Elon Musk’s financial interests put him in a position of having his own personal foreign policy, but new reporting shows that whether it’s manufacturing in China or the Starlink network being used in Ukraine, Musk’s decisions can run counter to stated US policy.

    • Lexam@lemmy.ca
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      1 year ago

      They should exist, but we are not utilizing them correctly. Once someone has reached a billion dollar networth then they are thrown a big party and then sacrificed to a valcono. I believe this would curb emissions and fix climate change.

      • Blaiz0r@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        There was a native American tribe that every ten years had individuals return all personal wealth back to the tribe and the threw a big party, then start it all over again

      • doggle@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        1 year ago

        Maybe we just seize all their assets, nationalize them and make them start over with nothing. Call it new game +.

        • Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works
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          1 year ago

          They just need to make a point system. The incredibly wealthy don’t care about money itself, those are already just points to them. So once you get to say 100 M, you get a trophy saying you won capitalism. After that amount 99% is taxed, you get a penny on the dollar. But all of that taxed money gets you Capitalism points. Capitalism points have no real value and can only be exchanged/traded/gambled with other winners of capitalism. Those with most points will be published each month in the top 100. And the top 10 each year get the prestigous title if honorary economic leader. They can get a medal and a pat on the back by the president.

          You can also donate extra money for more capitalism points at a 10:1 exchange rate to get people to play the game even harder and further drive down wealth.

          (I believe there are slightly less than 10,000 people in the US who would currently get their capitalism trophy. There are >140,000 people worth more than $50M, is 100 to high?)

          Oh and the 100M amount is pegged to minimum wage. Any increase to the capitalism cap has to be matched to the same percent increase to minimum wage.

      • derpgon@programming.dev
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        1 year ago

        Polluting a volcano with a bag of shit isn’t really green. I say we just bury them so they can at least be used as fertilizer.

    • jonne@infosec.pub
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      1 year ago

      Just too much power for one person. Even if they’re not in charge of a global internet provider, your average billionaire can singlehandedly affect the lives of millions of people (employees, customers, bystanders) with no democratic oversight at all. It’s just not something that should exist.

    • zephyreks@programming.dev
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      1 year ago

      China seems to do a pretty good job of keeping their billionaires in check. Maybe we should take notes?

    • gnuhaut@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      You: Want to abolish billionaires because they do not support the war enough.

      Me: Want to abolish billionaires because they exploit and oppress the working class.

      We are not the same.

          • dumdum666@kbin.social
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            1 year ago

            I chose it so you could jerk yourself off about it and feel good at least once in your life :)

            • gnuhaut@lemmy.ml
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              1 year ago

              “Patriotic socialist”, someone who claims to be a champion of the working class, but is actually more of nationalist. They only care about the working class of a certain nationality or racial group, and are generally bigoted in their view towards marginalized groups. Real socialists are internationalist. You wanting to get rid of Musk, because he’s not sufficiently gung-ho about a war fought between capitalists on the back of workers, implies you consider the national interest more important than the lives of workers. This is anti-worker class collaborator shit, which is what patsocs are really.

              • dumdum666@kbin.social
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                1 year ago

                What the fuck are you even talking about? Russia is throwing thousands of „working class“ lives away, since it wants to expand its territory in aggressive moves since decades. They are forcing Ukraine to defend itself and yes, those are also working class people.

                So you, as a good socialist, are probably on the barricades because of this unprovoked attack on the Ukrainian working class. How are you fighting to defend them from getting killed? Please don’t answer something in the likes of „Ukraine should give up“ because then everyone would only see that you are actually advocating the Murder of the Ukrainian people.

              • Varixable@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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                1 year ago

                Lol what the fuck is this? “You’re an enemy of the working class because you don’t support Elon Musk!”

                This is some brain worm shit my dude.

      • Blaiz0r@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        Well you’ve jumped to conclusions there, I’m not talking about the war but Billionaires in general and their respective countries in general.

        Billionaires have too much power, live outside the existing system of government and laws, gained their money and power through exploitation and in general are undemocratic.

        So I agree with your second statement, but not the first

  • s20@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    What the hell? Look, man, I hate the guy but he’s remarkably consistent: he works for his interests. Even when he does dumbshit things like buy Twitter, the thinks he’s operating in his interests.

    He’s not complicated. He’s a self absorbed piece of shit. That’s really all you ever need to know about the fucker.

    • Hot Saucerman@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      “Elon desperately wants the world to be saved. But only if he can be the one to save it,” Altman added.

      From an interview with Sam Altman. It’s grandoise narcissism, plain and simple.

      • d-RLY?@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        Which he is also pretty consistent about. Yet somehow these children’s cartoon evil/greedy businessmen are just handed power and trusted by such a shocking amount of people. It is kind of impressive in a “we’re fucked” kind of way.

    • dangblingus@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      1 year ago

      He bought Twitter WITH $22B OF SAUDI MONEY. Should tell you everything you need to know about the purchase, the motivation, and why he’s “doing so badly” with it.

  • arc@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    He posted the other day about being proud American etc. and yet he’s actively giving comfort to hostile adversaries like Russia and screwing US allies. I think if I were the US federal government I wouldn’t touch SpaceX or Starlink with a shitty stick given the mercurial, manchild in charge of them with his own agenda.

    • zik@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      A proud American who takes money from the US military to provide Starlink service to the military in Ukraine and then deliberately defeats US military interests there when it comes to the pinch. There’s a word for that - a couple actually. Traitor. Treasonous.

    • hydrospanner@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      There’s an interesting thought.

      While there’s no doubt the US government could withstand any difficulty inflicted on it by Musk’s corporate empire, would the foot shot to their own efforts be worth it to sever ties with Musk?

      • Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works
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        1 year ago

        How is it a shot to the foot? Just install a new CEO or privatize SpaceX. Ford is going to eat Teslas lunch in a few years (maybe GM too if they stop being idiotic about car play) so I am not all too worried about Teslas value to the consumer.

        • arc@lemm.ee
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          1 year ago

          Slightly OT but I think Ford’s chance to beat Tesla has flown out the window. Ford is partially withdrawing from Europe - it might linger on selling commercial vans & tractors but as a consumer brand they’re nearly gone. GM has pulled out of Europe (and China). GM sold it’s European Opel operation to Stellantis. There is talk of GM trying to enter Europe with EVs but we’ll see.

          Anyway the point is they both kind of blew it and are retreating to their domestic market, probably hoping they can cling on there, weather the storm and come back later. I think Tesla has taken over as the dominant auto maker and it’s unlikely to change unless Elon does something spectacularly dumb or drops dead.

          • Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works
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            1 year ago

            Tesla doesn’t even have the production capacity to satisfy domestic markets. By 2025 Tesla plans to up their capacity to 2 Million cars a year, meanwhile Ford alone should be puming out around that amount of vehicles, and they are more affordable. And that doesn’t even bring in GM or any other car company.

            Unless they change their plans and grow production dramatically, Teslas doesn’t have the capacity. They are only 10% of the global market and most of their competitors have just gotten started. And China is rapidly starting to export cars to the EU, to the point where they are considering raising tariffs even higher.

            By 2030, China is projected to be a third of the global market. So if we are talking internationally I think Tesla needs to worry about companies like BYD, NIO, GAC, etc. I mean BYD is set to beat Tesla in production and sales very soon already.

            • arc@lemm.ee
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              1 year ago

              This is gilding the lily. Ford and GM know they are screwed and are adopting a defensive posture in the hopes of recovery. Maybe they perceive retreat as a way to moneyball their resources - wait for the EU carnage to subside and step back in. But thinking that this is coming from a position of strength though is a nonsense. Ford and GM are are fucked in Europe, and China and they’re getting out. I haven’t seen any sign the same applies to Tesla.

              • Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works
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                1 year ago

                I guess my point is more about Tesla and less about GM and Ford, come 2025 and beyond. Tesla doesn’t have the production capacity, nor do they seem to have the plans to ramp up capacity in the near future to have any chance to have a huge share of the global EV market. Chinese companies are ramping up faster, VW also has a huge planned production that I am sure will help satisfy European demand.

                Unless Tesla makes plans to ramp up way faster than they have currently stated, their best bet would be to make better cars and just compete in the high end premium market. But that would take Musk to admit that his cars aren’t up to par to premium cars to make the necessary changes to quality to compete. I don’t see that happening.

    • taladar@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      I disagree. Every other billionaire out there also has a shared interest in governments leaving the super-rich alone and not punishing them. That is a powerful lobby.

        • BrokebackHampton@kbin.social
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          1 year ago

          One of the reasons billionaires managed to gather so much power and influence in our current system is because they are more coordinated and way better at class warfare than us workers.

          I’d say that and the obvious mind-boggling amounts of hoarded wealth are the two main ones. And never forget those billions are, for the most part, stolen from workers through wage theft, which circles back to billionaires waging class war on us.

          • taladar@sh.itjust.works
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            1 year ago

            In a sense it is unavoidable. Few individuals, each wielding vast amounts of power, will always have an easier time coordinating their efforts than many, many individuals each wielding a tiny bit of power since coordination has a quadratic complexity (each person has to coordinate with every other person in their respective group).

  • ShaggySnacks@lemmy.myserv.one
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    Remember folks, the rich only care about one thing and one thing only, getting richer. A bunch of these shit heads got together and started actively planning on overthrowing the US government because the election of FDR was going to affect their interests.

    The Business Plot

    • Storksforlegs@beehaw.org
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      1 year ago

      Kind of the same thing thats happening right now, only instead of plotting they are spreading conspiracy theories and rage bating people into supporting them.

    • exploding_whale@lemmy.ml
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      The irony of this is FDR wasn’t exactly lacking in wealth or at least access to it at any point in his life.

    • cobra89@beehaw.org
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      I’d argue Musk cared more about being able to bloviate on Twitter than he did about getting richer from that transaction.

      Of course there’s the very real possibility that he was foolish enough to believe he could make money on the deal.

  • mwguy@infosec.pub
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    1 year ago

    Musk is South African. We should expect his loyalties to reflect his home country more than the US.

  • Asymptote@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    1 year ago

    The past half century has been moving production out of the west and into China but it’s somehow just bad when it’s Musk?

    Come on, this circle jerk is getting more retarded by the day.

    • fosforus@sopuli.xyz
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      1 year ago

      Also in a time of moving everything to cheapo countries, Musk founded new car factories in the US and Europe. Also a couple in China, but those were as late as 2019 and 2021.

    • sunbeam60@lemmy.one
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      Said no one ever, until you just did it right there.

      As they say in Danish “talk about shooting sparrows with cannon-balls”.