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/roylennigan 19h ago

If you look at the history of market downturns, you'll find wealthy individuals who are able to consolidate their wealth by buying up capital that suddenly becomes cheap. When the market crashes, companies go under, and the ones that stay afloat can buy them up. If you know you can stay afloat, you're going to benefit from a market crash, even if you lose billions in the short term.

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u/FaultElectrical4075 19h ago

That is opportunism. It isn’t planned out.

When the market crashes companies go under which is exactly why powerful people don’t want the market to crash, but sometimes it does anyway and people with the ability will take advantage of that when it happens.

If companies are being bought out they are being bought from someone. That person has clearly lost out.

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u/roylennigan 19h ago

The wealthy people who've supported this admin are in positions to benefit from market downturns. Musk himself became the richest person in the US during the last downturn. It would be naive to think they don't intend to benefit from this one as well - especially since they've positioned themselves within the admin and presumably at the very least have some forewarning, let alone intention behind it.

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u/moeman1996 18h ago edited 17h ago

Problem is Musk is toxic to the world rn. No one wants to buy Teslas anymore. He put a front that he was pro environment. Now his true colors are showing. I feel that the world except for Russia, NK, and China want to eat the rich rn.

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u/roylennigan 17h ago

I feel that the work except for Russia, NK, and China want to eat the rich rn.

public sentiment might appear that way, depending on what you're listening to, but public consumption doesn't align with that - and that's all that matters. If people are still buying things that the rich are supplying, then it doesn't matter what anyone says.

Musk has lost a massive amount of wealth, but essentially it becomes just a wash from his gains over the past year or two.

Modern politics has shown that if people are talking about you, it doesn't matter if they're saying good things or bad things - it still benefits your value in the marketplace.

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u/Outlulz 17h ago

Google is not going go under. Meta is not going to go under. Apple is not going to go under. The guys grinning behind Trump that may lose some billions in stock value in the short term but ultimately will come out ahead.

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u/FaultElectrical4075 16h ago

I didn’t say they would go under, but they will be severely hurt.

Standing behind Trump is them trying to protect themselves. It’s incredibly cynical but it is not like they are benefiting from this.

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u/No-Top-8429 16h ago

They will benefit when my children are grown and I have nothing to leave them. They’ll have…all of it…everything

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u/ReallyNowFellas 14h ago edited 14h ago

It isn’t planned out.

Yes it absolutely is. Warren Buffet pulled out of the stock market last year and everyone knew why. Every single rich person and corporation in America makes explicit plans for not if but when market downturns happen. Yes some inevitably lose, but that just means they got outmaneuvered or swept away by forces greater than themselves. Not planning to win would be planning to lose, and no one does that.

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u/FaultElectrical4075 14h ago

Brother I pulled out of the stock market last year. That doesn’t mean I planned this out

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u/ReallyNowFellas 14h ago

I think if you investigate your own motives for pulling out of the market last year you'll find a contradiction between your actions and your words here.

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u/moeman1996 18h ago

The problem with that is US is going against allies. Allies will not trust the USA anymore nor trade like they used to do. Countries are not pushovers.

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u/roylennigan 12h ago

Yes, but the market has some independence from governments. The effect here has more to do with what consumers are willing to buy, and how much foreign companies are willing or able to supply it.

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u/come-on-now-please 17h ago

To para quote Mitt Romney, who didn't understand how out of touch it was, "market downturns are good! They're a perfect time to buy!"

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u/ReallyNowFellas 14h ago

Trump has been well known over the years for saying the same thing, long before he was politically significant.

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u/87utrecht 12h ago

And if the stock market currently was going up I bet you would be saying how this only benefits billionaires bla bla bla bla.

No, this shit isn't planned. These people are idiots and people like you give them way too much credit.

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u/roylennigan 12h ago

That's a lot of assumptions there

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u/DickFineman73 17h ago

Right, that's why the Vanderbilts, Carnegies, and Rockefellers survived the Great Depression and are still the wealthiest families in America.

...Wait.

The problem is that you're looking at what happened in 2008, which was abnormal for a financial crisis, and applying it to all financial crises.

In 2008, the oligarchs managed to buy up all of the depressed assets because the Federal Reserve turned on the money printer, and the US Gov handed out enormous bailouts. They used the money that was supposed to keep them afloat to buy up the assets - but they, themselves, did not have money just sitting around in coffers that enabled them to buy up the competition.

They needed stimulus money to make those purchases happen.

2020, you cite Elon Musk in a later comment - but Tesla shot to the moon. Jan 3, 2020 Tesla was trading at $29.53/share - one year later, after the government spent FIVE TRILLION DOLLARS, Tesla was worth $290/share (give or take).

Tesla didn't buy up their competition. They didn't buy up Ford, they didn't buy up Toyota, they didn't buy up Honda, they didn't buy up Chrysler.

They got government money.

That's why Donald Trump is currently screaming at JPow to lower interest rates - so that the government can turn the money printer on for as little cost as possible.

There are a bunch of fundamental problems with the idea that the oligarchs WILL (I want to be clear - I'm not saying they won't try, I'm saying they won't succeed) buy up all of the depressed assets:

1) The government money printer is already on its last legs. Federal debt is at 124% GDP, and we cannot afford to just keep printing money - interest rates being high or low not even being considered.

2) If the Trump admin forced the fed to start printing more money, inflation will skyrocket more than it's already poised to do thanks to the tariffs. There's a reason why the Fed is hesitating to cut rates this year, and it's because of Trump's tariffs.

3) The USD and American bonds that back the money printer and stimuli are more or less held aloft by a mixture of international investment (the USD being the global reserve currency) and American debt purchasing, either directly or indirectly. If foreign investors dry up and Americans can't afford to purchase bonds, the government cannot afford to loan out money.

4) Unlike in every other financial crisis, the rest of the world is more than happy to watch America crater into the ground. 2008 was fun because the entire world kind of fell into the same hole, not necessarily at the same time, but it hurt everyone and everyone mutually tried to help climb out of it. This time, the rest of the world is more than happy to go into a trade war with the United States even if it hurts them - and that further depresses the value of the dollar, tanks international investments, and deprives the American government of means of printing stimmy money.

5) The oligarchs don't control anything of value that would allow them to weather the storm. Amazon, Meta, Google, Microsoft, Tesla - they don't make anything, they don't possess real assets, so when all of this house of cards DOES crumble, they won't have anything meaningful to trade except... digital services and tech workers? Do you want to trade some Facebook user analytics for 100,000 gallons of crude?

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u/ReallyNowFellas 14h ago

Right, that's why the Vanderbilts, Carnegies, and Rockefellers survived the Great Depression and are still the wealthiest families in America.

...Wait.

Uh? I think I have some news for you about these families. How about you just google them.