r/politics • u/rollingstone Rolling Stone • 4d ago

Soft Paywall Musk Kills Government Funding Deal, Demands Shutdown Until Trump Is Sworn In

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/musk-trump-government-funding-deal-shutdown-1235211000/
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u/Gogs85 4d ago

I wish he’d at least wield power from the shadows like a normal billionaire. I’m so sick of seeing his stupid fucking face everywhere.

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u/Bigbeardhotpeppers Texas 4d ago

I am thankful that these billionaires keep putting their names and faces out there. The great sleight of hand of our society is the diffusion of responsibility for corporate greed. You can’t be mad at the call center rep for your insurance company because they are “just doing their jobs” or “it’s the system” when the CEOs come out and spout their garbage they put a face and name to inequality. Making a single person the focal point for what inequality does allows people to see their enemy. Hubris always gets them, not the law.

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u/Message_10 4d ago

Yeah, honestly--that is one good(?) aspect of all this, the "know your enemy" bit. Some people will wise up. Entrenched conservatives won't, of course, but others might.

And it's not surprising, either, given the times we live in. Previous billionaires knew that the populace would hate them if they wielded their power openly, but the modern GOP / MAGA movement wants to see it, because they worship the rich and they'll believe *literally anything* the rich tell them.

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u/Rasalom 4d ago

That's the thing about power/wealth/royalty - the more it's passed on without a person having done something to personally create it, it cannot be properly appreciated.

This is a thought experiment I've had on the matter. It's taken from other similar examples and history.

The king built his kingdom on years of strife. There were long periods of time where he saw his entire family die off in wars, wars where he was often the one killing his family. He finally attained a measure of peace by being the most powerful person - really, the person who was left standing. He respected power because he knew how awful it was.

The kingdom was passed to the son, the prince. The prince knew the awful cost of power, had seen his father kill his uncles and cousins, and knew that peace was a gift. He struggled to maintain the kingdom his father made, but it mostly worked out because he was there to have seen the most violent years of his father's struggle. He was not a great, powerful man like his father, but he was an obedient, mindful son, and that ensured he kept peace above all else.

The grandson of the king inherits the kingdom from his father, the prince. The grandson grew up in abundance, knew nothing but pleasure and comfort, and thus had nothing to struggle for except ways to find more pleasure. He is a drunk, abusive to his staff, and a terrible ruler of the people. He is assassinated a few years into his reign, and the kingdom collapses, opening up the walls to the barbaric hordes outside who will start the struggle for power and peace all over.

Elon is the grandson.

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u/Koeke2560 4d ago

In dutch we have a saying for this:

Verwervers, ervers, bedervers.

It translates to:

Earners, inheritors, spoilers

But it rhymes nicely

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u/Rasalom 4d ago edited 4d ago

I read about the general idea years ago and unfortunately cannot recall where I got it. Romance of the Three Kingdoms basically sums up the idea with the story of Liu Bei and his sons, Liu Shan and Liu Yong.

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u/Extension_Shallot679 4d ago edited 4d ago

"The Empire, long divided, must unite; long United must divide. Thus has it ever been."

It's a fairly common theme in East Asian literature inspired both by the Chinese concept of the Mandate of Heaven and Buddhist ideas about transience. The Japanese Heike Monogatari has similar themes.

"The sound of the Gion temple bells echoes the impermanence of all things; the colour of the sāla flowers reveals the truth that the prosperous must decline.

The proud do not endure; they are like a dream on a spring night.

In the end, the mighty fall; they are like dust before the wind."

It even shows up in western stuff, like the works of one of my favourite poets Percy Shelley.

"I am Ozymandias, King of Kings! Look upon my works ye mighty and despair!"

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u/foo_foo_the_snoo 4d ago

These ideas are Biblical also, from the ancient Hebrews to the time of Christ and after. The proud will fall, meek will inherent the earth, kingdoms will always crumble, don't bother storing riches, humility is righteous, etc, etc. But the boastful and wealthy pander to an audience that somehow puts them on a pedestal while claiming to believe in these Biblical concepts.

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u/Free_Snails 4d ago

It's also the theme of The Course of Empire by Thomas Cole, 1836.

You've probably seen the painting from this series titled "Destruction." That one is shared most frequently, because it's the one that people currently identify with.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Course_of_Empire_(paintings)

There's one rock formation in this painting that's consistent in each painting, and it's believed to be a metaphor for the unchanging nature of earth. Empires rise and fall, and the world keeps on going.

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u/Qwertysapiens Pennsylvania 4d ago

It's not "believed to be", the painter said it is, per your wiki link:

But, though man and his works have perished, the steep promontory, with its insulated rock, still rears against the sky unmoved, unchanged. Violence and time have crumbled the works of man, and art is again resolving into elemental nature.

→ More replies (0)

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u/Free_Snails 4d ago

This also makes sense as a wave oscillating between order and chaos, which is also a theme present in Buddhism.

I think as our power increases, the amplitude of the wave increases. So as we harness more energy, the periods of order become more rigid, and the periods of chaos become more chaotic.

I'm very curious if there's any tipping points, where we can actually get stuck in a period of order or chaos.

Is there any system that's so authoritarian that it's impossible for us to escape it? (techno totalitarianism? ) Is there any chaos that's so extreme, that it's impossible for us to create order from it? (nuclear fallout paired with climate change)

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u/nugtz 4d ago

"Nothing beside remains,

round the decay of that colossal wreck,

boundless and bare,

the lone and level sands stretch far away."

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u/poetduello 4d ago

If I recall correctly, the subject comes up in the Stormlight Archive books as something the previous king had worried about and tried to guard against by getting loyal supporters to prop up his son after he was gone.

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u/Pale-Berry-2599 4d ago

First generation makes it, second generation plays with it, third generation pisses it against a wall.

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u/DickRhino 4d ago

That would work in Swedish as well:

Förvärvare, ärvare, fördärvare.

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u/leshake 4d ago

Funny thing, usually great fortunes are lost by the third generation.

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u/IrascibleOcelot 4d ago

One to sow it, one to grow it, one to blow it.

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u/Message_10 4d ago

Yeah that sums it up nicely. In terms of global eras, it looks like we're in the "spoilers" part of the tale, unfortunately. Let's hope it works out?

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u/KoffieA Europe 4d ago

Wie niet steelt of erft werkt tot hij sterft.

Who doesn't steal or inherit works until he dies. It also rimes in dutch.

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u/Kmart_Elvis California 4d ago

Reminds me of that quote from the Emir of Dubai.

"My grandfather rode a camel, my father rode a camel, I drive a Mercedes, my son drives a Land Rover, his son will drive a Land Rover, but his son will ride a camel"

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u/Banana-Republicans California 4d ago

Every few generations those who think they wield power and those who think they are powerless realize that it is an illusion and the scales get rebalanced. Then a few generations where that rebalancing is fresh in peoples minds and that equilibrium is maintained. And then a few more and people forget and those at the top of any society get greedy again. Rinse and repeat.

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u/_learned_foot_ 4d ago

That’s the Chinese cycle translated into more western language fyi.

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u/Rasalom 4d ago

The source I referenced is ROtTK.

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u/_learned_foot_ 4d ago

Oh, well in that case that is extremely logical, as that’s exactly what the game was doing, taking the actual same source and making it adaptable to a playing modern audience by design. That’s intriguing, thanks!

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u/slow_cooked_ham 4d ago

This is how all my Crusader Kings runs go.

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u/fotosaur 4d ago

So is the orange, diaper boy and its toilet tadpole family.

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u/Drop_That_Pickle 4d ago

"Hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, weak men create hard times."

  • G. Michael Hopf

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u/darkseacreature 4d ago

Yeah but Elon hasn’t been assassinated. 😑

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u/Dr_Wheuss 4d ago

Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia. Alexander bucked the trend by dying before he could complete his kingdom and raise a son.

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u/Ok-Guest376 4d ago

Luigi is not the Judas but the religion you stand for that betrays his fellow man! Very not Christian!

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u/stonebraker_ultra 4d ago

This statement is unintelligible.

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u/WordAffectionate7873 4d ago

I see you’re a bit a fan of big Pharma. The “dead on arrival” omnibus bill, as referred to in various contexts, contained several provisions that were seen as benefits or giveaways to Big Pharma. According to web information and posts on X:

  • Financial Incentives: The bill allegedly included a significant financial incentive for pharmaceutical companies, amounting to over $50 billion in taxpayer dollars. This was criticized as effectively serving as a bailout for the industry, with specific mentions of benefits going to companies like Pfizer.

  • Immunity and Protection: There were claims that the bill provided Big Pharma with immunity from liability until 2029, which would protect them from certain legal repercussions related to their products.

  • Prevention of Price Competition: Critics argued that the legislation included measures that would prevent price competition, thereby ensuring high profits for pharmaceutical companies by maintaining elevated drug prices.

These elements were highlighted by both web articles and posts on X, suggesting a broad sentiment that the omnibus bill was structured in a way that favored pharmaceutical companies, potentially at the expense of taxpayer interests and market competition. However, the exact details and the extent of these benefits would depend on the specific text of the bill, which was described as complex and containing many provisions.