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The argument I could see is that even the least king has certain privileges that no tycoon in a democratic state offers. The obvious example I could see is jus

by hakfoo 2y ago

The argument I could see is that even the least king has certain privileges that no tycoon in a democratic state offers. The obvious example I could see is just the concept of legal immunity. There's no need to deluge your critics with lawyers when the courts will simply refuse to take up objections to His Majesty. It would also presumably make an excellent "flag of convenience" for your other wealth assets- create a legal framework to formally avoid taxes and liability. Of course, I always assumed it would be cheaper to buy a regime change in some small nation of limited economic import than to wrangle a nuclear superpower, so what do I know. If I woke up with Elon Musk's pocketbook, given I spent way too much of my childhood playing SimCity and Civilization, I'd want to experiment with some ideas on statecraft myself. Mine run to more "WWII-style ration books as a UBI distribution medium", "we're banning cars and building so much rail that people will regularly have their arms amputated by sticking them out their apartment window and hitting a passing train" and "ripping the Berne Convention to shreds and wiping with it on livestream", but clearly YMMV.

drivingmenuts 2y ago
That system only works so long as you are prepared to be completely self-reliant, which is fine for a largely agrarian society. But at some point, technological complexity requires continued reliance on outside groups or you don't progress or even maintain. Consider a scenario - the US falls into some weird anarcho-libertarian dystopia. This works fine for a while, but no one is making new computers or new cars or new anything and the only way to get these things is to open negotiations with outside groups. But what do you offer them? The currency is worthless because it used to be backed by a central government but it isn't now. If you don't have something that is valued by the outside group, you have nothing to bargain with. And if you don't have superior force of arms, they don't have to accept it anyway. And even if you do, you absolutely cannot trust them. Modern government is built on trust. It has value because, even if it is somewhat corrupt, or even totally corrupt, it keeps society functioning in a way that provides value to everyone, even if it is unevenly distributed. By reducing that uneven distribution, we increase the overall value to everyone both inside and outside the system. It's literally the definition of win-win. If the government system has some value, then its currency has value, regardless. The US dollar is valued because it is backed by the word of the US government. Other countries have lesser value because, while their word might be good, they aren't as trusted or don't have the might that the US government has at its command. Trump and Musk and the people they're working with don't get that. They only see win-lose. They don't understand that their value is in trust and that they are rapidly pissing away that trust. We are unimaginably fucked. Maybe I'm preaching to the choir, and badly at that, and I apologize for that. I'm sitting down here, so far from being able to do anything effective, and it's so unbelievably frustrating.
- hakfoo 2y ago
  Maybe we're over-thinking with the monarch mindset. This also smacks of businessman "next quarter myopia" being applied to an unusually large stage. The domestic slash-and-burn, the foreign policy tarriff chicken, even the minerals deal with Ukraine-- they all take the form of "you can book some great numbers for the next quarter. All it costs you is pesky stuff like 'long-term viability' and 'leadership positions', and those are only a problem for Future You, and who cares about him anyway? We've basically become Hewlett-Packard as a country.

by hakfoo 2y ago

drivingmenuts 2y ago

That system only works so long as you are prepared to be completely self-reliant, which is fine for a largely agrarian society. But at some point, technological complexity requires continued reliance on outside groups or you don't progress or even maintain. Consider a scenario - the US falls into some weird anarcho-libertarian dystopia. This works fine for a while, but no one is making new computers or new cars or new anything and the only way to get these things is to open negotiations with outside groups. But what do you offer them? The currency is worthless because it used to be backed by a central government but it isn't now. If you don't have something that is valued by the outside group, you have nothing to bargain with. And if you don't have superior force of arms, they don't have to accept it anyway. And even if you do, you absolutely cannot trust them. Modern government is built on trust. It has value because, even if it is somewhat corrupt, or even totally corrupt, it keeps society functioning in a way that provides value to everyone, even if it is unevenly distributed. By reducing that uneven distribution, we increase the overall value to everyone both inside and outside the system. It's literally the definition of win-win. If the government system has some value, then its currency has value, regardless. The US dollar is valued because it is backed by the word of the US government. Other countries have lesser value because, while their word might be good, they aren't as trusted or don't have the might that the US government has at its command. Trump and Musk and the people they're working with don't get that. They only see win-lose. They don't understand that their value is in trust and that they are rapidly pissing away that trust. We are unimaginably fucked. Maybe I'm preaching to the choir, and badly at that, and I apologize for that. I'm sitting down here, so far from being able to do anything effective, and it's so unbelievably frustrating.

hakfoo 2y ago
Maybe we're over-thinking with the monarch mindset. This also smacks of businessman "next quarter myopia" being applied to an unusually large stage. The domestic slash-and-burn, the foreign policy tarriff chicken, even the minerals deal with Ukraine-- they all take the form of "you can book some great numbers for the next quarter. All it costs you is pesky stuff like 'long-term viability' and 'leadership positions', and those are only a problem for Future You, and who cares about him anyway? We've basically become Hewlett-Packard as a country.