With President Trump being the main draw at Davos, billionaire investor George Soros addressed world elites at Davos, launching a scathing attack on technology giants, calling them monopolies that could be manipulated by authoritarians to subvert democracy. Soros then turned his attention on Trump blasting the POTUS for failing to progress Soros’ neo-liberal globalist agenda.
Soros said that the survival of our whole civilization is at stake, due to the rise of Kim Jong Un in North Korea and Donald Trump in the United States.
“They both seem to be willing to risk a nuclear war to keep themselves in power.”
Bloomberg headlines as summarized by Zerohedge…
SOROS: OPEN SOCIETIES ENDANGERED IN U.S. AND EUROPE
SOROS: U.S. POLICY MOTIVATES N. KOREA TO BECOME NUCLEAR POWER
SOROS: U.S. SHOULD ACCEPT N. KOREA AS NUKE POWER, NEGOTIATE
SOROS: TRUMP MOVEMENT A TEMPORARY PHENOMENON, TO VANISH BY 2020
SOROS: CONSIDERS TRUMP ADMINISTRATION A DANGER TO THE WORLD
SOROS: EXPECTS DEMOCRATIC LANDSLIDE IN U.S. IN 2018
SOROS: FACEBOOK, GOOGLE ARE OBSTACLES TO INNOVATION
SOROS: FACEBOOK’S NETWORK EFFECT GROWTH UNSUSTAINABLE
SOROS: FACEBOOK WILL RUN OUT OF PEOPLE TO CONVERT IN 3 YEARS
SOROS: FACEBOOK, GOOGLE AS NEAR-MONOPOLIES NEED MORE REGULATION
SOROS: TECH COS. SERVICE BUNDLE, DISCRIM PRICING BAD FOR ECO
SOROS: SOCIAL MEDIA INDUCE CONSUMERS TO GIVE UP AUTONOMY
SOROS: REGULATION, TAXES TO UNDO GLOBAL DOMINANCE OF TECH GIANT
SOROS: EU MEMBERS SHOULDN’T BE REQUIRED TO ADOPT EURO
SOROS: EU NEEDS TO BE REFORMED AT EVERY LEVEL
SOROS: OUTLOOK FOR NEXT 20 YEARS IS BLEAK
The Daily Sabah reports…
During an annual dinner he hosts at the World Economic Forum, held this week in the Swiss alpine resort, Soros turned his sights on a host of subjects including U.S. President Donald Trump and the speculation frenzy surrounding the bitcoin cryptocurrency.
But much of the Hungarian-born financier’s ire was reserved for the tech giants of Silicon Valley who, he argued, needed to be more strictly regulated.
“Facebook and Google effectively control over half of all internet advertising revenue,” the 87-year-old told diners during a speech.
“They claim that they are merely distributors of information. The fact that they are near-monopoly distributors makes them public utilities and should subject them to more stringent regulations, aimed at preserving competition, innovation, and fair and open universal access.”
He predicted that tech giants would “compromise themselves” to access key markets like China, creating an “alliance between authoritarian states and these large, data rich IT monopolies.”
“This may well result in a web of totalitarian control the likes of which not even Aldous Huxley or George Orwell could have imagined,” he warned.
Predicting governments would start to more heavily regulate the sector he said: “Davos is a good place to announce that their days are numbered.
Soros said such “unholy marriages” are likely to happen first in Russia and China.
The Hungarian-born investor also accused U.S. President Donald Trump of trying to run the country like a criminal enterprise.
“In the United States, President Trump would like to establish a mafia state but he can’t, because the constitution, other institutions, and a vibrant civil society won’t allow it,” he said Thursday night at the World Economic Forum.
Soros has passed on a large share of his fortune to his foundation that promotes democracy and human rights.
At the forum the 87-year-old investor also warned that the tensions over North Korea’s nuclear program have put the survival of human civilization at stake.
“The rise of leaders such as Kim Jong Un in North Korea and Donald Trump in the U.S. have much to do with this,” he said.
“Both seem willing to risk a nuclear war in order to keep themselves in power.”
However, he predicted that the U.S. president’s appeal would not last.
“I regard it as a purely temporary phenomenon that will disappear in 2020 or even sooner.”
Known for his legendarily successful currency trading, Soros also dismissed bitcoin as a “typical bubble”.
But he said the cryptocurrency would likely avoid a full crash because authoritarians would still use it to make secret investments abroad.
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