he got the "economy" (that he fucked over) to "recover".

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u/Edie_T 19h ago

Thanks for this explanation. It'll be this huge heist instead of a total decade-long depression then. I'm... thinking that what I was afraid of was worse...

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u/thekrone 19h ago edited 19h ago

Maybe it's just the cynic in me, but everything above seems realistic and absolutely seems like something Trump would do (especially considering how much he caters to the oligarchs who own him and has absolutely no qualms grifting).

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u/lordlaneus 7h ago

This has more or less been going on for decades, but Trump's plan is an escalation in how bold the billionaire class are getting.

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u/mcSainzz 7h ago

Plz provide sources

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u/lordlaneus 7h ago edited 3h ago

I can't say when it became deliberate, but we've had a recession about once every 10 years for a long time, and rich people have figured out how to profit from them. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_recessions_in_the_United_States

edit: whoever down voted mcSainzz, don't be a jerk. Asking for sources is important.

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u/blurry_forest 4h ago

Growing up, I remember my teachers would occasionally allude to this - the wealthy become wealthier during recessions, because they buy cheap stock. I just didn’t understand how, until the pandemic happened.

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u/MeoowDude 3h ago

“an escalation” is quite the understatement regarding boldness levels.

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u/Top_Hair_8984 6h ago

So, you're ok with this? Having people who make barely $10/hr will be paying those taxes. For fking billionaires to pay even less taxes?  How?  Please, explain to me as if I was 5 years old.  How is this not going to kill many people.

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u/MonkeyLuven 5h ago

It'll be both

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u/nubbinfun101 4h ago

Gotta love how the new normal for Americans is just everyone getting majorly fucked for a few years. But at least it's not a decade! Winning!