With the much publicized removal of Milo Yiannopoulus' Twitter account's "authenticity", not to mention the outright removal of various controversial conservative twitterers' Twitter accounts, many on the right are up in arms about what seems to be a purposed, biased, and leftist agenda by Twitter to essentially limit the speech of those on the right.
Does Twitter have the right to do such things?
Yes.
Should Twitter ban anybody?
No.
Is Twitter's bias to the left?
Yes.
Should we form another "alternative Twitter?"
Yes.
But all of this debate and kerfuffle about Twitter and how they seem to have it out for non-leftists is moot because while it is immoral and wrong to let politics influence what is effectively an avenue of speech, the simple truth is...
Twitter is not going to exist much longer.
The cold hard truth is that Twitter is not financially viable. It's bankrupt, it's insolvent, and unless they start making some killer profit in the next 6 months they are either going to have to file for bankruptcy or find a VERY charitable investor to infuse their money-losing operation with tons of cash just to keep it afloat another couple years.
You can look at the details here and here, but after issuing "convertible notes" (which is just a fancy term for "borrow money") on the order of $1.8 billion in 2014, the company simply lost ANOTHER $500 million in 2015 like it did in 2014. This is in addition to the perpetual string of annual losses it has ran since...well..forever, and is proof the company is just not a profitable concern.
But what is particularly interesting about this Dotcom Bomb v. 2.0 are two items.
One, if you look at their cash flow statement the majority of "investments" they make are not in property, plant, or equipment, but marketable securities (stocks and bonds). This would be normal if Twitter were a hedge fund or an investment bank. But since it's a social media tech company, it's a sign they don't have faith in their core business and seem to think dumping the proceeds from that $1.8 billion loan into the stock market is a better investment.
Two, the media's BLATANT attempt to mask Twitter's financial problems as "growing pains" or just "standard operating procedure" for a start up (search any new article about Twitter's finances).
I'm sorry, but NO, this is PRECISELY the same BS I saw in the run up to the Dotcom bubble and the housing bubble as well. Charlatan Wall Street talking heads drowning you with pablum to obfuscate the fact this company is a money-losing craphole and has no value. I don't know how many bubbles we have to go through where a company loses half a billion dollars a year (after year...after year...after year) before sanity sinks into the heads of retail and institutional investors and they realize "Oh, crap! This company is garbage!" but apparently it's happening here again. I'm too tired to find out why this is this time (politics, feel good pretty lies, connections, big money backing, etc.), but buying a company that is losing all of its real equity balance every year is like paying somebody to punch you in the face. It plain doesn't make sense.
Ultimately, my point about Twitter is not one of finances or economics. It's not even one of politics. It's one of philosophy.
Look, yes, I know Twitter may have a bias against anybody not-left. I know Twitter likely has leftists working at its helm and in its ranks. And I know it's dishonorable to ban people for their political opinions. But it ultimately doesn't matter what Twitter does politically because unless it's bailed out by a rich benefactor, it's going to inevitably run out of money and shut down. The only way it can continue to exist is if the democrat party (or a branch thereof) continues to perpetually fund it as a money-losing, but press-releasing media arm (which I would not be surprised if they do).
Otherwise, may I suggest for both of you on the right and left who use it as a social media press-release tool to start finding an alternative? Because that which cannot go on forever, won't.
Aaron Clarey is a mean, hate filled economist who unleashes his hatred upon society by telling the truth and putting reality above people's feelings. You can hire him at his consultancy, Asshole Consulting. You may also buy his latest book "Curse of the High IQ" where he explains why you are surrounded by a world full of idiots.
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