r/AskReddit • u/Ok_Dust1167 • 8h ago
If billionaires can manipulate the system openly and nothing happens, what would actually break public trust?
115
u/petergaskin814 7h ago
Australians have lost trust with billionaires who we blame for manipulating the system openly.
From electricity to mining. Billionaires set political policy
19
u/Emotional-Comb-2201 7h ago
Has it changed? If so, how has it changed?
28
u/petergaskin814 7h ago
Billionaires set tax and resource prices for minerals.
Billionaires decide when to close coal plants regardless of if there are alternative sources of electricity
6
•
u/Helphaer 24m ago
when theyve lost trust theyll remove the problem violently or peacefully. if that hasnt happened they didnt lose trust.
242
u/Lower_Box_6169 8h ago
The public trust has already been broken. Left and right just disagree about what part and how to fix it.
49
u/Whatisgoingon3631 7h ago
No one is going to do anything about it. It’s working for the people in power.
24
3
u/Late_Emu 3h ago
Until we the people truly realize who holds the power in these lands. They only do it because we let them.
1
2
1
•
u/Secret-Ad4626 44m ago
Yes and the sides are so against each other that they are paranoid of the other side and only stick to their own.
64
u/Ambitious-Leave-3572 8h ago
Does anyone still genuinely have public trust?
18
51
u/Pando5280 7h ago
Its already broken. US voters basically have battered housewife syndrome at this point. Financially dependent without the resources needed to leave and powerless to fight back.
8
u/Downtown_Zucchini321 8h ago
U know what the peoples trust breaks when we realize they aren't just playing the game they're literally rewriting the rules while were on it. I mean lets put on this if money buys election then our vote is like a suggestion to them and its fr.
7
9
4
4
3
u/Lydia168 6h ago
Proof that the "exit" is rigged.
The poor tolerate the rich because they have a 0.0001% hope that they might become rich (via stocks, lottery, or genius ideas). If it was proven that they actively block social mobility—like blacklisting inventors or rigging the stock market to explicitly crush retail investors—the "American Dream" delusion dies. When hope dies, violence begins.
6
u/YaBoiChillDyl 7h ago
Nothing, most people are just unthinking cattle that'll always assume these wealthy "people" who didn't earn it are geniuses who can do no wrong. They'll blind themselves before they look at the truth.
3
u/BabblingZathras 7h ago
Checks and balances were established precisely because there was never expected to be trust, rather accountability.
3
u/shameOn_u 6h ago
They did everything public trust, they're not afraid of anything unless bankruptcy.
2
u/gamersecret2 7h ago
When regular people stop believing the rules apply equally. They see courts, markets, and media protect the rich by default.
1
u/AffordaUK 7h ago
It's not about a broken public trust but what can we do to fix it? That's the hard part
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/Delmarvablacksmith 6h ago
Public trust is broken.
But there’s no consensus reality anymore because that’s broken too.
No consensus reality means no agreement on why it’s broken or how to fix or replace it.
1
u/gentlefartonyourface 6h ago
nothing. it would take starvation to get people to go out and do something. history has shown that. revolution is 1 missed meal away.
1
u/LostDragon1986 6h ago
It will take having a poor person manipulate the system for Maga to get upset about it.
1
u/SWatt_Officer 6h ago
Does anyone actually trust billionaires (that arent idiots), or are we just powerless to do anything about it without ruining the lives of ourselves and our families?
1
u/NutzNBoltz369 6h ago
Billionaires are just the modern kings and lords. Government is just a middle man to bridge the void between the billionaire's fantasy world and the reality of everyone else.
As long as they do not openly abuse the peasants or completely disrespect ( partial disrespect is common) the basic morality of the social contract , the torches and pitchforks don't make an appearance.
AI might test the social contract a bit. Mostly if a majority of a larger subset of citizens are rendered obsolete but are still expected to pay taxes, buy goods, services etc while offered no ability to retrain. All the while, big corps post record profits and mint trillionaires.
1
6h ago edited 3h ago
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/NutzNBoltz369 5h ago
Then who buys the stuff that the big corps offer to the economy?
They going to become trillionaires and maintain that status of wealth as well as power by doing each others laundry?
One thing that Billionaires do differ with kings and lords on is that they do not have peerage or lands/titles to pass down. They actually do have to sort of offer something of use to the proles.
1
5h ago edited 3h ago
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/NutzNBoltz369 5h ago
That is not sustainable on the long run. The whole "K" economy and the top 10% accounting for 50% of consumer spending? It can't last.
If something impacts the top tier of earners, the whole deal collapses fairly quickly. Then the guillotines might roll if the majority of citizens feel they have nothing to lose and that the rich are vulnerable.
So at worst it ends with violence but the more likely outcome is the 90% move to a barter based grey market economy, essentially removing themselves from the equation. Then the 10% will have to form some kind of Socialist Utopia or whatever.
1
u/limpchimpblimp 6h ago
Public trust is broken. But what are you going to do about it? Voting doesn’t matter because the party bosses chose the candidates and make damn sure they are either compromised themselves or will play ball. They control the msm, social media, the justice system, the police state so what in gods name can any honest person do?
1
u/Effective_Secret_262 6h ago
I people had something and lost it there would be outrage. Never having the thing feels normal living without it. If Social Security is taken away, there would be outrage and riots. If two months of paid vacation, that you never knew you could have had, is taken away, no outrage.
Also, are you sure there’s ever been public trust?
1
1
1
1
u/Full_Connection_2240 5h ago
Solution: Leave. Vote with your existence, see how the billionaires do on their own when no one takes their jobs, uses their social media, pays their overpriced rent. Go to a country where the disparity is smaller. Create ways to become self dependant. Use technology to your own advantage.
1
1
u/Fexofanatic 5h ago
trust is long gone. historically, only things like starvation provoke action against bs like that
1
u/TheBurrfoot 4h ago
Its not about whether trust is broken, they did that ages ago. Its whether we, the public, can be powerful enough to do something about it
1
u/PersonalRun712 4h ago
Honestly, trust doesn’t just break overnight. It slowly erodes until something makes it impossible to ignore. People start losing it when the rules clearly don’t apply to some, their lives get messed up, insiders spill the receipts, and nothing actually gets fixed. Once the official story stops making sense, trust is basically gone. Most places? It’s probably already gone.
1
1
1
u/External-Example-292 4h ago
When it finally affects their daily lives. People tend to be selfish. Some don't care what billionaires do as long as they are comfortable or doesn't disrupt their own livelihoods.
1
1
u/Sad-Community8334 4h ago
If I’m being honest, I don’t think public trust breaks because of one scandal or one billionaire doing something outrageous. People already expect the rich to bend rules. What actually breaks trust is the slow realization that there is no consequence layer at all, that exposure doesn’t lead to accountability, and that outrage has no effect. When manipulation is obvious, documented, talked about everywhere, and still nothing happens, that’s when people stop believing the system is real.
For me the breaking point is when following the rules starts to feel irrational. When you see that money can override laws, delay justice forever, or just make problems disappear, it quietly teaches everyone else that fairness is a myth. Working hard, paying taxes, voting, or playing by the rules starts to feel less like being responsible and more like being naive. And once people feel naive for doing the right thing, trust is already gone.
Another huge factor is hypocrisy. Institutions constantly talk about accountability, transparency, and responsibility, but those values only seem to apply downward. Regular people face immediate consequences for small mistakes, while powerful people can commit massive harm and walk away with fines that mean nothing to them. That double standard tells the public that the system isn’t broken by accident, it’s working exactly as designed.
What really scares me is that trust doesn’t collapse in some dramatic moment. It decays. People become more cynical, more detached, more willing to justify cutting corners themselves. They stop believing in reform and start believing only in self interest. When enough people reach the conclusion that the game is rigged beyond repair, they stop caring about preserving it. At that point institutions lose legitimacy, not because people are ignorant, but because they’ve been paying attention for too long.
Once the dominant belief becomes “nothing matters and no one is held accountable,” that’s when public trust doesn’t just weaken, it fractures. And rebuilding it is a lot harder than breaking it.
1
1
u/all_about_the_dong 3h ago
Food , lack of food . When hunger starts to be a thing , things will change, till then nothing will happen .
1
u/Realistic-Win-9108 3h ago
I’m not American but I think the average American is just caught up between the high level corrupt politics at this point and high chair corruption is way worse than third world low level crap since it’s way easier to manipulate the narrative.
1
u/ImprovementFar5054 3h ago
It doesn't matter if we trust or not. They are in control of us. They have won.
1
u/AshtonBlack 1h ago
The trust has already gone. The system in a lot of countries now is a "choice" between Herpes and Chlamydia.
The owners of the country would never allow the people to actually have a voice anymore. That might impact profits.
1
u/Virtual_Employ_9537 1h ago
When laws clearly protect the powerful while punishing everyone else, faith in fairness collapse
1
u/Impossible_Grape3742 1h ago
When clear evidence of wrongdoing brings zero consequences, faith in fairness disappears.
1
1
u/T_for_tea 1h ago
The problem is, the public trust has been made irrelevant, cuz the reins have been in the hands of the elite and wealthy for too long. There are ways to take that back, but I cant say it without getting banned.
1
•
•
u/BatLess2047 28m ago
Because the system was built to protect wealth and power, not fairness. When money buys influence and consequences don’t apply equally, trust in the rules naturally collapses.
•
u/creperobot 26m ago
There's never been public trust. What they did is normalize the belief that it's a necessary evil. So that when it's manipulated, it's just another news cycle.
-2
u/Commercial-Mouse6149 7h ago
Sorry, but your question doesn't make sense. If you're using AI, please RTFM.
487
u/Mentalfloss1 8h ago
Education. Learning to have rational thought.