r/technology • u/DontFearTheCreaper • 1d 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/anonymous_lighting 1d 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 1d 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 1d 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 1d 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 1d 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 1d 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 1d 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.