Even conservative executives are fed up with tariffs, DOGE, and "crypto bro schemes"

Summary

Tech leaders who once backed Trump are fed up as his second term descends into chaos.

Venture capitalists and startup founders complain about erratic policies and feel burned by crypto bro schemes like $Trump coin, which tanked after launch.

Appointing David Sacks as “crypto czar” only fueled suspicions of cronyism, while proposed defense budget cuts leave companies like Anduril and Palantir reeling.

Even billionaire allies like Jeff Bezos are souring as tariffs and economic uncertainty hit their bottom line. “Everyone is annoyed,” says one disillusioned founder.

  • fluxion@lemmy.worldEnglish
    127·
    6 days ago

    Billionaires have done a lot these past few years toward outing themselves as being just as stupid as any other random dumbass.

    • blarth@thelemmy.club
      76·
      6 days ago

      They are. They just lack morals and empathy. They’re incapable of feeling shame for exploiting other humans.

        • manxu@piefed.socialEnglish
          13·
          6 days ago

          I think that’s the key. We attribute to them special qualities because we like to think in terms of cause and effect. But they all seem to have just been there at the right time with the right people and the right thing.

          They show us there is nothing special about them every time they try to do something new and miserably fail. Think the money Meta spent on VR, or the way Musk alienated users and advertisers on Twitter.

          We are basically beholden to lottery winners.

    • Generic_Idiot@lemm.eeEnglish
      3·
      5 days ago

      Yeah well I’m not saying it’s entirely luck, but luck is certainly a significant factor in becoming a billionaire.

      Right place, right time, right resources at said place and time etc.

      They’re not super geniuses better than anyone else, they just had a lot fall their way, and had the work ethic/psychopathic tendencies to capitalise on it.

      • SwingingTheLamp@midwest.social
        1·
        5 days ago

        In about 2018, I think, a team of researchers put together a mathematical model of how markets work. What they found is that wealth just naturally accumulates to a few people. It’s inherent to how markets work, and it’s more or less at random; in their simulation runs, every person started out in an equal position.

        It’s all luck. It doesn’t even take being in the right place at the right time, although that helps. Since us humans operate on narratives and just-world fallacies, it’s really easy for us to construct a post hoc story about why a certain billionaire succeeded. But it’s all luck.

        (I remember that I read about this research in Scientific American, but I don’t have the link handy.)