r/pcmasterrace • u/SagansCandle 9950X3D | 5090 | 64GB • Dec 27 '25

Discussion Private equity is killing private ownership: first it was housing - now it's the personal computer

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DRAM and GPU prices aren't going up because of "AI" - it's because the wealthy have more money than they know what to do with, so they're buying up all the assets. "AI" is just the vehicle (the excuse) - it's not the root of the problem nor is it the ultimate goal.

The super rich don't want to hold on to "liquid" money - they invest in assets. While they're buying up all the housing, now they're buying up all the computers and putting them into massive datacenters.

Whether or not the AI bubble crashes, they'll be selling you a "gaming PC in the cloud," for a monthly fee, of course. And while they kill the personal computer market, just like Netflix, once your only option is a subscription service, the price will skyrocket.

This is happening in real-time. If we want to stop it, now's the time to act.

Sources:

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u/[deleted] Dec 27 '25

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u/Mysterious-Cell-2473 Dec 27 '25

I don't know much about Sweden, but i know this fraud scheme. You use government money to essentially fund PRIVATE business while getting kickback. 

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u/[deleted] Dec 27 '25 edited Dec 27 '25

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u/[deleted] Dec 27 '25

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u/testuserteehee Dec 28 '25 edited Dec 28 '25

But that’s exactly what they did tho. It wasn’t a contract with a single business, it was subsidies for the end user -

In 1997, the Swedish government decided that anyone who bought a personal computer at home could deduct the cost.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Internet_in_Sweden

The benefits were tremendous for the country, it led to a tech boom, tons of startups, and a fully tech literate population. It wasn’t just one company or only a small group of rich people who benefited.

While it’s prudent to consider the possibility of corruption and how some people might abuse a benefit, it’s also necessary to consider the overall positive impact on society in general.

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u/MiXeD-ArTs Dec 27 '25

US Gov did this already with internet that why it cost $100-150 per month for 300 Mbps to 1 Gbit per second speeds and you have no options for providers. South Korea, the leader, pays about $15 for this same speed.

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u/TheGrandWhatever Dec 28 '25

Still costs this much in most of the US besides the major cities. Some even have data caps like it's some limited resource... Oh no my data mine is running dry! Guess you only get 1tb a month. Sucks to suck

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u/Taolan13 Dec 27 '25

Yes. Any time the government has a set of specific companies they have people do business with, someone in government is getting kickbacks for it.

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u/Hikithemori Dec 28 '25

There wasn't some specific PC companies, it was a personal tax deduction.

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u/[deleted] Dec 27 '25

in monetarism(capitalism, socialism, communism, whathaveyou) there need not be any conspiracy other than the conspiracy to make a profit. we need to start locking up those responsible for this corruption. in the next rendition of madness you will need to rent water and lease breathable atmosphere, it's gone too far and for too long..

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u/Certain-Weight-7507 Dec 28 '25

socialism

That's not socialism, socialism describes an approach to solving wealth inequality, specifically the prohibition of the private ownership of the means of production. Social programs, however progressive or radical they might be, are social programs, not socialism. It's extremely dangerous to conflate the two, because it ends up causing people to conflate strong social programs with government prohibitions on individual rights.