Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy do not care whether the stories they tell about agencies are true. They’re useful for whipping up hostility to government so that regulations can be cut and the rich can do what they want.

Summary

Billionaires like Marc Andreessen, Elon Musk, and Vivek Ramaswamy are spreading false claims to discredit the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), a federal agency protecting consumers from fraud and abuse.

Andreessen falsely accused the CFPB of politically motivated “debanking,” despite no evidence.

This rhetoric aligns with the “DOGE” project, led by Musk and Ramaswamy, which aims to slash government regulations and programs under the guise of efficiency.

Critics warn this effort will harm public services, benefit billionaires, and push privatization at the expense of ordinary Americans.

  • actually@lemmy.world
    3·
    17 days ago

    Sometimes history shows oligarchs breaking stuff to make more money for themselves: trade patterns, movement of people, social safety nets, previous methods of doing business.

    I think we all got so used to the modern times that it’s hard to image this still happening, but on a bigger scale.

    Or, it could be mostly empty threats now, designed to manipulate the markets. We saw Trump scares during his last term in office, particularly near the end, that would deliberately scare enough people to make bank in stocks and bonds. Scaring a nation is very profitable.

    Probably both types of things.