4 ms·

Most of the educated criticism I've seen isn't about money, it's about power. A lot of his actions have shown that he values power far more than money, and we a

by rm999 11y ago

Most of the educated criticism I've seen isn't about money, it's about power. A lot of his actions have shown that he values power far more than money, and we all know he has been successful in this pursuit (look at the way his facebook voting rights are structured). I think a lot of the criticism in this case is that he isn't really being altruistic - instead he is strengthening the power he has in the most efficient way possible. Nothing too surprising, most intelligent billionaires are very good at this. The difference is most of them don't act like they're doing the world a huge favor for it.

jayess 11y ago
Yet every single politician values power more than the average person, and they're treated as saints.
- eggie 11y ago
  In the US at least, Congressional approval ratings would suggest otherwise. Currently they clock in at a hot 13% "approve": http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/other/congressional_job_approval-903.html http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/other/congressional_...
  - jayess 11y ago
    Yes, but most people give their own congressman good ratings: http://www.gallup.com/poll/162362/americans-down-congress-own-representative.aspx http://www.gallup.com/poll/162362/americans-down-congress-ow... I suppose I meant, in the context of this discussion, that people here tend to complain that "we" should decide how MZ spends his money and that it's a scandal that he's not participating in some collective decision making process. Of course that necessitates politicians and bureaucrats making those decisions, instead of MZ. As though they are better equipped to spend MZ's money than MZ.
  - dragonwriter 11y ago
    > In the US at least, Congressional approval ratings would suggest otherwise. Congressional approval ratings have nothing to do with individual politicians' power and influence; it measures voters approval of an institution over which each person rating the institution has a vote for at most 3 members, each of which spends a substantial amount of their campaign time using the rest of the institution as an excuse for anything that their constituents might not like. Really, low Congressional approval ratings are, arguably, evidence of the success of individual politicians' "don't hate the player, hate the game" strategy for maximizing their personal position.
- wfo 11y ago
  For almost everyone I have ever met, the only time they would think to use "saint" and "politician" -- or the name of any given politician -- in the same sentence is if they're both walking into a bar accompanied by a rabbi.
- cookiecaper 11y ago
  There's really not much of a dichotomy between power and money at the level we're discussing (the level where power is mostly influence). Money is liquid, tokenized power. If you have enough of money, you can get virtually anything you want. That sounds like the same thing as power to me. There is a cruder form of power, which is physical might, but that usually doesn't come into play in jurisdictions with functioning legal and military systems.

by rm999 11y ago

jayess 11y ago

Yet every single politician values power more than the average person, and they're treated as saints.

eggie 11y ago
In the US at least, Congressional approval ratings would suggest otherwise. Currently they clock in at a hot 13% "approve": http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/other/congressional_job_approval-903.html http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/other/congressional_...
- jayess 11y ago
  Yes, but most people give their own congressman good ratings: http://www.gallup.com/poll/162362/americans-down-congress-own-representative.aspx http://www.gallup.com/poll/162362/americans-down-congress-ow... I suppose I meant, in the context of this discussion, that people here tend to complain that "we" should decide how MZ spends his money and that it's a scandal that he's not participating in some collective decision making process. Of course that necessitates politicians and bureaucrats making those decisions, instead of MZ. As though they are better equipped to spend MZ's money than MZ.
- dragonwriter 11y ago
  > In the US at least, Congressional approval ratings would suggest otherwise. Congressional approval ratings have nothing to do with individual politicians' power and influence; it measures voters approval of an institution over which each person rating the institution has a vote for at most 3 members, each of which spends a substantial amount of their campaign time using the rest of the institution as an excuse for anything that their constituents might not like. Really, low Congressional approval ratings are, arguably, evidence of the success of individual politicians' "don't hate the player, hate the game" strategy for maximizing their personal position.
wfo 11y ago
For almost everyone I have ever met, the only time they would think to use "saint" and "politician" -- or the name of any given politician -- in the same sentence is if they're both walking into a bar accompanied by a rabbi.
cookiecaper 11y ago
There's really not much of a dichotomy between power and money at the level we're discussing (the level where power is mostly influence). Money is liquid, tokenized power. If you have enough of money, you can get virtually anything you want. That sounds like the same thing as power to me. There is a cruder form of power, which is physical might, but that usually doesn't come into play in jurisdictions with functioning legal and military systems.