Mastodawn

Zzyzx/P Apr 9, 2025

Someone please put this #lunatic in a straight jacket. This #felon has caused #undue and #unnecessary #turmoil and #damage to markets and #anxiety to many people like #retirees who depend upon #stable and #steady #financial environment to protect their life's #investment.

#impeach #tantrum #tariffs #stupidity

Joseph Lim

Oct 25, 2024

How the world can escape the new Gilded Age
"If #unaccountable #billionaires already wield too much #undue #influence, the last thing we shld want is to give them even bigger public forums -- eg, Musk now has thru his ownership of X. Instead, we shld pursue stronger institutional means of limiting the #power & influence of those who are already privileged, as well as reconsider e #tax, #regulatory & spending #policies tt created such massive #disparities in the 1st place"
https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/2889948/how-the-world-can-escape-the-new-gilded-age

How the world can escape the new Gilded Age

<p>Tech billionaires such as Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk are not just among the richest people in human history. They also are exceptionally powerful -- socially, culturally and politically. While this is partly a reflection of the social status that our society attaches to wealth in general, that is not the whole story.</p>

Bangkok Post

Chuck Darwin Apr 7, 2024

Two billionaires, a wealthy election denier and a mysterious Russia-linked trust invested in the Trump company long before it went public.

#Marty #Davis, the wealthy Minnesota head of a kitchen countertop manufacturing company, is a steadfast supporter of Donald Trump.

He contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to help elect Mr. Trump in 2020, and encouraged him to fight to overturn the 2020 election results.
Shortly after Mr. Trump’s social media company said in October 2021 that it planned to go public by merging with a cash-rich shell company, Mr. Davis was one of the first to lend the fledgling business millions so that it could stay afloat until its merger closed and finance the launch of its Truth Social platform.

Mr. Davis gave Trump Media & Technology Group a $5 million loan, according to documents reviewed by The New York Times.
His loan was part of $40 million Trump Media raised from more than a dozen private investors, some of whom have helped finance efforts to elect Mr. Trump and are now likely shareholders of his social media company.

Other early backers include two Texas billionaires, a Florida hedge fund manager, and a trust with ties to a Russian American owner of an offshore bank who is the nephew of a former high-ranking Russian government official, the documents show.

One of the billionaires, #Kenny #Troutt, a retired Dallas telecommunications executive, has given more than $1.1 million to efforts backing Mr. Trump’s three White House bids.
Mr. Troutt is serving as a co-chair of a major fund-raiser on Saturday in Palm Beach, Fla., for the former president.

It’s not uncommon for start-ups to seek out wealthy investors for financing, but the stock holdings and large donations raise questions about the potential for #conflicts of #interest and #undue #influence over Mr. Trump should he return to the White House.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/05/business/trump-media-backers-investors.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare