They HAVEN'T lost billions, though. Their billions are in assets that are NEVER real until they cash out and actually sell shares. Instead, they all are sitting on HUGE piles of cash so they can buy up a bunch of assets on the cheap. Then, when markets recover, they have even MORE shares than before, and can get even MORE ludicrous loans with obscenely low interest rates that they pay back with dividends, so they never actually LOSE any money.
Market crashes are the best possible thing that can happen for rich people. It is only the poor who have had their retirement futures tied to the stock market that see meaningful losses from market crashes, because they are the only ones who ever have to sell large portions of their portfolios for cash. Musk and Zuckerberg and Tim Apple *do not care* about crashes or "losing billions" when markets are down.
The one exception in this case *was* Musk who needed to keep Tesla's share price above a certain threshold or else the loans he used to buy Twitter will be called in, since those lines of credit are all based on his assets, and the bank will call in a loan if the asset prices drop and they're concerned they can't get repaid. (Wasn't that the plot of the first episode of Succession?)
Musk recently sold Twitter to himself again, though this time it was an
all-stock deal (plus debt), meaning he offloaded his own personal risk (which was only like $10 billion if I recall right). Now, since xAI technically owns Twitter, Musk probably restructured the credit agreements so it isn't as based on Tesla's share price and is instead based on other, private assets of his--like his rocket company, which is real convenient for him to own considering the rate the president is blowing through missiles in Yemen. There's something symbolic about Nazi rocket scientists moving from missiles to space exploration in the last century and Nazi rocket company owners moving from space exploration to missiles in this one. Like a Nazi rocket space missile ouroboros.
I have been buying in bulk to avoid the tariffs, but eventually I will run out and need to restock. I'm hoping that by that time, common sense will prevail, and the tariffs will be dialed back and de minimis will be reinstated. Otherwise, I have no other choice than to pass the cost increases directly to the consumer. One way I have saved money is ordering less merchandise, more often, so that my orders are under $800. Not possible now.
Out of curiosity, does hope mean you believe it is likely, or are you hoping despite the fact that you recognize it is very unlikely for these tariffs to go away or for the world to avoid recession?
