Unlock the Watch Watch Bety House newsletter for free
Your guide is on what the Trump’s second term is for Washington, Business and the World
Tom Wolfe came up with the term “masters of the universe” as an ironic description of Wall -Strit traders. Elon Musk accepts this idea literally. He hopes to colonize Mars.
But Musk came to the ground with a blow. After falling with Donald Trump, the richest man in the world found that he was not even a Washington master – not to mention the universe.
Drop Musk is part of a global picture. Decades of globalization have created much rich oligarchs worldwide. But if the power of cash and political power faces, there is only one way to bet. Politics always come out from above.
In countries that are different as Russia, China, Saudi Arabia – and now the USA – oligarchs who have developed independent political ambitions are forcibly reminiscent of where the real power lies.
Triumph politics More than money can be a surprise for both Marxists and confident capitalists who believe that politicians will always dance to the melodies.
But, as Mao noticed, the force flows from the gun barrel. The control over the state bodies – the army, the state prosecutor’s office, the tax authorities – is still considered more than billions in the bank.
Of course, politics need money, especially on the way. The election is expensive, and the same client policy of the authoritarian state. Musk Financial support helped Trump win the 2024 presidential election.
Vladimir Putin emerged to the top of power in Russia contributed to some of the richest people in the country, who hoped that he would be the keeper of the huge successes they made in the 1990s. But as soon as he was firmly installed in Kremlin, Putin showed an oligarch who was a boss. When Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the then richest man of Russia, began to become an independent political force, Putin arrested him. Khodorkovsky He served 10 years in prison. Boris Berezovsky, who also earned great happiness in Yeltsin’s years, was forced to expel and died in mysterious Circumstances.
Jack Ma, then the richest man in China, went slightly. President Xi Jinping obviously saw the high profile of MA, and sometimes an open look as a challenge. After MA made a speech in 2020, which criticized the financial regulators, the shares of his ants group were rejected, and ma all but disappeared from a public view. The Communist Party of China put it in the most famous capitalist in the country.
MA remained in prison and began to speak publicly again. But Jimmy LaiHong Kong Media Medicine, which supported the pro-democratic movement of the territory, is currently serving a long prison term.
In Saudi Arabia, Prince Prince Mohammed Ben Salman, a man who is very fond of Trump, also demonstrated that he could lead the richest people in his kingdom on the heel. He closed dozens of wealthy businessmen in Ritz-Carlton in Riyadh in 2017 -Nit in anti -corruption cleaning. Among them was Prince Wallid Ben Talal, the most famous investor of the kingdom. The episode directed a message about the relentless force that had never been forgotten.
The best way for the billionaire isolate yourself from the country’s navigator is to become a leader. It was a route that went to the late Sylvio Berlusconi, a contradictory tycoon who founded his own political party and entered the Italian Prime Minister. Bidina Ivanishvili, a billionaire, who became the Prime Minister of Georgia, went on a similar route. Trump himself used his wealth to finance the entry into politics.
But few oligarchs make a transition. And those who work on the border should be carefully steadily. To preserve their wealth and freedom, they must understand the boundaries. In India, a fabulous wealthy Ambani family retains close ties with Narendra Modi, the country’s prime minister. But they never sought to challenge his leadership.
Carlos Slim, the richest man of Mexico, remained closer to the continuity of Mexico presidents, while expressing political opinions. The Slim neutrality has enabled him to maintain the influence of the administration’s power. He even Worked with An employee cooperates with infrastructure projects.
Many Americans back off the idea that the relationship between money and power in their country can be compared to how everything is done in China, Russia, Saudi Arabia or Mexico.
After all, the US is a long-standing democracy with well-established property. The idea that the president can use the law to pursue a vendet against the richest man of the country is still a little shocking. But the president has already stated that Musk could lose federal contracts and warned him of “very serious consequences” when he supports the Democrats.
Some of Trump’s most diligent followers want to go much further. Steve Benan suggested nationalizing SpaceX Musk, which plays a decisive role in federal space programs. He also urged Trump to investigate Moscow’s immigration status in order to deport it.
Experience? Exile? All this sounds very non -American. But this is America Trump. Never say never.
