Comment by aleqs
5 days ago
I agree that many of the rich and powerful are not at all as ingenious, creative or capable as they like to make themselves out to be, but I don't see a clear/easy way to escape the economic ramifications of the fact that they own and control virtually all physical resources and all political power. If, say, Chinese develop AGI, and that makes US tech companies obsolete - I see them banning Chinese AGI, even going to war, rather than ceding power (realistically there may be some backroom deal), they would grind the population into dust if it let them retain their wealth and power.
This. Living/Coming from a country like that, when shit gets real the elite will squeeze every inch regardless of how brutal it gets. It happened to the USSR and every other country. The US is not that different.
Would it not be more logical that US billionaires simply switch sides and move to China? I am not convinced that Americans are as patriotic as they claim and willing to go down with the ship.
You are already seeing signs of this in Taiwan.
In some sense that's happening. A Reichsfluchtsteuer of some kind is happening where wealthy people from Western countries have to pay exit taxes. Americans can't exit without giving citizenship, though.
>Wealthy Americans top ‘golden visa’ surge in New Zealand and applications from China double
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/feb/18/new-zealand-go...
>Turkish Citizenship by Investment Program
https://www.yavuzozdemir.av.tr/practice-areas.html?gad_sourc...
US billionaires who moved to China would simply get executed over their crimes (like tax evasion). Will not happen.