In recent days, the Facebook board member and PayPal cofounder - who is also a member of the Trump transition - has been appealing to fellow entrepreneurs of all political stripes to share their best ideas and possibly join the incoming administration.
...Thiel, a libertarian who was shunned by his tech industry peers for being a Trump supporter, is pitching his personal network of entrepreneurs on the opportunity to influence an incoming administration that is somewhat of a blank slate when it comes to technology policy. Because Trump had so few ties to the world of tech, Thiel will have an unusually powerful influence on the new administration, the people familiar with his thinking said.
...But in the liberal bastion of Silicon Valley — where Trump is despised and even admitting you’re a Republican can hurt your candidacy for a job – that coveted opportunity has been fraught with challenges. And some people have turned him down altogether. Thiel declined to comment.
People who have joined Thiel form a tight-knit group of conservative and libertarian-leaning entrepreneurs who have long felt ostracized in Silicon Valley for their political views, a source said. Many are excited to finally have a voice in government.
Some entrepreneurs who had not been politically active said the opportunity was too good to pass up. “The chance to influence the government is a huge opportunity,” said Jack Abraham, a serial entrepreneur who is executive director of the Thiel Fellowship. “There are people who are repulsed by Trump, and it’s understandable - Silicon Valley is very liberal. But it’s unfortunate [that some people don’t want to contribute] because this is a unique opportunity for smart people to inject ideas.
...Entrepreneurs working in emerging areas that the government has yet to fully regulate, such as the virtual currency bitcoin and drones, see the value in having a line to an administration that so far has had few ties in the tech world."
37 comments:
Yes, wouldn't it be a pleasant surprise if Zuckerberg and company put America first. Don't hold your breath.
Silicon Valley despises Trump not because they are social liberals and he is not, but because he threatens their very illiberal business model -- that of freely importing the least expensive talent. The Valley now needs to cry and shut very loudly" American kids are stupid and can't compete with foreign talent." We'll see how that goes over.
The Left seems Hell-bent on making sure Americans want as little to do with them as possible for the foreseeable future.
ricpic said...
Yes, wouldn't it be a pleasant surprise if Zuckerberg and company put America first. Don't hold your breath.
Zuck's net wealth has dropped 3.7B. Elections have consequences.
Lem, Deb, or Chip: WTH happened to the window in the upper right that lets me access posts? It's completely gone.
Nevermind, it fixed itself by restarting Safari.
Listen the only silicon valley that Trump and the Trumpkins are concerned about is the valley between the silicon enhanced tits of Miss Universe Contestants.
ricpic said...Yes, wouldn't it be a pleasant surprise if Zuckerberg and company put America first. Don't hold your breath.
Zuckerberg has been sucking up to the Chinese because he wants to extend Facebook in their territory. He's failed so far. That won't impede his dream, however. It's always Facebook first, America second.
Apple has $205 billion in cash stuck offshore. That is something that needs to be addressed.
deborah said...Apple has $205 billion in cash stuck offshore. That is something that needs to be addressed.
Apple should address that. They can invest that where they wish. But if they choose to invest overseas, they should be clear about that and stop posing as a powerhouse of American innovation and commerce. I'm jaded though. I was told by one too many Apple store employees that I needed to upgrade.
Silicon Valley, like Hollywood has a high percentage of successful rich people who got that way by luck or through assets they were born with (math aptitude, or hot looks) rather than hard work and sacrifice. That doesn't automatically make you a liberal, but it does often disconnect you from people who work hard and long whether successful or not, and the challenges of not being lucky.
Chick, sometimes you HAVE to upgrade...like when they stop making batteries for your little red LG slider.
Apple, like anyone else, should be able to put their money into any legal vehicle or location they wish - it is their money after all. If you think some of that is bad for America, then don't buy a damned Apple product! It's just like the bitching about jobs being outsourced out of the country. If you don't want that, stop buying their products. Imagine how powerful it would be if a company's executives knew that outsourcing would kill their sales, their stock, their bonuses, and their own jobs. The American people actually have total power over all that - we just don't want to take the responsibility and pay the cost. We just want our cheap stuff. The companies that voluntarily bring or keep jobs here are at a severe competitive disadvantage if WE don't choose them over imports. Forcing them to be at that disadvantage for nothing in return is suicidal. The domestic companies will fail or sell off, the jobs will go, and only the outsourcers will be left, and sitting better than ever. Nothing will save American jobs if Americans support foreign workers instead with their purchasing dollars.
You make perfect sense, bago. The other thing I don't think people get is we get things cheap because China is holding our paper. The upside is if we go down, they go down.
Bags has presented the globalist doctrine very concisely and in an easy to understand way.
I manufacture clothes in the United States of America employing Americans albeit recent legal immigrants. I offer higher quality sewing and fabrics as opposed to cheap ploy blends made in sweatshops overseas. The mass produced crap is beating my balls off. When people say they will pay extra for stuff made in America they are lying. It is as simple as that.
So if Trump puts a tariff on cheap imports to keep manufacturing here I am all for it. I am for America first. Trump is going to smack China around. He already has them off balance.
It might mean you can't get a dress for $5 at Walmart well so be it.
I am for American jobs. American manufacturing. America First.
Many Americans are anti-american. Especially liberals who hate the flag...hate the country...hate the working man no matter how many lies they sell. They laughed at saving 1,000 jobs and mocked what Trump did. They want their cheap stuff from China because they are worthless pieces of shit. You can't fight that.
Now you say to me let the market decide. Well the government puts "sin" taxes on commodities that they want to discourage people from buying all the time. They put it on cigarettes and liquor and even gasoline. So lets do it on cheap fucking imports in cars and air conditioners and clothes. Lets discourage the cheap cocksuckers from buying defective Chinese crap. It should be a "sin" to buy an import when you can buy American.
America first, last and always.
"Bags has presented the globalist doctrine very concisely and in an easy to understand way."
Just obvious facts, but those who label the truth as evil will have no problem believing an alternative.
"It should be a "sin" to buy an import when you can buy American."
I admire your purity, and have no doubt you are a pious adherent to what you preach.
Where does that leave the Trumps? I wonder if Trump and his family will stop outsourcing their products. I mean it's not like someone with their resources didn't have a choice all these years. Their products are high-end stuff that has the margin to succeed even if made here. Why would they do that, and will they keep doing it?
I think Trump definitely needs to stop outsourcing his products. If he does not I will slam him much harder than you would bags.
The same way that Ann Coulter will slam him if he pack peddles on immigration.
We are holding our fire. But he needs to put his money where his mouth is.
I think he will. We shall see.
I think it would be more effective to have the g-men go around to every business and household and drag out everything not made in America and burn it. Then we all have a fresh start from where we are free to buy only American or go to jail. I mean if you really love America, you can't just let Americans buy whatever they want. We'd all be heroin addicts smoking Cuban cigars if you allow that shit.
America first. Get serious about it or get out.
It is always instructive to see how people mock the sentiment that American workers should have a chance to have jobs instead of enabling globalization. You saw it in the Carrier deal.
Which is fair enough. Everybody gets to pick a side and do what they think is best.
Trump and I are on the side of America and American workers.
It is always instructive to see how people mock the sentiment that American workers should have a chance to have jobs instead of enabling globalization. You saw it in the Carrier deal.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the bagsian argument is that economists like Adam Smith gave the invisible finger to favoring protected markets of any kind. It should be a dog-eat-dog race to the lowest possible wage scale.
What, the Dickens you say?
Punishing your own companies and having government bureaucrats making special deals and imposing arbitrary restraints on them is what made Venezuela great again, not America. Sean Penn approves.
And I don't mock American workers. I have been one all my life and still am one, I hire and train them everyday, and I owe everything to them. I'm not of the merchant class or one of those who don't work but sit at home surrounded by their Chinese-made possessions bloviating about making America great again while doing nothing but extracting checks and typing.
I'm not of the merchant class or one of those who don't work but sit at home surrounded by their Chinese-made possessions bloviating about making America great again while doing nothing but extracting checks and typing.
Do you actually know people like that?
And I don't mock American workers.
Wanna bet?
I have been one all my life and still am one, I hire and train them everyday, and I owe everything to them.
A CEO/owner class-wanna be pretends he's one of the people. Hilarious.
Silicon Valley, like Hollywood has a high percentage of successful rich people who got that way by luck or through assets they were born with (math aptitude, or hot looks) rather than hard work and sacrifice.
I love the admitted implication here that looks and math aptitude are gifts from above whereas business aptitude/success is just a clever parlor game that any jackoff can acquire and excel at.
Our previous, first "MBA president" was a man called "W." Let's see how the next-to-bat tycoon works out.
"Do you actually know people like that?"
Hell yea! They haven't really worked for years. They blame that on the last company they worked for, or Mexicans, or Indians, or some other scapegoat, but they won't take a new job unless it makes them looks good, pays substantially better than collecting unemployment or disability, and guarantees them a long stable job, but they will work under the table to sell their time or stuff they can find or make while never paying a cent in taxes, and then they bitch about employers not hiring them and people taking advantage of the country. They are lazy, entitled, and cheat the system the rest of pay for. They always have internet and a computer, I know lots of them, and I bet you do too.
" It should be a dog-eat-dog race to the lowest possible wage scale."
No, it should be a dog eat dog race to the best values (plural) Different consumers demand different values, some are cost defined, some are quality, some brand, some are origin, or health related, or religious, etc. Consumers have all kinds of things they care about and buy accordingly. Wages are determined the same way. The consumer is the employer and they want certain qualities in labor - maybe skill, intelligence, dependability or cost. They want what allows them to satisfy their customers, and they HAVE to pay for it no matter what it costs. That's why the only thing that will bring jobs back in any lasting way is to get "Made in America" to be a desired quality in American consumers over price. The employer that consistently pays more than he has to to satisfy customers is an employer destined to not employ anyone soon.
Just imagine what would happen if Americans insisted on "Made in America" like they do an Apple or Google brand.
What I don't understand is why a consumer that might like the Trump brand for instance, because they think it denotes quality or elitism, would not be turned off by it being made in Chinese sweatshop for pennies. They don't care, and so neither does the company - Trump.
W
" It should be a dog-eat-dog race to the lowest possible wage scale."
Bags doesn't believe in any value other than financial value. His response to this confirms it. Non-financial values are values that he lacks. That's why he believes in currency over country. Much like Soros. In fact, exactly the same.
R&B, It's clear you don't value money, since you obviously overpaid for your education.
Hell yea! They haven't really worked for years. They blame that on the last company they worked for, or Mexicans, or Indians, or some other scapegoat, but they won't take a new job unless it makes them looks good, pays substantially better than collecting unemployment or disability, and guarantees them a long stable job, but they will work under the table to sell their time or stuff they can find or make while never paying a cent in taxes, and then they bitch about employers not hiring them and people taking advantage of the country. They are lazy, entitled, and cheat the system the rest of pay for. They always have internet and a computer, I know lots of them, and I bet you do too.
That's the lowest, dirtiest, most untrue thing you've ever written about me. I shall never forgive you.
I hope you are being sarcastic. I was not talking about you, although looking back at it, I can see why you might think I was. I have no idea what you do with your day. I really do know many people like that. Half my hometown is like that, and I probably would have been too if I didn't get out. Maybe someone in here is like that, but I wouldn't know it. I respect you, and always have. In fact, you are my favorite commenter in here. I don't always agree with you, but I find you reasonable open and intelligent. If the description is anything like you, don't tell me. I like the image I have.
The relative anonymity of the internet is a dangerous thing. Maybe we weren't meant to communicate like this. It encourages openness, but also deception and misunderstanding.
I read an article I wish I could find, about the scalability of China's factories. The key example was that Steve Jobs made a last minute change in how he wanted the glass on the new iphones to look, so he ordered how many thousands of new ones to be made in time for the launch. It talked about how many, many workers could be rousted out of bed and put to work. They had the people and the production capacity. The article said the US no longer has that kind of scalability.
I don't think that bags was referring to anyone in particular in his rant. I could have taken this quote personally:
"I'm not of the merchant class or one of those who don't work but sit at home surrounded by their Chinese-made possessions bloviating about making America great again while doing nothing but extracting checks and typing."
I don't think it is commenter specific....just a general contempt for people who stand up for the working man and against globalization.
Well, that kind of was my point, the people I was referring to don't stand up for anything, especially work.
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