By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 16/07/2026But as Tim O'Reilly writes, these billionaire-defending intellectuals always told us that markets would protect us from the madness of kings, by constraining the folly of the wealthy and powerful through the discipline of competition. 53/ 1323
By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 16/07/2026Meanwhile, those billionaires were busily transforming themselves into kings, unshackled from rules, morals or consequences: www.economist.com/by-invitatio... 54/economist.comElon Musk is building a form of capitalism that Adam Smith would hateThe merchants are becoming princes, writes Tim O’Reilly 1407
By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 16/07/2026Reflecting on this, the political scientist Henry Farrell notes that the most vocal defenders of billionaireism - the Musks and Thiels of the world - never made a secret of their desire to become kings and insulate themselves from markets and discipline of every kind, and they've grown brazen. 55/ 1262
