286
Musk wants to abolish consumer agency that has been a ‘model of efficiency’
(www.commondreams.org)
this post was submitted on 29 Nov 2024
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politics
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I very much doubt that tariffs and pissing off basically everyone outside if the US will help a goal of a global free market.
Well, they have to balance their commitment to global free markets with their desire to destroy countries run by Communists, or any country that isn't sufficiently Western and liberal in their political or economic philosophies. China is especially problematic, because they've accounted for so much of the global growth that's occurred over the last several decades, but they are ultimately run by Communists, and they are certainly not liberal or Western enough.
I remember last time Trump was in office. There were massive tariffs on european products as well. There are no communist countries in the European Union. Trump and his gang openly push the "America first" narrative and that very obviously means that every other country in the global market is under attack, even those who were traditionally viewed as allies. Communism is not the issue here.
We'll see if the US manages to bully the world into submission but I have my doubts. A free global market is bound by capitalist mechanics. If the US is not an attractive trade partner the export profits will be made elsewhere.
Yes, they are not consistent in their own logic. They are hypocrites. But that doesn't mean they aren't committed to global, free-market capitalism. They're committed to it in the same way a religious person might be committed to their faith, despite not following, or even knowing all of its precepts. In fact, the rules and definitions of global, free-market capitalism don't matter. The rules of capitalism are whatever they want them to be, similarly, again, to a pastor who molds his denominations religious teachings to whatever suits him.
The important thing is that musk is a classic libertarian grifter.
His cars are propped up by government subsidies (or they were, I think he's running into problems), starlink is heavily used by NASA, and the boring company is just another way to extract government money.
He'll pretend to be a global libertarian, but what he really wants is sky high tarrifs so he doesn't have to compete with Chinese electric cars.
Nor are closed borders a free market solution.