this post was submitted on 13 Nov 2024
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Here is my uninformed take.
Buffet selling Apple, the #1 share buyback company, tells me that they're expecting western companies to stop engaging on share buybacks ( using their business profits to buy shares and thus inflate stock prices, rewarding shareholders ), and start using their profits to reinvest in production. Tariffs are not going to save them from Chinese companies, the US market, while being huge, is no longer the only relevant one, the world has changed.
I think investment funds are betting ( or more likely, have insider information ) on western companies to acknowledge the current world context, and start dropping their neoliberal paradigm since this is a do or die moment for them.
I suspect another reason could be that they want to have cash on hand to buy things up when the crash happens. Every time there's a crash we see a massive wealth transfer to the top, and billionaires are positioning too take advantage of the one that's unfolding.
Yup, he's getting ready for the Black Friday for billionaires.
Western companies abandoning neoliberalism
To ideologically align with the fascists in power
Trump is a neolib too, he makes it pretty clear when talking about trade imbalances.
That's actually a good example of why he's not a neolib. Neoliberals see trade imbalances as a neutral or even a good thing.
no, negative cash flows are a bad thing for the neoliberal lense since they reduce everything to cash flows, everything else doesn't matter. a neolib would think they're losing when they have a negative trade balance with X country because they ignore that they're receiving a material commodity for that trade. Same applies for budget deficit, that's why they always push to reduce goverment spending.
trump always says that china is beating them because their comically lopsided trade balance, forgetting that they're getting a shit ton of commodities in return, which is a pretty clear sign that he is, knowingly or unknowingly, a neoliberal.
That's not what neoliberalism is. Neoliberalism is the ideology that promotes free markets and globalization. Trade deficits are an inherent part of the neoliberal order. The dollar flows out of the US, while the wealth and resources of the global south flow into the US. That's the trade defecit, and neoliberals have no problem with it. Neoliberals are the ones who did NAFTA and the other free trade agreements that more or less necessitate a trade deficit
Yeah, no. The western companies cannot reinvest like that. They are beholden to increase their share value above all else. It's actually US law they have to do this. The companies obligations are to the shareholders. The oligarchy knows a crash is coming. They've spent the years since COVID to get their affairs in order and have been kicking the can with the Federal reserves. That's why all the big banks and hedge funds have been buying up all the land they can. It's the most necessary physical asset to own in a failing economy.