Heads They Win, Tails We Lose

The VCs and broligarchs have their exit strategy planned. And it doesn't include us.

The present may suck, but enjoy it while you can.

Because the future's getting more terrifying by the day.

Risk #1: The "AI Bubble" Bursts

As 2026 begins, four realities are causing concern on Wall Street:

1. Current levels of AI data center spending represent a massive gamble built on promises and hype, not business fundamentals
2. The market domination of the Magnificent 7 stocks — which now account for more than 1/3 of the value of the S&P500 — creates new risks for "diversified" investors, making index funds and retirement accounts more susceptible to sudden shocks
3. Investments in AI infrastructure have become a primary driver of U.S. GDP growth, but they also mask tremendous weakness throughout the rest of the Trump economy
4. Investors are finding better returns elsewhere: As Trump's reckless policies destabilized the U.S. economy, international markets (and precious metals) strongly outperformed U.S. stocks last year ("you could have bet on Greece in 2025 and come out ahead," wrote Fortune).

From a financial point of view, the only way to justify $7 trillion in data center infrastructure spending is if: (a) AI companies find a fast way to generate hundreds of billions of dollars in new annual revenues; and/or (b) corporations accelerate their adoption of the new technologies and quickly fire millions and millions of workers.

If Wall Street senses that either or both of those things aren't happening fast enough — or if China continues to develop newer, cheaper alternatives that dramatically undercut the Magnificent 7's offerings — the selloff could trigger a collapse that makes the dot-com crash look like a hiccup.

Risk #2: All of the Above + We Bail Out the Broligarchs

​In the world of venture capital, the only thing more important than making a shit ton of money is having an exit strategy.

These days, as Gil Duran explains in a new episode of his Nerd Reich podcast, "Silicon Valley venture capital isn’t just funding technology. It’s also building an escape plan from democracy."

The goal is no longer innovation, but power—and a strategy Duran's guest Olivier Jutel (University of Otago) describes as "exit through the state."

The whole episode is worth a listen (or a watch on YouTube) for a conversation that breaks down:

How venture capital actually makes money (and why “risk-taking” is largely a myth)

Why VC is clustering around AI, crypto, surveillance, and militarization What the “network state” really is—and why it’s a political threat

How Trump-era politics fit into VC’s long-term strategy

Why “abundance” narratives collapse under real economic incentives

What’s at stake for democracy, labor, and the future itself

If the AI Bubble bursts, the Magnificent 7 could wreck the economy and wipe out everyone’s retirement savings.

That's why, notes Duran, the world's richest men are looking to protect themselves, even if they hang the rest of us out to dry:

"They're trying to find a way to monetize the mechanism by which if you become too big to fail, the government will have to save you."

It's "the next big parasitic opportunity," he says.

VCs have made "ridiculous bets on the future" over the past 10 years that have left them underwater, explains Jutel. That's why, whatever political beliefs they espouse, "they need to get their bag somewhere... to exit through the state."

"Behind every libertarian is a big fat government contract," he notes.

Risk #3: It's Not a Bubble After All

What happens if the AI visionaries are correct and Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) is achieved?

This is perhaps the scariest thought of all.

In a "hard takeoff" scenario, the machines become smarter than humans, AI replaces virtually all forms of human labor, and our new robot overlords are better, stronger and faster than all of the rebel armies that try to overthrow them.

Tech ethicist Tristan Harris recently told The Diary of a CEO podcast we are currently on "the default reckless path" where the leaders of AI companies believe they are close to creating a new form of intelligence that even they may not be able to control.

If AGI is inevitable, they reason, someone has to get there first.

"It's like building a god," says Harris. "I mean, the incentive is: 'build a god, own the world economy, and make trillions of dollars, right?'... Some of them (also) think.... they could actually live forever because if AI perfectly speaks the language of biology, it will be able to reverse aging, cure every disease. So there's this kind of, 'I could become a god.'"

That's why all of the big AI labs are now competing in a battle royale.

It's a Magnificent 7 shootout that may leave only one broligarch standing.

The rest of humanity be damned.

Let's imagine AGI or ASI — Artificial Superintelligence — is achieved

That's when we all lose our jobs in exchange for untold wealth and abundance, right?

Not so fast.

Here's Gil Duran's (Nerd Reich) take on what to expect when that day arrives:

One of the visions they have for when all of jobs are allegedly erased by AI. Everyone will have more then, because prices will go down and everybody will somehow get a share of the wealth created by AI. And we won't just create wealth. We'll create extreme wealth for everybody. Sam Altman talked about this. We're going to have this utopian Shangri-La where AI is not hurting us. It's helping everybody and eight billion people in the world will all have a fair share and they can do whatever they want with it and there'll be no more poverty.

The problem with this fairy tale fantasy lie of Altman’s is that we already have abundance. It's just not fairly distributed in the world. Most of it is going to a small percentage of people. And so if the people who are the profiteers of our current abundance aren't sharing it now, why the hell are they going to share it in the future? They're not. That's why they're planning to get off the planet. That's why they're planning to live in digital fortress societies. So it's funny to see them pretend as if the future is going to be a techno-socialist Shangri-La when nothing in their behavior suggests that they have any care about any of the human beings here on Earth today. And I think the fact that a sort of socialist scheme is the best future that Sam Altman can offer people doesn't get enough attention.

After a year in which the world's richest man gleefully killed hundreds of thousands of the world's poorest children, it would be foolish to bet our collectivist futures on someone like Musk turning into Mamdani.

The millions who just saw their healthcare premiums double can't expect much from the Trump regime, either.

When digital totalitarianism becomes our way of life, the helping hand of government may quickly turn into a closed fist.

As Tristan Harris puts it on The Diary of a CEO:

"Does the state need the humans anymore (when) their GDP is coming almost entirely from the AI companies?"

Can we do something about all this?

Maybe.

But we have to act fast.

"This is the last moment when human political power will matter," says Harris.

The midterms (if Trump allows them to happen) will be crucial.

Between now and November, AI looks set to become as important a topic as affordability.

So be sure to know where your candidates stand.

Because one thing's for certain as we look ahead:

The billionaires and venture capitalists have gamed everything out.

They have their exit strategy planned.

And it doesn't include us.

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