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/CornholioRex 1d ago

I know it’s fiction, but why can’t billionaires be more like Bruce Wayne?

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u/ShiraCheshire 1d ago

If you want an honest answer: It's because it's near impossible to become a billionaire without doing horrible things to obtain that money. That's not "work hard and get rewarded!" type money. Not even "Won the lottery" money. It's the kind of money you earn by stepping on everyone you work with and conning anyone who trusts you. It's the kind of money you earn though child labor, slave labor, human trafficking, and/or complete disregard for human life (the "it would cost us $5 more to make sure this mother of 4 gets her cancer treatment, so let her die" type disregard.)

There are no good billionaires because good people generally cannot become billionaires.

Imagine you live in a fantasy novel, and anyone can obtain magic powers if they just murder one thousand innocent babies. When someone asks "why are there no good wizards?" then there's your answer, a good person cannot do the things required to reach that level of power. Same thing with real life billionaires.

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u/Dhan996 1d ago

No I think when you play the money game, you’re forced to sort of play ball with other people of influence. Unless you have an amazing product to sell, and cash out at 10 million dollars, anything extra requires making friends with people with dubious ethics. It’s a slippery slope, that even if you were a good person, you’ll get pulled into all of it.

Your investors might force you to do something slightly unethical. That increases your range of what you define ok and not ok. And that range only keeps increasing. I don’t think all billionaires started off evil, but I think money and power is way too corrupting. What most people think is that when they have the money, they would do good. I genuinely think that’s not how it works.