Bonum Certa Men Certa

Asymptotic Economy With Debt Increases Going Vertical

posted by Roy Schestowitz on Nov 23, 2023

"An asymptotic line is a line that gets closer and closer to a curve as the distance gets closer to infinity." -Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus

THIS does not look like a real economy but a debt (or dead) economy, where money is 'created' out of borrowings (future liabilities in an age of rising interest rates) and funneled into rich people's (or companies', never mind the overdraft and private company debts) bank accounts. Watch below where it stands.

The United States' government debt (personal and state debt not accounted for; those bring up the total to almost 55 trillion dollars):

United States Government Debt

And 'growth' in recent decades (as per "the market"):

Reasonable growth vs Likely faked growth

Here is the media commenting on the "worth" of a company in debt - a company that never managed to make money and whose losses were recently 'subsidised' by Microsoft (which was laying off tens of thousands of workers and needed some convenient distraction like chatbot hype):

Thrive Capital to Lead Purchase of OpenAI Employee Shares at $80 Billion-Plus Valuation

Only days or weeks later the media said OpenAI was likely doomed, as almost all the employees threatened to resign.

Even months prior some media issued a reasonable warning:

ChatGPT In Trouble: OpenAI may go bankrupt by 2024, AI bot costs company $700,000 every day

OpenAI likely to go bankrupt by the end of 2024: Report

Sounds familiar?

Recent story and a cautionary tale of similar scale:

WeWork goes from $47B valuation to ‘substantial doubts’ about its future

WeWork, once valued at $47 billion, files for bankruptcy

Billionaires: Adam Neumann still worth $1.7bn despite WeWork bankruptcy

WeWork Files for Bankruptcy: What to Know About the Office-Sharing Company’s Collapse

WeWork Goes Bankrupt, Signs Pact With Creditors to Cut Debt

A company that just lost lots and lots and lots of money managed to make some "billionaires". Where did that money come from and who lost it (or will need to pay it back some day)?

Other Recent Techrights' Posts

Techrights' Statement on Code of Censorship (CoC) and Kent Overstreet: This Was the Real Purpose of Censorship Agreements All Along
Bombing people is OK (if you sponsor the key organisations), opposing bombings is not (a CoC in a nutshell)
[Meme] The Most Liberal Company
"Insurrection? What insurrection?"
apple.com Traffic Down Over 7%, Says One Spyware Firm; Apple's Liabilities Increased Over 6% to $308,030,000,000
Apple is also about 120 billion dollars in debt
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, November 23, 2024
IRC logs for Saturday, November 23, 2024
[Meme] GAFAMfox
Mozilla Firefox in a state of extreme distress
Google Can Kill Mozilla Any Time It Wants
That gives Google far too much power over its rival... There are already many sites that refuse to work with Firefox or explicitly say Firefox isn't supported
Free (as in Freedom) Software Helps Tackle the Software Liability Issue, It Lets Users Exercise Greater Control Over Programs
Microsofters have been trying to ban or exclude Free software
In the US, Patent Laws Are Up for Sale
This problem is a lot bigger than just patents
ESET Finds Rootkits, Does Not Explain How They Get Installed, Media Says It Means "Previously Unknown Linux Backdoors" (Useful Distraction From CALEA and CALEA2)
FUD watch
Techdirt Loses Its Objectivity in Pursuit of Money
The more concerning aspects are coverage of GAFAM and Microsoft in particular
Links 23/11/2024: Press Sold to Vultures, New LLM Blunders
Links for the day
Links 23/11/2024: "Relationship with Oneself" and Yretek.com is Back
Links for the day
Links 23/11/2024: "Real World" Cracked and UK Online Safety Act is Law
Links for the day
Links 23/11/2024: Celebrating Proprietary Bluesky (False Choice, Same Issues) and Software Patents Squashed
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, November 22, 2024
IRC logs for Friday, November 22, 2024
Gemini Links 23/11/2024: 150 Day Streak in Duolingo and ICBMs
Links for the day
Links 22/11/2024: Dynamic Pricing Practice and Monopoly Abuses
Links for the day
Topics We Lacked Time to Cover
Due to a Microsoft event (an annual malware fest for lobbying and marketing purposes) there was also a lot of Microsoft propaganda
Microsofters Try to Defund the Free Software Foundation (by Attacking Its Founder This Week) and They Tell People to Instead Give Money to Microsoft Front Groups
Microsoft people try to outspend their critics and harass them
[Meme] EPO for the Kids' Future (or Lack of It)
Patents can last two decades and grow with (or catch up with) the kids
EPO Education: Workers Resort to Legal Actions (Many Cases) Against the Administration
At the moment the casualties of EPO corruption include the EPO's own staff
Gemini Links 22/11/2024: ChromeOS, Search Engines, Regular Expressions
Links for the day
This Month is the 11th Month of This Year With Mass Layoffs at Microsoft (So Far It's Happening Every Month This Year, More Announced Hours Ago)
Now they even admit it
Links 22/11/2024: Software Patents Squashed, Russia Starts Using ICBMs
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, November 21, 2024
IRC logs for Thursday, November 21, 2024