Why would Musk do this? It seems notable that one of Musk’s heroes is the current president of Argentina, Javier Milei, who has been credited with taking a “chainsaw” to the nation’s government. Milei, an avowed “free market,” “anti-woke” libertarian, took office in December of 2023, and has instituted what he calls an “austerity” budget, characterized by economic “shock treatment.” This strategy has involved making deep cuts to government spending on social welfare programs, devaluing the peso, and cutting thousands of government jobs, all in the hope of some vague libertarian glowup in the near to far future.
“the only thing they’re bringing to the table is money” is true of every single capitalist and every single private company.
We and our ancestors worked the land, built the machines, invented the innovations, increased our collective productivity, but a tiny fraction of people currently alive call dibs and lay claim to everything.
When we ask for dignity and the bare necessities of life, not what we’re owed but just what we need to survive, they throw tantrums and threaten to leave.
Let them leave, “capital flight” is only a problem if we care about capital. We workers produce and design and construct and deliver and maintain every single fucking thing, we are the economy. Let them leave.
Yeah, money is a social construct; it’s really just numbers in computers. We can redefine capital to be numbers that actually make sense … uh, theoretically.
Honestly, “capital flight” is great. Cause the truth about it is the money leaves, but all the actually productive capital stays. The buildings, the land, the machinery, the infrastructure etc etc. Everything the owning class privately owned, stays. They can’t take a hospital, or a naval yard, or a factory, with them when they go 😂
Exactly! It’s an empty threat in isolation. Of course the real threat is that you’ll get embargoed or otherwise undergo economic violence as capitalist owned governments around the world try to make an example of you.
Generally though, capitalist fleeing just means less to take care of when we reclaim our freedom as workers, especially if you prefer non-violence