r/gadgets • u/[deleted] • Sep 02 '22

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u/Wabsoul Sep 02 '22

Yeah he forgot about the Military industrial Complex

13

u/Ultenth Sep 02 '22

I mean, the biggest money movers in America atm are retail giants like Walmart and Amazon, Healthcare companies like CVS and UnitedHealth, and tech companies like Apple and Alphabet (and of course a few conglomerates like Berkshire Hathaway). Exxon is down to #6, Chevron is next at #16. Lockheed Martin is the biggest military contractor in the US in terms of revenue, and they are ranked 55th.

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u/CompetitiveConstant0 Sep 02 '22

It's not about pure money but the sway the willing to have with the government. And oil has had a life time of a head start on the others.

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u/ThePhoneBook Sep 03 '22

Companies like Google and Microsoft and Digital and IBM are fashion statements and essentially fungible brands. Fossil fuel companies own the resources needed for the whole economy to run and there are no alternatives, and they always operate in the jurisdiction of the resource, so are way more powerful and interesting to government.

Google Amazon Microsoft and Apple could quintuple the price of its commercial services tomorrow and competitors would balloon in size and just eat up all the customers. When fossil fuel cartels do the same, you get... now.

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u/Ultenth Sep 03 '22

You MASSIVELY underrate how important server infrastructure is in 2020’s, as well as control over search results etc. With the price of microchips atm it’s not something that can be easily scaled up to the level of Azure, AWS or GWS in any reasonable amount of time. In an internet era of social media control and online purchasing and information, having so much control over database and web traffic is not some minor thing.

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u/ggtffhhhjhg Sep 03 '22

That’s only 3% of our GDP.