News Signal economy labor
Big Tech has you right where they want you, and you're begging for more.
$650 billion in AI capex. Thirty years of debt. Your pension settlement bill is already in the mail.
Ask anyone still grounded in reality, and theyβll spot it immediately: that $650 billion in AI capex isnβt an investment itβs a fire sale of your future. Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Meta theyβre borrowing themselves into oblivion to plop down data centers thatβll be as relevant as a Blackberry in a few years. But that debt? That sticks around for thirty years. And guess whoβs going to settle up when the ship goes down.
You. Through your pension fund.
The technical reality nobody wants to admit
Some see it technically: this junk simply doesnβt work as advertised. Others see the power play: these companies are so massive that no one dares point out the emperorβs naked. Then there are those who look at whoβs footing the bill: exploited workers in Congo digging up cobalt, communities where data centers are draining drinking water, and you, sucker, thinking youβre sensibly diversifying with an index ETF.
Your βrational marketβ at work
Because letβs be honest about that βrational marketβ of yours. Asset managers know damn well this is garbage. But they canβt get out. They have to buy Microsoft because their competitor does. They have to follow the benchmark. And when it goes sideways? Central banks and governments bail them out, exactly like 2008, exactly like every crisis. Your tax money pays for their bet.
The pattern repeats
Those narrow risk premiums? That literally means investors are lending Tech Bros billions at virtually zero extra interest while they build infrastructure that might, just might, turn profitable someday. Telecom did this in 2000. Shale oil in 2014. Subprime in 2008. Same song every time: βThe marketβs priced it in.β Every time, millions of people who never wanted to buy a risky bond end up paying through their pension or insurance.
Who pays when it collapses?
And you know whatβs beautiful? Sam Altman and Satya Nadella will leave with their golden parachutes while youβre staring at your pension statement announcing three years of cuts.