cross-posted from : https://lemmy.zip/post/57305272
Total billionaire wealth in the EU reached €2.4 trillion by late November, exceeding Italy’s entire GDP of €2.2 trillion and approaching France’s €2.9 trillion economy, a new Oxfam report found.
Archived version: https://archive.is/20260118190308/https://euobserver.com/health-and-society/ara3abf5ee
It’s not that they are rich, we’ve always had rich people. The problem is that we now have rich people with enough wealth to compete with nations, and they are getting even stronger. They are now starting to cut their own deals with nations that benefit them personally, with no regard to the nations, and millions of people that could be harmed by that policy. We’ve already seen Musk manipulate Starlink to steer a war in his direction, and unleash his hacking squad to rig an American election, just so he could use the opportunity to cripple all the government agencies that were investigating his crimes.
And it will only get worse. They are approaching Trillionaire status, and will be even more powerful. How long before multiple trillionaires form an alliance, and build their own personal military?
Eventually we will reach a point where it will become impossible to reign them in, and then we will all wonder why someone didn’t do something about them when it was still possible, like NOW.
There already are private military. Black Water and alike are absolutely private armies. But that could be expensive, even for trillionaires. It’s a much better strategy to privatize the existing military and get it paid by the government. Watch it, it’s going to happen!
Doesn’t Amazon or someshit literally already employ a PMC as their “loss protection” unit?
Arguably long already there, when considering the bankers who control the fates (and [mis]fortunes) of all nations.