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[+] -19 points 2 years ago (19 children)

That's better than a dictator who only wants to protect his own power. At least a billionaire can be bought.

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  • [–] 15 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (8 children)

    .

    What the heck do you think a dictator is? A billionaire running a country.

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  • [–] -4 points 2 years ago (7 children)

    I think there is a difference in mentality between people who chase power and people who chase money. Bull Gates certainly chases money, but he's not trying to take over a country somewhere.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago (5 children)
  • [–] 0 points 2 years ago (4 children)

    Are you saying he is trying to take over the country by buying all the land? Seems like he's just using land as an investment.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago (3 children)

    I'm saying that buying insane amounts of agricultural land gives him and his family a permanent rent-seeking position over a basic necessity, so yeah, he is taking over a part of the world.

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  • [–] 0 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    Owning land is not the same as governing land.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago (1 child)

    It's not my problem you don't understand the concept of the "ruling class".

    Owning vast capital (and land is capital) does give a degree of undemocratic power over government policy.

    But go ahead and keep letting billionaires buy up everything until we live in a feudalist society. I'm sure nothing will go wrong.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 years ago (7 children)

    A billionaire can't be bought, they got billions. It's the dictator that can be bought.

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  • [–] -1 points 2 years ago (6 children)

    A billionaire chases what gets them the most money. The public can manipulate them by making them lose money. A dictator wants power, which really can only be countered with mass violence.

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  • [–] 4 points 2 years ago (5 children)

    Musk has lost a tremendous amount of money between X and his negative effect on Tesla sales. Do you feel this has "manipulated" him into being a better person? 🤣

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  • [–] 0 points 2 years ago (4 children)

    Even with all the losses, he is still the richest man in the world by more than $50 billion. Musk dumped more than half of his Tesla stock and is focusing more on SpaceX now.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago (3 children)

    Yes, that's my point. Losing money didn't "influence" him.

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  • [–] 0 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    My point is that he didn't lose a significant amount of money.

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