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
62.1k Upvotes

91% Upvoted

2.0k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

5

u/ThenAnAnimalFact 14h ago

Except for a couple of things here.

  1. Cash among rich people AND Companies IS at an all time high right now. Warren Buffet has literally been sitting on the largest cash reserve in his history. A lot of them are prepared.

  2. In each of the last 3 crashes top .01% accelerated recover and took the vast majority of all the gains. So the overall premise and conclusion is true.

Of course they would have preferred 08 not to happen, many of them never came back. But for the most part their relative wealth to the rest of society increased as a result.

0

u/[deleted] 14h ago edited 14h ago

Cash among rich people AND Companies IS at an all time high right now.

This is not true. Warren Buffet has had hundreds of articles written about how he is in all cash right now, because he is one of the only people doing it. Obviously the tech CEOs, who have their wealth primarily in stock, are not holding everything in cash.

In each of the last 3 crashes top .01% accelerated recover and took the vast majority of all the gains. So the overall premise and conclusion is true.

Again, this is something you're saying, but I don't think it's really supported by anything. The premise is fundamentally not true because they would be better off if the stock market never went down. It could literally only be beneficial if you are all in cash or bet against the market like the Big Short.

It's honestly just basic financial math. Most rich people have a diversified portfolio for obvious reasons, which include cash-adjacent assets such as bonds. They would just straight up have more money if the stock market didn't go down.

3

u/ThenAnAnimalFact 13h ago

I don't know how you say it isn't supported? It is a pretty common fact. Share of Net Worth Held by the Top 1% (99th to 100th Wealth Percentiles) (WFRBST01134) | FRED | St. Louis Fed.

Elon has 40 something% of his shares pledged right now. At least 50 of the Forbes 400 have it and that is who we know about because of public reporting.

Zuckerberg literally just cashed out 2Billion in December. Bezos sold about 10 Billion over the past year.

Like you keep saying I am wrong, but I think you are here. I don't think you are being as corrective as you think you are.

1

u/[deleted] 7h ago

Wow. I finally got around to looking into this chart. This doesn't even support your point. The chart is just trending upward the entire time with occasional recessions, which is 100% consistent idea with the rich benefit more from a bull market.

I mean, look at Q2 2015 and then Q3 2021. Same value. After the recession that should have given the .01% a substantially greater share of the net worth according to your logic. It's never recovered since. I think you're letting politics get in the way of you're thinking.

Zuckerberg literally just cashed out 2Billion in December.

"According to Forbes, as of March 2025, Zuckerberg's estimated net worth stood at US$214.1 billion." Come on, man. That .9% cash is going to hedge him against the market collapsing?

The two things I fact check you on are immediately wrong.

-1

u/[deleted] 13h ago

Honestly, you sound like you don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m not going to type essays addressing this stuff. I’m a tax attorney/ CPA at an international firm. What do you do?

3

u/ThenAnAnimalFact 13h ago

I'm a Securities Lawyer. Here is another article backing up one my points you said was false.

Why Are Companies Sitting on Cash Right Now?

I am pretty sure I know what I am talking about, especially as I have pointed to you to several specific facts. Maybe your set of facts applies to millionaires, but billionaires are absolutely positioned to proportionally benefit right now.

1

u/[deleted] 13h ago

Companies holding cash as a reserve for shareholders is the same as individual ultra high net worth individuals holding cash? Not sure about that bud.

You vaguely referenced 3 famous rich people “cashing out” as if their money wasn’t reinvested. How about you find a non-tabloid article supporting your premise that the stock market going down is better for rich people than it going up.

I have a feeling that one of us interacts with billionaires and their finances. Don’t think it’s you. Billionaires “gain” no matter what. That’s how having money works.

2

u/ThenAnAnimalFact 13h ago

Who Wins In Recessions? The Rich And The Lucky - PhD written Forbes article literally saying my premise as you stated it correct.

FYI you misstated my other premises. I said both Companies and Individuals cash is at an ALL TIME HIGH (you said false). I didn't say they hold it all in cash. I said it is HIGH right now.

Another mistatement: "Vaugely referenced" 3 famous rich people. I literally named 3 of the richest people on earth specifically and told you SPECIFIC actions they took to increase cash balance.

Also I never said it was good I said: Stock market going down is better for rich people THAN IT IS FOR POOR PEOPLE. That is what everyone has been telling you throughout this thread and you have been arguing about it. Maybe it is because you are a CPA and you think in the sheet and the total number, but RIW and PPP ultimately matter more. What is the difference between 1 and 100 dollars if they both buy the same boat?

I literally showed you the FRED chart on wealth ownership. You can literally see how the slope speeds up and normalizes within a year post downturn and how it creates a straight slope line to already increase growth.

2

u/[deleted] 13h ago

What a silly comment. Maybe go talk to finance/tax people at your firm and ask if all their clients are excited about the market going down. Clueless lmao.

The stock market going down is better for rich people than poor people? No shit (even though clearly false for people too poor to be in the market). You know what’s even better for rich people? The stock market going up. You understand that right?

I am going to have to block you if you keep changing what I said. I said “stock market going down for rich people is WORSE THAN IT GOING UP.” Not shit it’s better for them than the people that lose jobs. They would still prefer it not to go down. It’s math, man. You just don’t seem to understand it. Talk to your financial advisor or something. Not sure what else to say.

1

u/ThenAnAnimalFact 13h ago

No ine has fun when money goes down because it’s scary to play into uncertainty.

However all the tax people at my firm would agree with me because we represent billion dollar companies and billionaires. Like I’ve been trying to tell you they have been preparing for this since last summer.

They will pretend to be upset but they know they are about to win which is exactly as I have already factually shown you they have been increases cash reserves of their Company’s and their persons.

You can’t simultaneously say that rich people have stocks and then say companies sitting on cash is different than rich people holding cash. It’s all about liquidity in a down market. Multimillionaires will get paid off by the billionaires and their assets will increase at net positive ROI for billionaires.

You understand that your pile of wealth can get cut in half and you still become richer?

Feel free to block me because it’s clear you understand finance but don’t understand economics.

3

u/[deleted] 12h ago

It’s pretty simple in the end, man. If what you’re saying was true. Then the billionaires would all want a recession all the time right? They get richer proportionally compared to poor Americans. Why would they ever want the stock market to go up when it can go down and they can take more relative wealth! Getting relatively richer isn’t the same as getting richer. Your whole argument ignores the fact that the wealthy people are invested in companies that are affected by a recession. Yeah, Musk is totally happy that Tesla stock is tanking. That makes sense. I guess he can buy more when it’s lower right? Why do you think that’s a silly argument?

You’ve still never provided an article suggesting this because it’s not true. They generally don’t want that.

That would be a fundamental premise in every finance and economics class, right? “The ultra rich are incentivized to tank the market so they can gain market share in the future!” What if their companies/investments can’t handle the recession for various reasons?

Here’s the backdrop of this conversation - the reason there isn’t any literature suggesting what you’re saying is because it isn’t true. The only reason people in this thread are saying it is because that’s the only way they can make it sound like Trump is tanking the market to help his “billionaire friends.”

→ More replies (0)