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
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u/a-base 2d ago

Much like the 2008 housing crisis in the US, these things tend to work out very well for billionaires - at a cost to the poor, lower- and middle- class.

  • Their losses are just theoretical, it's not like they have to cash out their stocks or sell assets and take any real loss.
  • Even with these 'losses' they are still billionaires and can access cash in numerous ways. They can quite comfortably ride out any period of instability.
  • More likely than riding it out, they'll use it to their advantage. With markets crashing they are perfectly positioned to swoop in, scoop up anything they like, and make out like bandits.

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u/clueless_as_fuck 2d ago

It's pretty obvious at this point that this is the plan.

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u/FaultElectrical4075 2d ago

The plan for who? This is gonna hurt lots of very rich people too. The only people who aren’t going to be severely hurt by these tariffs are crypto people and people directly involved in the Trump administration.

You guys have to realize that oligarchs/the ruling class are not a monolith. They are united against the ruling class, but besides that they are constantly in competition with each other. It’s a bunch of sociopaths trying to one up each other in a desperate quest for power. Unifying behind Trump is mostly them trying to protect themselves from his line of attack.

These things only seem like they were planned after the fact, because no matter what happens there are going to be winners and losers. But society is too chaotic with too many conflicting interests for a ‘plan’ of this scale to work out except by sheer luck.

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u/roylennigan 2d 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 2d 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/ReallyNowFellas 2d ago edited 2d 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 2d 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 2d 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.