Silicon Valley's soulless plutocrats flip for Donald Trump—to save their billions
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Venture capitalists Ben Horowitz and Marc Andreessen claim the tech industry, California, and the country are doomed if the country doesn’t embrace former president Donald Trump.
In a tone-deaf 90-minute podcast they released last week, they cite part of Joe Biden’s budget proposal as the “final straw” that led them to support Donald Trump for president. Far from a clinical analysis of the issues that separate the two leading candidates for America’s top job, their take on Biden’s policies actually provides a useful window to explain why certain wealthy Silicon Valley luminaries previously known as Democrats are suddenly leaning Trump. (That list also includes Chamath Palihapitiya, a 2020 Biden donor who recently cohosted a huge fundraiser for the former president.)
According to Andreessen and Horowitz, the point of their podcast is to explain why they changed sides, especially when they know it means alienating some friends, employees, and even Horowitz’s liberal mom. The longtime partners seem to strive for relatable candor as they detail their disenchantment with Biden. They seem totally unaware that they come off as a Gen-X version of the two soulless plutocrats in the movie Trading Places.
There’s a problem with this argument: No one has seemed to inform founders. This year, 50,000 companies are applying to the startup incubator Y Combinator to fill around 500 slots. And while the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank made 2023 a down year for investment, VCs still managed to invest $170 billion in over 15,000 deals. Andreessen Horowitz raised a $7.2 billion fund just this April. Where’s the crisis?
Andreessen and Horowitz do enumerate several points of disagreement with Biden that affected their decision to go Trump. First, they are outraged that the administration is actively policing cryptocurrency and the blockchain, an area where Andreessen-Horowitz has huge investments.
Strike two against Biden is the provisions in his executive order that attempt to rein in negative effects of huge artificial intelligence foundation models. But the “final straw,” they say, is a budget proposal that would tax unrealized capital gains at 25 percent, affecting only citizens worth over $100 million. Biden's goal is to prevent some (non)-taxpayers from working it so their investments are never realized, allowing them to endlessly monetize their earnings by borrowing against them.
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Mindful, Kindful, Soulful Facilitator
3 个月People with money they know they didn’t earn fairly vote for other people who got their money unfairly? Who. Knew? Who could have _possibly_ seen this coming?
???? Publishing Professional with extensive experience in physical and digital products & sales // Gerne per "Du"
3 个月"Soulless Plutocrats". Really like that expression ??
Filmmaker & Director | Business Owner | Musician | Streamer | Technology Enthusiast & Professional
3 个月If the human race is doomed because we didn't follow a convicted felon and fascist then we deserve to go extinct. Nobody is above the law.
VP Senior Medical Director of Utilization Management, Member Appeals and Grievances & Medical Policy at WellSense Health Plan
3 个月Whah whah whah whah. Oh I actually have to contribute to the success of the country where I was able to become super wealthy. Oh whoa is me. So tired of their nonsense. What they don’t understand is that as soon as they don’t bow down before the sacred leader….they’re next. The problem with fascism is it always winds up turning on everyone including their own.
DETAILER / PM at RESTEEL RETIRED PM /DETAILER. RESTEEL RETIRED
3 个月The riich just wanting more & More, pay your taxes.