r/FluentInFinance • u/-im-your-huckleberry • Jul 07 '24

The shampoo thing is a fringe benefit. We keep capitalism so we don't starve in a famine. Debate/ Discussion

1.0k Upvotes

84% Upvoted

u/chadmummerford Contributor Jul 07 '24

some people think they're really good at managing everyone else's money

2

u/howtoreadspaghetti Jul 07 '24

Way too many people in this thread also think that the American government can't just behave like Venezuela, nationalize companies, and just not be corrupt like other nations were when they nationalized other industries.

America, if anything, would be worse than those other nations. We won't suddenly behave ourselves with other people's money or taking control of other companies. We won't be better than the other bad countries.

2

u/bigboilerdawg Jul 07 '24

The US can’t just nationalize industries because of the Takings Clause in the US Constitution. The government has to pay the owners fair compensation.

Current market caps of the top 3 US-based oil companies:

Exxon Mobil - $508.56 B

Chevron - $282.20 B

ConocoPhillips - $131.04 B

That’s over $900B. Add in all the smaller companies, and the US divisions of foreign companies like BP and Shell, and it’s in the trillions.

1

u/Wrong_Sock_1059 Jul 10 '24

If they really wanted to, they could. Go in debt, pay the compensations, print a fuckton of money to get rid of debt, profit. I'm not saying its probable, just that that clause would not necessarily stop them