Once upon a time, those we insist on calling "masters" were mainly
people or groups who had enough money to open a factory in whichmaterial goods were produced. Their main interest was to make the most
of the exploitation of workers' labor and for this they had to, on the
one hand, keep workers' associations at bay and on the other maintain
good relations with the representatives of political power and the
Government in office. As the years passed and with the changes that
occurred in society, the masters understood that their goals had to be
pursued in other ways too and so it is no coincidence that, to remain in
the peninsula, FIAT (founded in 1899) already bought a share of the
newspaper "La Stampa" in 1920 and a few years later became its owner.
The masters had come to the conclusion that even a company that does not
produce material goods can be functional to their goals.
For some time now, the masters have learned to expand their interests
360 degrees and certain social roles have been reversed and sometimes
even confused, given that we have already seen entrepreneurs become
political leaders in Italy.
Let's take for example the story of the person who is considered the
"richest and most famous person in the world" who has been in the news
for at least ten years. The story of Elon Musk begins, as the fable of
the American lifestyle predicts, from the foundation together with
family and friends of a small business that in this case had the purpose
of providing web services to local newspapers. Then, after a long and
intricate path of acquisitions and divestments, financing, opening and
closing of other companies and everything else, we arrived at the result
we see today. Exactly the opposite of the old Italian factory, Musk's
fortune began with the sale of intangible products and only later landed
on car assembly lines and space ramps. But, even in this case, the
billionaire thought it was essential to acquire direct control of a mass
communication tool that, given that times have changed, is no longer a
daily newspaper (or a television network) but a microblogging platform
or, if you prefer, a social media. The entire operation was transformed
(see "Umanità Nova", n.28 of 20/11/2022) into a big show full of twists,
as befits a context in which society and entertainment are not just two
words in the title of an old book. Musk's saga, which is very similar to
a television series - just think of his private life, which is obviously
known to everyone - has finally spilled over into the political arena.
His open support for the electoral campaign that brought Donald Trump
back to the White House was rewarded by the appointment as
co-responsible, a term not emphasized enough, of a new collateral body
to the next US Government, that of Efficiency. From what we read, it
would not be a real Department but an external agency that should work
in collaboration with the Ministry of Management and Budget with the aim
of "dismantling the Bureaucracy in the Government, reducing excess
regulations, cutting unnecessary spending and restructuring Federal
Agencies" as Trump declared. The operating methods of this entity whose
acronym is DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) and which should
end its mandate on July 4, 2026 are not yet known. Coincidentally, this
is the day on which the 250th anniversary of the US Declaration of
Independence occurs and, again by chance, Musk's favorite cryptocurrency
is called "DogeCoin". Talk about coincidences! The rich guy, the elected
one, seems to have declared that it is something that "could potentially
be as important as the Manhattan Project" which, sorry if it's not much,
is the name of the person who designed the first Atomic Bomb. It is not
easy to establish, in the relationship between Trump and Musk, who is
more useful to whom given that in 2024 the two may have complementary
roles to a certain extent. On the other hand, it is always useful for an
entrepreneur to maintain good relations with political power, a
symbiosis that reproduces the classic mechanisms of the past but with
the adjustments necessary to the spirit of the times.
In Italy, where certain things often arrive by reflection and are
remodeled to adapt them to the different social context, one of the most
obvious side effects of these events has been at the level of public
communication. Politicians of all parties have long adopted a
communication model in which the fluff they spread through the mass
media, especially digital ones, is adorned with embroidery that can
sometimes be jokes, sometimes insults, sometimes both. It is therefore
not strange that the advisor to the next President of the USA is held in
such high regard in our parts almost as if he were an Oracle. A role
that allows him to express his thoughts by intervening, as he has
already done on more than one occasion, on what is happening in these
parts by saying his piece even on important issues but with the same
lightness and superficiality with which other people exchange a few
words by writing on a social media.
The Musk-Trump duo represents, among many things, a clear example of how
the wealthy classes are capable of quickly adapting to changes in order
to use them in their favor and how certain behaviors can be
disconcerting for those who continue to try to understand reality using
only the old political and economic categories.
Pepsy
https://umanitanova.org/nuovi-padroni-vecchie-storie/
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