4 ms·

California suffers from a Peter Thiel curse. One single individual amassing huge amounts of money, influence, and power has never worked for the common good.

amadeuspagel 4y ago
There are many people richer then Thiel in California, and Thiel has no political power there.
- iinnPP 4y ago
  Sorry but Thiel is one of the ones you actually need to worry about ;)
arinlen 4y ago
> California suffers from a Peter Thiel curse. This. Mr Thiel's highly hypocritical and incoherent rant on "dysfunctional societies" and "corrupt governments" is nothing more admitting that the likes of him are refusing to contribute at all back to society, let alone proportionally to what they personally benefited from it, and are thus single-handedly actively causing its deterioration. Mr Thiel, pay your taxes, and in the process put your money where your mouth is and start contributing back to fixing problems. You're supposed to be bootstrappy and a problem-solver, aren't you? Why did any of your industrious spirit vanished once it's your time to pay back to society what you owe it? Is it easy to build a huge mansion in a gated community but too hard to work with local and state governments to chip in a fraction of that cost to invest in urban renewal programs, social programs, or even social housing?
- rayiner 4y ago
  No, the problem is the engineers, not Thiel. European countries also have billionaires. But the billionaires don’t pay for the social housing, etc. Sweden doesn’t have a wealth tax, it has low corporate taxes, and low capital gains taxes too. Sweden has all the robust welfare system because the top tax rate starts at around $75,000/year. The only reason California doesn’t look like Sweden is because your average California liberal is a hypocrite and won’t put their money where their mouth is.
  - endisneigh 4y ago
    Isn’t it hard to become a Swedish citizen?
    - bluepizza 4y ago
      You need around four years living in Sweden, and pass some basic language tests. It’s not very hard.
      - endisneigh 4y ago
        You’re telling me an adult in any country on earth can move to Sweden (how hard is it to move to Sweden), stay there for 4 years, pass a test and become a citizen? I’m skeptical.
        daniel-cussen 4y ago
        Yeah and that's why people are losing their shit, just can't can't CAN'T dude super small country. In any case blonde girl Sweden and human rights Sweden are not the same place.
        bluepizza 4y ago
        Well, I understand your skepticism, which is always healthy. I recommend a good Google/Reddit search to find all of the nuances of the subject, but overall, yes, if you are legally working in Sweden for 4 years, you can become a citizen.
        endisneigh 4y ago
        How easily can you work in Sweden with no ties at all? I did Google a bit and didn’t see anything supporting what you said. https://www.migrationsverket.se/English/Private-individuals/Becoming-a-Swedish-citizen/Apply-for-citizenship/Citizenship-for-adults.html https://www.migrationsverket.se/English/Private-individuals/...
- spaginal 4y ago
  Local, state, and federal government at this stage of our national financial collapse is a bottomless grifting machine. Telling someone to pay their taxes to fix this problem is kind of like telling someone to drink more poison to cure their stomach ache.
- __derek__ 4y ago
  > You're supposed to be bootstrappy and a problem-solver, aren't you? Why did any of your industrious spirit vanished once it's your time to pay back to society what you owe it? It's interesting that Peter Thiel's preferred mythology (bootstrappy problem-solver with an industrious spirit) has become canon even among skeptics.
  - arinlen 4y ago
    > It's interesting that Peter Thiel's preferred mythology (bootstrappy problem-solver with an industrious spirit) has become canon even among skeptics. Peter Thiel's mythology revolves around the idea that all of society's problema are solved by industrious individuals, much like himself, instead of the state. And now we see the likes of a Peter Thiel not only robbing the state of the means to actually do the job he's whining they should do, but also doing absolutely zero to do anything about the problem. It's not a mythology. It's entitlement, hypocrisy, cinicism, and rationalized greed.
    - blep_ 4y ago
      Mythology, but in the Greek sense, where all the (gods|rich people) are actually terrible people, but you have to play along or your life will get worse, and we spin all failures to do so as personal failings.
    - __derek__ 4y ago
      My comment's target was the mythology about Thiel's origin story.
daniel-cussen 4y ago
Dude he helps kids who are getting lynched in college drop out! He has bad investments in idealistic companies! What more do you want! He had a bunch of home runs and got rich, he actually talks, like here, dude!

amadeuspagel 4y ago

There are many people richer then Thiel in California, and Thiel has no political power there.

iinnPP 4y ago
Sorry but Thiel is one of the ones you actually need to worry about ;)

arinlen 4y ago

> California suffers from a Peter Thiel curse. This. Mr Thiel's highly hypocritical and incoherent rant on "dysfunctional societies" and "corrupt governments" is nothing more admitting that the likes of him are refusing to contribute at all back to society, let alone proportionally to what they personally benefited from it, and are thus single-handedly actively causing its deterioration. Mr Thiel, pay your taxes, and in the process put your money where your mouth is and start contributing back to fixing problems. You're supposed to be bootstrappy and a problem-solver, aren't you? Why did any of your industrious spirit vanished once it's your time to pay back to society what you owe it? Is it easy to build a huge mansion in a gated community but too hard to work with local and state governments to chip in a fraction of that cost to invest in urban renewal programs, social programs, or even social housing?

rayiner 4y ago
No, the problem is the engineers, not Thiel. European countries also have billionaires. But the billionaires don’t pay for the social housing, etc. Sweden doesn’t have a wealth tax, it has low corporate taxes, and low capital gains taxes too. Sweden has all the robust welfare system because the top tax rate starts at around $75,000/year. The only reason California doesn’t look like Sweden is because your average California liberal is a hypocrite and won’t put their money where their mouth is.
- endisneigh 4y ago
  Isn’t it hard to become a Swedish citizen?
  - bluepizza 4y ago
    You need around four years living in Sweden, and pass some basic language tests. It’s not very hard.
    - endisneigh 4y ago
      You’re telling me an adult in any country on earth can move to Sweden (how hard is it to move to Sweden), stay there for 4 years, pass a test and become a citizen? I’m skeptical.
      - daniel-cussen 4y ago
        Yeah and that's why people are losing their shit, just can't can't CAN'T dude super small country. In any case blonde girl Sweden and human rights Sweden are not the same place.
      - bluepizza 4y ago
        Well, I understand your skepticism, which is always healthy. I recommend a good Google/Reddit search to find all of the nuances of the subject, but overall, yes, if you are legally working in Sweden for 4 years, you can become a citizen.
        endisneigh 4y ago
        How easily can you work in Sweden with no ties at all? I did Google a bit and didn’t see anything supporting what you said. https://www.migrationsverket.se/English/Private-individuals/Becoming-a-Swedish-citizen/Apply-for-citizenship/Citizenship-for-adults.html https://www.migrationsverket.se/English/Private-individuals/...
spaginal 4y ago
Local, state, and federal government at this stage of our national financial collapse is a bottomless grifting machine. Telling someone to pay their taxes to fix this problem is kind of like telling someone to drink more poison to cure their stomach ache.
__derek__ 4y ago
> You're supposed to be bootstrappy and a problem-solver, aren't you? Why did any of your industrious spirit vanished once it's your time to pay back to society what you owe it? It's interesting that Peter Thiel's preferred mythology (bootstrappy problem-solver with an industrious spirit) has become canon even among skeptics.
- arinlen 4y ago
  > It's interesting that Peter Thiel's preferred mythology (bootstrappy problem-solver with an industrious spirit) has become canon even among skeptics. Peter Thiel's mythology revolves around the idea that all of society's problema are solved by industrious individuals, much like himself, instead of the state. And now we see the likes of a Peter Thiel not only robbing the state of the means to actually do the job he's whining they should do, but also doing absolutely zero to do anything about the problem. It's not a mythology. It's entitlement, hypocrisy, cinicism, and rationalized greed.
  - blep_ 4y ago
    Mythology, but in the Greek sense, where all the (gods|rich people) are actually terrible people, but you have to play along or your life will get worse, and we spin all failures to do so as personal failings.
  - __derek__ 4y ago
    My comment's target was the mythology about Thiel's origin story.

daniel-cussen 4y ago

Dude he helps kids who are getting lynched in college drop out! He has bad investments in idealistic companies! What more do you want! He had a bunch of home runs and got rich, he actually talks, like here, dude!