They don’t have a plan. Looking at examples like the “submarine” guy will tell you everything you need to know. The guy literally dived to his own death taking his son with him because he thought submarine quality requirements were overrated. Because they perceive themselves as “very successful entrepreneus” (generally on inherited money), they think that every piece of crap that their brain produces must be the absolute reality.

Wishy-washy? Sure buddy. And hoping that China after decades of slaving away its citizen to US billionaires, building a highly authoritarian surveillance state that has state controlled media, state controlled billionaires will slowly work its way towards socialism isn’t wishy washy. Based on what? Approval polls? Keep telling yourself generations of wasted lives will be all worth it once China turns into a gloriously socialist welfare state. If we are talking about an ant colony kind of socialism maybe. Even then not completely accurate. It is more like an ant colony where the queen allocated generations of its population to be eaten by the ant eaters so that they become weak and dependant on them and can’t destroy the colony lol. By exploiting its population and building superbly oppressive and authoritarian state, China has become a leading country in tech and science. I will give you that. But that only means we can bet on which of US or China turns first into a high tech dystopian surveillance state.

Regarding Trump we will have to agree to disagree and see. My opinion is that Trump and definitely Elon is not in this to get a more richer in the next four years and then quietly part ways with their newly gained wealth once the presidency is finished.

1

Why is it bad? Well most people who like authoritarian governments because they are allured its power and efficiency only do so until freedom to do something they really care about is taken away from them because it is deemed “harmful” to the society at large. So if you don’t realize why a very authoritarian government is bad, either you or your kids are yet to realize why.

The questions you have asked could probably fill text books and by no means by me and I would agree there is no red line which separates non-authoritarian from authoritarian. All law making states are authoritarian to some extent. I did however say “very” authoritarian, and in my mind there are more clear signs of such a government: holding state above the law, subduing sources of power by carrot and stick and amassing them by your side, subduing media to create your own narrative, creating the notion of “external and internal enemies” and using that as casus belli to declare war on parts of your own country that don’t agree with you. A succinct summary could be abusing power to stay in power.

2-3

I mean, to start with, obviously there won’t be any proofs but more likely clues, especially this early on. Here are some clues:

a- To start with he has (or thinks has) subdued Elon:

by probably promising him government contracts and a “say at the table”. Elon likely has his own plans and thinks this arrangement is temporary (given his extremely inflated sense of self importance I don’t think he will see him self as support billionaire to Trump forever). Even by US standards a billionaire being so intertwined with a president is a new low and is a sign of things that are going to change (for the worse).

b- Many companies that have previously withheld their ADs from twitter because of Elon’s misinformation campaigns and fascists rants are now coming back one by one:

https://www.ft.com/content/34b6fc20-23f7-4e08-9ac4-ef05d5d66c13

This is a form of favour seeking and kissing the ring. This means, at least locally in time, they are subdued (or acting as if subdued). They might or might not have their own agenda we will see.

c- Trump’s pick for the cabinet:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/dec/06/trump-us-cabinet-billionaires

If when I say subdue you understand that Trump seizing a billionaires assets and companies then that is wrong. He is subduing them by saying “either side with me or you will lose a seat at the table filled by your rivals and they will make sure you will perish”.

d- Other tech companies have already started to lick his feet because they know if they don’t the consequences will be dire for them:

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/12/13/tech-companies-most-threatened-by-trump-donating-to-inauguration-fund.html

And I am not talking about the inauguration fund (which existed before Trump and is just a proof of what a circus US is). I am talking about the way CEOs of these companies are reacting to the election results:

“President Trump will lead our country into the age of AI, and I am eager to support his efforts to ensure America stays ahead,” Altman said"

Now again, to some extend all of these existed in the US before: rewarding billionaires who have supported the presidential campaign. But never before this directly, this early on and so fiercely. Trump hasn’t even taken office yet but people are scrambling to prove their loyalty to him. This is much different than the “favour seeking” that existed before in the US.

1

Interlocked in a global economy is an understatement for a country in which millions of its citizens work for US based multinational enterprises owned by billionaires. They are at this state organic extensions of each other, cut one out and the other likely dies. Very similar to clothing sector in India, Bangladesh etc but for other sectors (like electronics I suppose).

The question you asked is a difficult one I will give you that. I have no dreams (well I mean sometimes I do but don’t believe the practicality of it) of getting rid of all billionaires all at once. It is a bit like cancer I guess which must operated on surgically. Going to a billionaire free society is one of the many possible pathways that can lead from subduing billionaires. But at this point all you are presenting me with is the possible good-will of Chinese government. A more simplest explanation is that it simply is a very authoritarian government.

2

Can? I don’t know. I believe Trump will try. And he will try precisely because of the reasons you have presented. US is run by billionaires, if you subdue billionaires then you are the most powerful man in US. I think Trump is deluded enough to try this given that Elon likely also shares the same goal with him, perhaps even more enthusiastic than Trump about it. As I said above, there may be many reasons why a government tries to subdue billionaires, getting rid of them is just one of many such reasons.

3

Well after you subdue the billionaires, it is entirely up to you to decide how to use that power. Trump will %100 sure use it to get more powerful himself, might even try to change things so that he can be a president the next term as well. In the simplest cases, he will make forced deals that will immensely benefit the businesses he owns (well now his sons “own” them if you believe that).

who otherwise run rampant in countries like the US, this is a good thing

Billionaires are not fine in any of the cases, neither when they run rampant or when they are subdued by the government to support their agenda and narrative. You can not take two bad cases A and B and then say B is not A therefore it is good. That is a logical fallacy.

you also expect a Communist revolution in the US for the next 4 years?

I don’t expect a communist revolution in the US for the next 4 years, all I am saying is that I expect them to subdue billionaires into obedience like China does. That is not communism to me. Whatever the overall arching goal of China and USA is for subduing millionaires, I think they meet in the common denominator: wanting have absolute control everything and I think there is a word for that kind of state.

How on Earth is Trump going to wrangle billionaires under him when the entire US state apparatus is designed from the ground up to represent billionaire interests?

Whether or not Trump will be able to achieve it we will see. But he can still do it in a way that represents billionaire interests: all he has to do is convince the billionaires that it is in their interest to support him. It will likely through mixtures of bribery and intimidation attempts. Of course billionaires might get threatened by him and try to burn him to the ground as well.

The one which has the high approval rate has a very good working relationship with billionaires which kisses the government’s feet, the type of government we will be seeing in the USA for the next four years.

lol ok.

forgot 🐧

More importantly, can it run doom?

people dont seem to see the difference between ending up with a party for which a good chunk of their supporters think that what Israel is doing is a genocide vs ending up with a party for which all of their supporters think not only that what Israel is doing is justified but should also do the same to all middle eastern countries (together with direct USA involvement).

I think there are two major subgroups within this group.

First one is immigrants whose families are from the middle east/Palestine who are rightfully very angry at all the world for doing jack shit about Israel committing genocide. What they have to realize is there are unfortunately only two options going ahead: 1- as it is now, maybe somewhat better in future, or 2- much worse. There is no third option that is going to come out of these elections but one where there is potential for change (potential coming from the supporters mentioned above) vs %100 chance of things going for the worse. Note that I am not talking at all about the candidates themselves at all, just the demographic that generally votes for them.

The second group is probably China or Russia fans who just want to see America suffer by getting Trump elected. These are very short sighted people with whom you cannot really have a coherent conversation with.

I love how every decade some Americans blame communism for stuff they dont personally like. This decade it is free healthcare.

this is the sane way to use AI, let it to mundane tasks so people can do more rewarding and fun stuff. unfortunately for most CEOs and shareholders, AI=how many employees can I fire and replace with AI.

Can you imagine them investing all that money in AI and the end result is their employees can work less but earn the same salary? yeesh they would rather die

they will move on to the next topic and leech that. Lets just hope next time it is not something whose proper development could have benefited humanity more.

the church of uncle bob would like to speak to you about the sins of commenting.

they also need a mini yacht to transfer people from the heliyacht to the motheryacht because heliyacht is also noisy and blocks the view

spend less so your employers don’t need to increase your salary. Then they can earn more and get a four levels yacht instead of their crappy three level one.

they were never meant to be together, they would confuse the hell out of each other. Imagine they have two kids and she says pick kid[1] from the school, then what?

I dont know about lasers, I am expecting tasers to come first or pepper spray

I am glad this came before drones topped with surveillance cameras and tasers. But the latter will come nevertheless, probably first in USA, Russia or China, I reckon.

with 100mils you can buy two luxurious houses and still have enough money to spend a million each year which is more money than most people make in their entire life, so yea kind of on the border.