this post was submitted on 03 Dec 2024
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politics

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Summary

Billionaires like Marc Andreessen, Elon Musk, and Vivek Ramaswamy are spreading false claims to discredit the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), a federal agency protecting consumers from fraud and abuse.

Andreessen falsely accused the CFPB of politically motivated “debanking,” despite no evidence.

This rhetoric aligns with the “DOGE” project, led by Musk and Ramaswamy, which aims to slash government regulations and programs under the guise of efficiency.

Critics warn this effort will harm public services, benefit billionaires, and push privatization at the expense of ordinary Americans.

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[–] Breve@pawb.social 119 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I like how the only "increases" in efficiency they have proposed are to completely eliminate programs instead of actually making any of them better. Maybe we should adopt this same methodology to "solve" the problem of billionaires. 🤷

[–] kittenzrulz123@lemmy.blahaj.zone 11 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Well the economy would be more efficient without the capitalist class, although I get the feeling DOGE isn't going to reccomend we switch to a Syndicalist economy.

[–] Breve@pawb.social 9 points 2 weeks ago

I'm hoping for more of a "let them eat cake" kind of moment.

[–] abbiistabbii@lemmy.blahaj.zone 105 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Remember kids, they want the government gone because they want to become the government to enrich themselves.

[–] someguy3@lemmy.world 63 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

More accurately they want to become the oligarchy. Like in Russia.

[–] CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world 41 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I think this is partly why they got the stupid gomers thinking that Russia is some fantasy zone for white right wing xtian nationalists. For the oligarchs, Russia's set up is a dream, so they have to find stupid voters to vote against their own economic interests for backwards identity politics reasons...so they make Putin out to be sympathetic towards xtians and homophobia and "whiteness" for the benefit of the rubes in the U.S.

[–] Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world 10 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

For the oligarchs, Russia’s set up is a dream

Until they get defenestrated

[–] finitebanjo@lemmy.world 5 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (2 children)

Putin's been in power for like 20 years, and despite putting the Russian people through hell these last two years and an actual coup attempt he's still going strong. Arguably you could say things didn't really change much even after Joseph Stalin died in 1953, aside from secession of several nations outside of central Russia, that it's all just one big continuation of the same system.

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[–] zephorah@lemm.ee 15 points 2 weeks ago

But wait, President Musk is the edge lord Id like to be, he’s also a genius, he wouldn’t lie.

/s

[–] ShittyBeatlesFCPres@lemmy.world 84 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Oh no, what will we do if billionaires control the U.S. government.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panic_of_1893 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panic_of_1907

And those are just J.P. Morgan.

[–] timmy_dean_sausage@lemmy.world 29 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Is your point that this is fear mongering, or that the struggle between classes has been an ongoing fight for most of recorded history?

[–] ShittyBeatlesFCPres@lemmy.world 31 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

The latter. I mean, America was founded by a tobacco company and people so weird in their religiosity, they were kicked out of 17th century Europe.

I do think we can solve the oligarch problem. So, part of me was like, “We’ve met this challenge before, motherfuckers.” It wasn’t meant to dismissive but I’m pretty sure I could open hand slap Elon Musk and 24 of his 38 kids would feel it.

[–] CouldaBeen_TheBest@lemmy.world 14 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Wish I had your optimism. Hand it over.

On a more serious note, I truly believe that enriching & modernizing our education system is the way to go for dethroning our billionaire overlords. We can't just expect slap dash imploding submarines to do all the work.

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[–] b161@lemmy.blahaj.zone 59 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

All billionaires must go by any means necessary.

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[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 50 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Americans will not destroy the military or the police state. We need those to do harm against our enemies and to punish the undeserving.

[–] just_another_person@lemmy.world 37 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

You don't understand. You make them non-functional through incompetency first, then change their purpose and voila...neither.

Then you pay Elon Musk for fleets of Tesla robots that don't work to do your dirty work 🤣

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 14 points 2 weeks ago

From what I've seen under Eric Adams in New York, you never actually lay any of these people off. You just bring in a robot that bumbles around a subway terminal until it breaks down, while a squad of officers guard it with lethal force.

[–] Allonzee@lemmy.world 43 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (2 children)

Nothing new.

Americans are easy marks. Not most of our faults, we're poorly educated by design. Critical thinking is college level here.

Few of us have any interest in being a society, any snake oil con man has to do is tell us we'll be rich!.. Just fuck over our fellow humans first, lol, and we'll come a running to that ballot box to literally destroy the very safetynet under our own feet. It's quite pathetic to witness.

Then we'll spend decades kneeling in front of them waiting for golden showers of prosperity, when we're not at one another's throats out of the zero sum mindset this herp derp land of rugged individualism propagates.

Our hyper individualist, disdain for the very concept of society is gallows hilarious. It's like bragging that we're conditioned to let one another drown. Yay? Got to hand it to the marketers on that one.

[–] witten@lemmy.world 7 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (8 children)

I agree with you. Quite a lot. And yet.. Rugged individualism can also make a person want to think for themselves and not herp derp with the uneducated masses. I'm just saying American individualism can, uh, in certain cases make one more prone to collectivism.

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[–] Floon@lemmy.ml 30 points 2 weeks ago

Rich people are like other rich people, more than they are like their fellow countrymen, or ethnic group, or religious group. Anything a billionaire says is good for "everyone" needs to be understood in that light: the "everyone" they see are "all the people I associate with", meaning "other rich people".

[–] MapleEngineer@lemmy.world 29 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

All you have to do is convince the ignorant, unwashed masses that you're speaking for them, not about them, and they will let you have whatever you want.

[–] Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world 15 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

People don't want policies. They don't even want demagogues. They want a set of jingling keys in front of their face. That's what they'll pay attention to.

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[–] zephorah@lemm.ee 28 points 2 weeks ago

But wait, they’re all wearing Tshirts instead of suits on these podcasts. Are you saying that doesn’t mean they’re one of us?

[–] finitebanjo@lemmy.world 12 points 2 weeks ago (11 children)

And the Tankies and Anarchists both are cheering them on despite bullshitting to themselves that they're opposed to the Billionaires.

A planet overfull of people in the Age of Information and we've got Billions of fucking Rubes.

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[–] Clinicallydepressedpoochie@lemmy.world 7 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Gaurenteeing that's exactly what we will do. Hopefully i be mostly dead.

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