r/technology • u/DontFearTheCreaper • 2d 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
67.9k Upvotes

91% Upvoted

2.1k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

1

u/omfghi2u 2d ago

I personally think there is actually less price-aversion than people want to admit and that the ultra wealthy realize that. I don't think these people are stupid, slavering idiots... I do think there is nothing but greed in their minds. (i.e. I think people are still going to buy a ps6 whether it's $500, or $800... I think people are still going to buy a shirt whether it's $20 or $30).

I think they are making a gamble with everyone's futures, and don't get me wrong, I think it's going to fuck over a huge portion of the lower-earners, but the payoff for them is that they believe, yes, they actually can still reach all time highs even if everything they sell is at inflated prices compared to right now.

The one hitch is that maybe they weren't expecting quite so much backlash from other countries. I think the people causing this to happen were expecting more countries to bend over and take it, because they are bullies and that's what bullies expect, but right now the "victims" are actually just saying "how about fuck yourself."

I actually agree that Warren Buffet isn't part of this particular "grand plan" and he just saw the writing on the wall, so he made smart decisions. I used that example because his personal ideas heavily influence BH's activities, and they are a publicly-traded investment firm with a trillion dollars in assets that is easy to verify information about. I do think other billionaires are smart enough to have done similar activities with their private wealth.

1

u/FeelsGoodMan2 2d ago

The problem is, people are rapidly running out of money, you can only dig into debt so long. I'm sure people would still pay 30% more for an iPhone, but people are rapidly running out of debt rope to utilize. Eventually people are just gonna HAVE to stop buying certain shit because of that fact.

We see it with fast food, eventually the price increases on certain things create a visceral reaction where a subset of people learn to live without said thing, and basically move on. Yeah tons of people are gonna buy new phones, that's always going to happen, but subsets of upgraders are gonna learn to run their phone 10 years into the ground because they....kind of have no choice.

2

u/omfghi2u 2d ago edited 2d ago

Right, but if the lowest 30% of consumers are priced out and only 70% of the people buy a new product that now costs 50% more... that's actually a 5% net increase in revenue. That's the gamble I'm talking about. What is the acceptable price point where you actually make a little more money, despite the loss of some customers due to price-aversion? There's a sweet spot in that curve where you make the most revenue possible, even if prices go up.

Greed, through and through, but the ultra wealthy have already shown that they aren't afraid to take seriously risky gambles with the general population's future. It's not the same situation as the 08 housing market collapse, but the whole toxic credit default swaps on mortgage defaults was still an ultra-risky gamble that fucked over millions in an attempt to extract as much profit as possible. The ultra wealthy aren't allowed to do that specific thing anymore, so they've gotta find newer, more creative ways to try and up the ante.

1

u/FeelsGoodMan2 2d ago

I just think that the rich people are so out of touch that they don't realize the high % of people that are actually riding that fine line. Your example says "30%", I really don't think it's nearly that low. I think it's more like 70-80% of people would balk at a 50% price increase in things like phones. I don't say this to brag or anything but my household is probably in that 80-85% income percentile, and I probably can't afford a phone that expensive. I'd run my current phone into the ground. Some people below me certainly will sure, but I really think rich people are so bubbled up in today's era that they have no concept of actual dollars and cents as regular families approach it.