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Billionaires Are Lying Shamelessly to Convince Us To Destroy Our Government (www.currentaffairs.org)

submitted 1 day ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/politics@lemmy.world

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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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[-] Floon@lemmy.ml 6 points 1 hour 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".

[-] finitebanjo@lemmy.world 3 points 1 hour ago

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.

[-] UltraGiGaGigantic@lemmy.ml 8 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago)

The government has attacked me and my people throughout my life via the war on drugs using the "justice system".

Kind of hard to be invested in a organization like that.

[-] finitebanjo@lemmy.world 3 points 1 hour ago

You think big companies are going to treat you better once law and order is out of their way? You're going to face more hardship than ever before.

[-] pingveno@lemmy.world 13 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago)

The CFPB and the DEA are a wee bit different, though. You can be angry at the latter and still want the protections of the former.

[-] GreenKnight23@lemmy.world 3 points 2 hours ago

sorry, ml users only deal in absolutes when it fits their narrative.

[-] MapleEngineer@lemmy.world 26 points 20 hours ago

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 12 points 18 hours ago

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.

[-] JasonDJ@lemmy.zip 2 points 7 hours ago

Doesn't matter, had shinies.

[-] abbiistabbii 82 points 1 day ago

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

[-] someguy3@lemmy.world 48 points 1 day ago

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

[-] CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world 33 points 23 hours ago

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 5 points 18 hours ago

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

Until they get defenestrated

[-] finitebanjo@lemmy.world 1 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

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.

[-] zephorah@lemm.ee 11 points 22 hours ago

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

[-] Breve@pawb.social 93 points 1 day ago

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 9 points 20 hours ago

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 5 points 17 hours ago

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

[-] zephorah@lemm.ee 24 points 22 hours 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?

[-] b161 50 points 1 day ago

All billionaires must go by any means necessary.

[-] Allonzee@lemmy.world 36 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

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 4 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago)

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.

[-] vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works 2 points 3 hours ago

I am the result of that type of backfiring, got fed right wing propaganda about rugged individualism and the founders as a kid. Turns out that that can backfire heavily into making someone who wants to be left alone, wants to tar and feather people, and thinks some type of collectivism is the best way towards that.

Fun fact, my grandmother finds my politics annoying which makes sense given the fact she fed me the propaganda but doesnt generally argue my points since I have pointed out that she is the fucking base source of them. She copes and thinks its cause of school and not the fact that she held up violent revolutionaries and our bastard ancestors up on pedestals.

[-] ShittyBeatlesFCPres@lemmy.world 78 points 1 day ago

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 22 points 1 day ago

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 28 points 1 day ago

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 9 points 22 hours ago

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.

[-] josephmbasile@lemmy.world 1 points 4 hours ago

I would go down there but I think that would be destabilizing. Just hang out its all good

[-] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 49 points 1 day ago

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 33 points 1 day ago

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 🤣

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this post was submitted on 03 Dec 2024

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