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by blackjack_ 481 days ago
Not totally. The wealthy are incredibly heavily invested in our economy. Take Elon Musk for example. He’s heavily invested in SpaceX, Tesla, and Twitter. If he walks away from the US, Tesla, Twitter, and SpaceX are all still here and can’t easily “run away”. Sure, they can take some “mobile wealth”, but if you are very wealthy you can’t just leave a whole economy (that’s where your wealth is).
3 comments

> He’s heavily invested in SpaceX, Tesla, and Twitter.

You make it sound as though he put a lot of his own money (somehow obtained from elsewhere) into these companies.

But that's not true at all. It is correct English to say that he is "heavily invested" in these companies in the sense that his wealth is paper wealth based on the perceived value (stock price) of these companies.

But he is not invested in them the way that a typical person has their retirement funds invested in a company or mutual fund.

Elon got started with zip2 when South African socialists induced capital flight causing elons dad to send his money and Elon to the USA/Canada.
Elon realised that as well. That's why he is in the oval office now.
Elon came here under a similar story. The party in significant power cheers on 'kill the boer [farmer]' ( and 'redistribute' their capital to the poor). He escaped to here. It's admirable he wants to prevent America becoming like South Africa.
The problem with that politics is stagnation. It is hard to move SpaceX and Tesla out of the country, but you don't get new companies in this situations, there will be less competition and, as a consequence, Elon Musk get more power, and there is nothing you could do about this.