Comment on Blood for the Line God!
mmddmm@lemm.ee 1 year agoThe US wealthy are now international wealthy and borders no longer matter to them.
That used to be the case until last year…
But I don’t think it is still true.
Musk can still literally fly to any country he wants without needing a passport or needing to land on a public airstrip. He owns property in multiple countries. It doesn’t matter if people the world over hate him, he can just fly in and start fucking shit up wherever he wants.
It’s still true.
He surely needs a passport. Where did you get the idea he doesn’t? Also, landing from outside a country or international block directly into a private airstrip is a big “no” on most of the world, and will land you in jail in a few places. He doesn’t get an exception for that.
He also will continue to be able to own property around the world, and people will keep accepting his money. That’s completely different from him managing to just run into a country, peacefully living there, and being able to mess with such country’s society.
he can just fly in and start fucking shit up wherever he wants
In capitalist states, where politicians are explicitly beholden to international credit and industry.
State owned businesses are insulated against vulture capitalists like Musk, because they exist to deliver a service rather than turn steadily increasing profit for shareholders.
State run and independent citizen sponsored media are insulated against the influence of marketing firms and corporate propaganda, because the staff does not rely on a tiny cartel of ultra-wealthy private patrons to fund their journalism.
Elon Musk is a very American problem. He’s a creature of libertarian capitalism and colonial apartheid.
In capitalist states
With a very few exceptions that’s the whole world
Far more socialism in practice than you’re giving credit. Even setting aside the 1/6th of the global population and economy that is governed by the Chinese Communists, you’re neglecting the plethora of state managed economies across the Middle East (the Kingdoms of Jordan and Saudi Arabia, the Revolutionary Republic of Iran, the theocratic republic of Afghanistan) and the socialist state functions of more traditional capitalist countries - NHS in the UK, the Baltic State sovereign wealth funds, state owned companies like Petróleos Mexicanos and The National Copper Corporation of Chile.
Musk is the kind of creature that crawls out of the swamp only after you’ve turned too much of your economy to private interests. He isn’t a global phenomenon. If anything, his ejection from South Africa and the continued revolutionary anti-colonialism that continues to flare up in opposition to people like him all along the Global South should signal how much of the world isn’t welcoming to his kind.
I mean, China hasn’t shut down his Tesla factory or anything.
One of the things that Americans loothe about the Chinese government is the rule that mainland owned and operated firms require a domestic partner, with legal access to the patents and property used in manufacture. This comes with subsidies and state support. But it creates a rich opportunity for those Chinese domestic partners to begin making fully local competitive alternatives.
The Chinese domestic EV market took full advantage of Tesla, siphoned out the best bits, and now allows the bad fruit to rot on the vine.
Thrashy@lemmy.world 1 year ago
It took several violent landgrabs and wars of aggression before Russian oligarch money wasn’t welcome around the world, and those guys were all but openly affiliated with the Russian mafia from the days of the fall of the Soviet Union. I fully expect American oligarchs’ money to be happily accepted just about everywhere for at least as long as it takes Trump to get around to trying to take Greenland by force.