7 ms·
Who said what inside the Trump tech meeting
- lintiness 10y agotrump's a nice guy to meet with and listen to a bunch of self-important blowhards who publicly shit on him for months on end.
- bflesch 10y ago.
- lintiness 10y agojust calling it like it is. how many of them would be open enough to call trump in if the positions were reversed?
- filoeleven 10y agoThere would be no reason for them to call him if their positions were reversed. He's not an expert in anything, nor is he any kind of industry leader like the other people in the meeting.
- knz 10y agoIsn't being able to directly speak your mind the whole point of "fuck you money"? Page, Bezos, Musk etc can hold critical views of Trump and still be cordial in a direct meeting. Frankly I hope they do - respect is earned not given. You could also equally say that Trump might have similar feelings meeting with these people.
- ryanhuff 10y agoTrump has demonstrated time and again that he will try to kneecap a company and its CEO if he feels that the CEO says something negative about him.
- csorrell 10y agoThat's business as usual for politicians though isn't it?
- lintiness 10y agothe tech community's attacks on trump were and continue to be very personal (he's a lunatic, etc.). he doesn't owe them a damn thing, much less a policy meeting where he's open to their ideas.
- eduren 10y ago>he doesn't owe them a damn thing, much less a policy meeting where he's open to their ideas Wait, what? He's the president now. It's in his job description to work with them.
- nickff 10y agoYou mean like Obama worked with his opponents?[1][2] [1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2013/10/17/president-obama-to-republicans-i-won-deal-with-it/?utm_term=.3a41abf9ee77 https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2013/10/17/pr... [2] http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/10/25/obama-tells-republicans-sit.html http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/10/25/obama-tells-repub...
- eduren 10y agoOpponents != Constituents. Since Trump is president now he has a duty to listen to the people he serves.
- nickff 10y agoBezos said very negative things about Trump, and I think it is fair to say they were opponents during the election campaign.[1] Even Clinton is a Trump constituent now, but they were (and may still be) political opponents. [1] http://www.businessinsider.com/jeff-bezos-donald-trump-eroding-our-democracy-2016-10 http://www.businessinsider.com/jeff-bezos-donald-trump-erodi...
- PopsiclePete 10y agoIt's just politics.
- ksk 10y agoSo, in your opinion, Trump is big-hearted?
- lintiness 10y agoi didn't post an opinion. this is a fact: trump's listening to people who were insufferably loud assholes to him even though he has absolutely no obligation to do so.
- eduren 10y agoNo obligation? It's his duty as President to work with the American people and the business community.
- nickff 10y agoYou have the right to petition the government, but not the right to have anyone listen to you.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- JadeNB 10y ago> this is a fact: trump's listening to people who were insufferably loud assholes to him This is a fact. "Trump's a nice guy" is an opinion.
- lintiness 10y agoi thought you people were computer programmers for fuck sake. saying someone's "nice" for "doing something" isn't the same as saying they're "nice" generally. where'd you learn to logic?
- ksk 10y agoYou did post an opinion, and it would be easier if you just owned up to that fact.
- Thnboi666 10y agokinda like how trump acts when it comes to foreign relations eh!?
- sabujp 10y agoWay to go Larry, direct DC power for everyone! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-voltage_direct_current https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-voltage_direct_current
- hencq 10y agoYeah, too bad that people were apparently confused about it. I think an HVDC grid will be key as renewables take up a larger share of electricity supply. It might not be windy or sunny here, but it probably is somewhere else.
- trendia 10y ago> Immigration and how the government can help tech with things like H-1B visas to keep and bring in more talent. Nadella pointed out that much of the company’s spending on research and development was in the U.S., even if 50 percent of the sales were elsewhere, so that immigration would benefit those here. If the H1B program remains, they need to give foreign workers the ability to switch firms while in the US. Current policy forces them to remain with their current firm, which reduces their bargaining power and puts them at risk of being overworked and exploited. Further, it reduces competition between firms, lowering wages. (e.g. it is difficult for a H1B worker to get another job with a pay raise, so they are stuck with whatever salary they have.) A study by U Notre Dame (which I cannot find on mobile) showed that H1B visas did not increase innovation measured by patent grants, but did 1) increase company profits, and 2) decrease all salaries at the firm, citizen and non-citizen. This suggests the true incentive of H1B visas is to increase profits by lowering wages, not to find workers that firms are unable to find as citizens.
- ojbyrne 10y ago"Current policy forces them" is pretty strong. In 6 years on an H-1B, I switched jobs 4 times. More recently, USCIS has given guidance on a "grace period" for H-1Bs who lose their employment- they now have up to sixty days to find another sponsoring employer. Yes it could be easier to switch jobs, but "force" is not correct.
- blinkingled 10y ago> USCIS has given guidance on a "grace period" for H-1Bs Phew. Boy oh boy it was a constant strain on us for 8 full years. It is pretty disturbing to not know if you are committing a crime if you were laid off while on H1B and need to look for another job!
- adrenalinelol 10y agoCouldn't agree more, if immigration policy for high skilled workers made them equals to their home-grown peers, it'd put upward pressure on salaries assuming there were reasonable limits on visas granted each year.
- bflesch 10y ago.
- HillaryBriss 10y agoyeah. i wonder about these big news sources in general. the thing about billionaires is: they have a habit of getting what they want. is it paranoid to see investment/ownership running along these lines and lose faith in the integrity of the news? Rupert Murdoch --> Wall Street Journal, NYPost Jeff Bezos --> WaPo Carlos Slim --> NY Times Michael Bloomberg --> Bloomberg News
- devopsproject 10y agoThe media tells us what to think about. The billionaires want to control media so they can sway public opinion and get what they want. 1. The media creates an "issue" 2. The "issue" riles people up 3. Calls are made to congress critters 4. Facebook posts are posted 5. Twitter hash tags are create 6. Billionaire suddenly has a plan to correct\fix\control issue
- wyldfire 10y ago> Also brought up ... the repatriation of tech company profits ...and‽ We want to know not just the agenda but what took place. Even if the administration was noncommittal/unresponsive, stating that would make me feel better. Or if you couldn't get anyone to go on record, maybe at least let us know that you asked and no one offered comment. > Musk also ... brought up ... climate change, in other meetings at Trump Tower. ...and what did Trump say‽ Jeez, you did the drum roll and left me totally hanging. Seems like a controversial topic for sure and no mention of whether Trump dismissed this or debated it or just sat quietly.
- yread 10y ago> Alphabet CEO Larry Page, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins, IBM CEO Ginni Rometty, Intel CEO Brian Krzanich and Oracle CEO Safra Catz. 3 women out of 9 people that's not too bad for tech (or CEOs)!
- anjc 10y agoTrump campaigned on a stance of abolishing the H1B scam - he even had displaced workers giving speeches on stage about it - so I don't know how Nadella can turn around and say "we need to increase H1B issuance".
- paulmd 10y agoNadella didn't campaign on it, and it benefits tech companies to have a ready supply of cheap workers who can be kicked out of the country if they quit. So I imagine it was pretty easy for him to say that.
- anjc 10y agoOh well yeah, I understand that he would say it because it's in his interest. I just think it's odd that he doesn't seem to be aware of Trump's (ostensible) position.
- wyldfire 10y agoOdder still is Trump's response: > Surprisingly to the group, Trump apparently responded favorably, “Let’s fix that,” he said, without a specific promise, and then asked, “What can I do to make it better?” It's almost as if he doesn't have ideals and is very easily influenced by others who can offer him money and/or power.
- jdlshore 10y agoOr his "let's fix that" was just a way of keeping the conversation going and getting more information. It sounds like that's what this meeting was--a chance for the attendees to voice their perspective on what's important.
- brillipad 10y agoTrump should end H1B visa fraud by tech companies, not help increase it. One of the reasons tech companies are so widly profitable is they've suppressed wages using H1B fraud. The whole idea behind H1Bs is that they're for hiring foreign talent that can't be found in the U.S. And yet everyone in the tech world knows it's just a way of hiring more people for less money. The fact is that nearly all H1B workers at tech companies are not specialists in their field. They're just regular tech workers of various kinds. Everyone knows this. Many people on H1Bs eventually become permanent residents, which is a significant part of why working in Silicon Valley is so expensive and why salaries have failed to rise as one would expect given the market. It's true that it helps Silicon Valley as a center of innovation but that's not necessarily all good. More parts of the world should have their own centers and they would if not for H1B fraud.