the destroyer of worlds Posted August 25 Share Posted August 25 36 minutes ago, Elias Pettersson said: Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Around in circles we go... If lobbying and campaign contributions didn't matter, then you wouldn't have politicians lining up to kiss the rings of billionaires like the late Sheldon Adelson or George Soros or the Koch Brothers or..... There is a reason why the TRUMP tax cuts benefited the wealthy and corporations. A reason why their cuts were permanent and the cuts for the lower and middle classes were temporary. Billionaire funded think tanks wrote a lot of the QOPs legislation. They wrote the tax cuts that the politicians passed. Want another reason why billionaires shouldn't be celebrated. Look into Tesla and their anti union crusade. The decades long union busting anti labour mindset is another reason for our current economic calamity. 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Long Posted August 25 Share Posted August 25 3 minutes ago, Elias Pettersson said: Life is supposed to be easy Bob. I'm just doing my part really... I actually like this new version of you, I'd rather debate with you honestly on issues so keep it going. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curmudgeon Posted August 25 Share Posted August 25 56 minutes ago, Bob Long said: You're assigning blame to a group of extremely privileged people, but I don't know what the mechanism is for them to do what you want them to. I have thought about this a fair bit over the years, about how to get the mega corporations to take on a greater financial role in supporting society. I would give the largest corporations a choice: you can pay 20% of yearly REVENUES (not profit, which can be easily fudged) to the government in direct taxes, OR Pay 15% to directly fund a program that helps improve the lives of every citizen. Examples: Canadian Tire might decide they will donate 15% of their revenues to food banks across the country; the chartered banks may contribute for building affordable housing; the grocery industry might commit to free breakfasts and lunches for school kids. Each corporate entity would adopt a cause and contribute to it on an ongoing yearly basis, covering health, housing, education, infrastructure, the arts, athletics, medical research or whatever else improves the lives of Canadians. The net result is that corporations will be required to pay a greater portion in "taxes" but are given the choice of where they want to direct that funding to go. The corporation still makes money, is making a direct contribution to society, is a trusted and admired corporate citizen, and takes on a lot of the responsibility for spending that is currently done by governments. Government revenues diminsh, but government spending does, too. Final note: I am aware there are flaws in this plan, but all I am trying to do is to compel the largest, most profitable corporate entities to return a portion of their revenue to programs and initiatives to help the people that made them rich in the first place. 1 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elias Pettersson Posted August 25 Share Posted August 25 23 minutes ago, the destroyer of worlds said: If lobbying and campaign contributions didn't matter, then you wouldn't have politicians lining up to kiss the rings of billionaires like the late Sheldon Adelson or George Soros or the Koch Brothers or..... There is a reason why the TRUMP tax cuts benefited the wealthy and corporations. A reason why their cuts were permanent and the cuts for the lower and middle classes were temporary. Billionaire funded think tanks wrote a lot of the QOPs legislation. They wrote the tax cuts that the politicians passed. Want another reason why billionaires shouldn't be celebrated. Look into Tesla and their anti union crusade. The decades long union busting anti labour mindset is another reason for our current economic calamity. Billionaires on both sides of the aisle benefit from governments. I never said billionaires should be celebrated. I said they shouldn't have to be the ones bailing out society and they also aren't responsible for poverty. Ultimately, that falls on the governments... Bob made a good point. He said Elon is a dick, but he still is contributing to society in a great way vis a vis his SpaceX program, Tesla and Starlink. Bailing out NASA and rescuing the astronauts seems to be a big deal. Why deny this just because you hate Elon? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elias Pettersson Posted August 25 Share Posted August 25 3 minutes ago, Curmudgeon said: I have thought about this a fair bit over the years, about how to get the mega corporations to take on a greater financial role in supporting society. I would give the largest corporations a choice: you can pay 20% of yearly REVENUES (not profit, which can be easily fudged) to the government in direct taxes, OR Pay 15% to directly fund a program that helps improve the lives of every citizen. Examples: Canadian Tire might decide they will donate 15% of their revenues to food banks across the country; the chartered banks may contribute for building affordable housing; the grocery industry might commit to free breakfasts and lunches for school kids. Each corporate entity would adopt a cause and contribute to it on an ongoing yearly basis, covering health, housing, education, infrastructure, the arts, athletics, medical research or whatever else improves the lives of Canadians. The net result is that corporations will be required to pay a greater portion in "taxes" but are given the choice of where they want to direct that funding to go. The corporation still makes money, is making a direct contribution to society, is a trusted and admired corporate citizen, and takes on a lot of the responsibility for spending that is currently done by governments. Government revenues diminsh, but government spending does, too. Final note: I am aware there are flaws in this plan, but all I am trying to do is to compel the largest, most profitable corporate entities to return a portion of their revenue to programs and initiatives to help the people that made them rich in the first place. Isn't this already the case? A&W had teen burger day a few days ago. $2 for every teen burger sold in Canada went to MS. Did you buy a teen burger that day? I did. One of my friends even bought 40 teen burgers for all of his staff for lunch that day. That's just one example of many. CIBC has it's run for the cure to support cancer. I just posted about how Elon Musk has donated almost $7 billion in stock for charity. The Bill and Melinda Gates foundation. Warren Buffet is literally giving away 99% of his wealth to charity. ALOT of these billionaires donate in private. It's not made public. Taylor Swift is an example of that. If you want to start taxing corporations an extra 20%, then get ready for those corporations to start outsourcing their jobs to other countries and some may even close shop in Canada and the US. This is already happening. Apple makes their phones in China in sweatshops. So you can buy an iphone for cheaper. Telus has call centres in India so they can pay those employees a fraction of what someone in Canada would get paid. Also, corporations that are publicly traded have to answer to their shareholders who technically own the company. You want to charge them an extra 20% in taxes, what do you think will happen to the stock price? It's not just the CEO's that make money. Lots of investors make money too. That's how the stock market functions. If everybody sold their shares the stock market would tank and that would cause a recession. There are lots of moving parts here. You can't just slap a 20% extra tax on a corporation and not expect a negative domino effect to happen.... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Arrogant Worms Posted August 25 Share Posted August 25 2 hours ago, Elias Pettersson said: It must be nice to be able to post fake news without pushback from anyone. Petr Aven and Vadim Moshkovich have zero ownership in X. Their sons work for a company that has a 1% interest in X. Both their sons are American citizens. One even graduated from Harvard. Also, Prince Al-Waleed was already a shareholder of Twitter prior to Musk purchasing the company. He was also a donor to the Clinton Foundation. He also owns stakes in several US companies. At one time he was the largest shareholder in Citigroup and Apple. Was Steve Jobs also a Russian agent like Elon Musk? Russian Oligarch-Linked Fund Tied to Elon Musk’s Twitter Purchase written by EUToday Correspondents August 25, 2024 https://eutoday.net/russian-oligarch-behind-musks-twitter-purchase/ 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Arrogant Worms Posted August 25 Share Posted August 25 Trump Gets Menstrual On Kamala Harris Running Mate — Slams ‘Tampon Tim’ In Sunday Rant https://www.mediaite.com/politics/trump-gets-menstrual-on-kamala-harris-running-mate-slams-tampon-tim-in-sunday-rant/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elias Pettersson Posted August 25 Share Posted August 25 12 minutes ago, The Arrogant Worms said: Russian Oligarch-Linked Fund Tied to Elon Musk’s Twitter Purchase written by EUToday Correspondents August 25, 2024 https://eutoday.net/russian-oligarch-behind-musks-twitter-purchase/ Joe Londsale is the founder of 8VC corporation... After it came out that I’m supporting Trump this election, it was no surprise to be attacked by lefty journalists on multiple topics. The far-left Rolling Stone’s hit piece on me a few days ago based on our policy org Cicero’s success - we’re helping several states reduce corruption and death by fixing incentives and increasing accountability in the homelessness services area - is a badge of honor. But perhaps the most pathetic hit piece is a nativist Forbes reporter looking to paint our two Russian colleagues at 8VC as a “scandal”. America is an amazing country in part because it attracts the best and brightest, enabling us to achieve great things with talented people of all backgrounds. People like Albert Einstein, Jensen Huang, or Elon Musk. 8VC has ten partners including me and nearly 70 employees today, and we work closely with several hundred founders, who employ hundreds of thousands of leaders and innovators. We co-found companies and we invest. I work with colleagues of all backgrounds - men and women from Iowa, or from California; from Texas, and from Argentina; even close friends and allies from China and Iran, and from many other places, including Russia. We met my colleague Jack when he was a talented young man graduating from Stanford several years ago, known to people we respected as one of their brightest friends. My partner hired him and he became an analyst, and over the coming years rose through our firm quickly and is a star Principal, working as a leader at 8VC and earning the respect of our colleagues and of many founders and CEO’s. It turns out that his father is a successful agricultural leader in Russia; if you’re a businessman in Russia, and their leader says to meet, you go, regardless of your views. His father is now on "oligarch" sanction lists. I didn’t hire his father though, I hired him. And he’s a superstar. Jack has a US green card and is a resident allowed to be in the USA, as he should be - and he’s somebody I know and trust. Denis is a friend of Jack’s with whom he grew up - somebody he told us that he admired and respected as one of the brightest people in his life. Denis went to secondary school in the UK, and attended places like Yale and Harvard. When he was graduating with his master’s degree, a leading PE firm had been paying for it and he planned to go work there, but the cowards at that firm saw that Denis had a father who was now on sanction lists, and told Denis they could no longer hire him - for now to wait a year or so until things blow over, etc. So what did I do when I heard about this? I've known my colleague Jack for years, and trust his judgment. I looked into it, spoke with mentors I respect on the topic, and met with Denis. Truly top talent is hard to find, and we were impressed. Denis hasn’t lived in Russia since he was 12. Should we be holding him accountable for the invasion, and driving this amazing talent out of the USA? We work in a lot of sectors, including defense where I’ve founded more top US companies than anybody alive, not least Palantir, and we support great entrepreneurs. We have huge wins in bio-manufacturing, are the top venture firm in US logistics, and have done amazing work in healthcare and fintech - another company I founded and chair now has over a thousand firms reporting over seven trillion dollars over our system. These days we are doing leading work in AI and AI-services. Leaders I respect, including friends and mentors in the defense world, agreed with my decision. Let’s be honest: a lot of people make decisions based on fear today, especially money managers. A lesser man might put silly opinions and anxiety ahead of the truth and the substance of what’s right, and would have been afraid to hire Denis; lesser men in fact were. I detest Putin, and I’ve fought to help eliminate terrorists, save the US government billions, and make us more competent to deter our adversaries - at least as well as any American in the defense sector. But we also do important work in other areas, and I happen to disagree that it’s a good strategy for us to isolate the smart, wealthy Russian people themselves. Regardless, we have a strict compliance and legal framework and always make sure to respect and follow the law. We haven’t taken any money from their fathers or their fathers’ friends, and don’t need it - we know the relevant institutions and wealthy people everywhere in the world, and our funds are massively oversubscribed, as we hit home run after home run in multiple areas and keep the fund sizes smaller than our peers. But there’s no reason not to work with a talent like Denis on the AI Services theme and other areas as we are doing, and to help him soon launch a new venture with us as an EIR. This reporter wanted a response; he has it. I’m lucky to live in the greatest country in the world, and it will remain as such if we can keep working with the top talent of all backgrounds, including, yes, Chinese and Russians and Israelis et al, without demonizing people for imagined things they didn’t do. I’m not naive that there are bad guys in this world, and I’ll follow the law and the advice of US intelligence and defense leaders we respect, but beyond that I will continue to use my judgement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boudrias Posted August 25 Share Posted August 25 2 hours ago, Elias Pettersson said: 25% of Canadians live below the poverty line. Is that the fault of billionaires or the government? Are Jim Pattison and Francesco Aquilini supposed to fix the problem of government incompetence by writing cheques? Is wealth redistribution the answer to fixing poverty? Your going to cause headaches asking deep questions like that. Progressives don't like thinking stuff thru. 1 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Arrogant Worms Posted August 25 Share Posted August 25 Maria Bartiromo and Byron Donalds think Obama's controlling country through 'earpiece' https://www.rawstory.com/bartiromo-donalds-obama/ 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Arrogant Worms Posted August 25 Share Posted August 25 1 minute ago, Boudrias said: Your going to cause headaches asking deep questions like that. Progressives don't like thinking stuff thru. I am progressive. Are you telling me I do not like to think thru "stuff?" C'mon.....you are better than that. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Arrogant Worms Posted August 25 Share Posted August 25 5 minutes ago, Elias Pettersson said: Joe Londsale is the founder of 8VC corporation... After it came out that I’m supporting Trump this election, it was no surprise to be attacked by lefty journalists on multiple topics. The far-left Rolling Stone’s hit piece on me a few days ago based on our policy org Cicero’s success - we’re helping several states reduce corruption and death by fixing incentives and increasing accountability in the homelessness services area - is a badge of honor. But perhaps the most pathetic hit piece is a nativist Forbes reporter looking to paint our two Russian colleagues at 8VC as a “scandal”. America is an amazing country in part because it attracts the best and brightest, enabling us to achieve great things with talented people of all backgrounds. People like Albert Einstein, Jensen Huang, or Elon Musk. 8VC has ten partners including me and nearly 70 employees today, and we work closely with several hundred founders, who employ hundreds of thousands of leaders and innovators. We co-found companies and we invest. I work with colleagues of all backgrounds - men and women from Iowa, or from California; from Texas, and from Argentina; even close friends and allies from China and Iran, and from many other places, including Russia. We met my colleague Jack when he was a talented young man graduating from Stanford several years ago, known to people we respected as one of their brightest friends. My partner hired him and he became an analyst, and over the coming years rose through our firm quickly and is a star Principal, working as a leader at 8VC and earning the respect of our colleagues and of many founders and CEO’s. It turns out that his father is a successful agricultural leader in Russia; if you’re a businessman in Russia, and their leader says to meet, you go, regardless of your views. His father is now on "oligarch" sanction lists. I didn’t hire his father though, I hired him. And he’s a superstar. Jack has a US green card and is a resident allowed to be in the USA, as he should be - and he’s somebody I know and trust. Denis is a friend of Jack’s with whom he grew up - somebody he told us that he admired and respected as one of the brightest people in his life. Denis went to secondary school in the UK, and attended places like Yale and Harvard. When he was graduating with his master’s degree, a leading PE firm had been paying for it and he planned to go work there, but the cowards at that firm saw that Denis had a father who was now on sanction lists, and told Denis they could no longer hire him - for now to wait a year or so until things blow over, etc. So what did I do when I heard about this? I've known my colleague Jack for years, and trust his judgment. I looked into it, spoke with mentors I respect on the topic, and met with Denis. Truly top talent is hard to find, and we were impressed. Denis hasn’t lived in Russia since he was 12. Should we be holding him accountable for the invasion, and driving this amazing talent out of the USA? We work in a lot of sectors, including defense where I’ve founded more top US companies than anybody alive, not least Palantir, and we support great entrepreneurs. We have huge wins in bio-manufacturing, are the top venture firm in US logistics, and have done amazing work in healthcare and fintech - another company I founded and chair now has over a thousand firms reporting over seven trillion dollars over our system. These days we are doing leading work in AI and AI-services. Leaders I respect, including friends and mentors in the defense world, agreed with my decision. Let’s be honest: a lot of people make decisions based on fear today, especially money managers. A lesser man might put silly opinions and anxiety ahead of the truth and the substance of what’s right, and would have been afraid to hire Denis; lesser men in fact were. I detest Putin, and I’ve fought to help eliminate terrorists, save the US government billions, and make us more competent to deter our adversaries - at least as well as any American in the defense sector. But we also do important work in other areas, and I happen to disagree that it’s a good strategy for us to isolate the smart, wealthy Russian people themselves. Regardless, we have a strict compliance and legal framework and always make sure to respect and follow the law. We haven’t taken any money from their fathers or their fathers’ friends, and don’t need it - we know the relevant institutions and wealthy people everywhere in the world, and our funds are massively oversubscribed, as we hit home run after home run in multiple areas and keep the fund sizes smaller than our peers. But there’s no reason not to work with a talent like Denis on the AI Services theme and other areas as we are doing, and to help him soon launch a new venture with us as an EIR. This reporter wanted a response; he has it. I’m lucky to live in the greatest country in the world, and it will remain as such if we can keep working with the top talent of all backgrounds, including, yes, Chinese and Russians and Israelis et al, without demonizing people for imagined things they didn’t do. I’m not naive that there are bad guys in this world, and I’ll follow the law and the advice of US intelligence and defense leaders we respect, but beyond that I will continue to use my judgement. Stopped reading after he wrote " lefty journalists" 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Satchmo Posted August 25 Share Posted August 25 14 minutes ago, Elias Pettersson said: Billionaires on both sides of the aisle benefit from governments. I never said billionaires should be celebrated. I said they shouldn't have to be the ones bailing out society and they also aren't responsible for poverty. Ultimately, that falls on the governments... Bob made a good point. He said Elon is a dick, but he still is contributing to society in a great way vis a vis his SpaceX program, Tesla and Starlink. Bailing out NASA and rescuing the astronauts seems to be a big deal. Why deny this just because you hate Elon? I can deny some of it (all the while thinking Elon is a dangerous dick). - Space X/Starlink is absolutely cluttering the sky with satellites causing problems for radio astronomers and thus getting in the way of science. - All rocket launches are bad for the environment. The launches that are good for science are too few (IMHO). - Tesla is a good and trendy investment (and some interesting engineering for a nerd). If Elon is so environmentally concerned why is he doing nothing else to save the planet? Most environmentalists have their fingers in many environmental pies while Elon has his fingers in just one big money maker(while telling Trump to drill baby drill). - Elon is helping NASA because Boeing can't. Sometimes being in the right place/right time is just dumb luck. - Starlink has been pretty selective on what is and is not available to Ukraine. (the Russian conspiracy theorists can take it from here). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boudrias Posted August 25 Share Posted August 25 23 minutes ago, Elias Pettersson said: Isn't this already the case? A&W had teen burger day a few days ago. $2 for every teen burger sold in Canada went to MS. Did you buy a teen burger that day? I did. One of my friends even bought 40 teen burgers for all of his staff for lunch that day. That's just one example of many. CIBC has it's run for the cure to support cancer. I just posted about how Elon Musk has donated almost $7 billion in stock for charity. The Bill and Melinda Gates foundation. Warren Buffet is literally giving away 99% of his wealth to charity. ALOT of these billionaires donate in private. It's not made public. Taylor Swift is an example of that. If you want to start taxing corporations an extra 20%, then get ready for those corporations to start outsourcing their jobs to other countries and some may even close shop in Canada and the US. This is already happening. Apple makes their phones in China in sweatshops. So you can buy an iphone for cheaper. Telus has call centres in India so they can pay those employees a fraction of what someone in Canada would get paid. Also, corporations that are publicly traded have to answer to their shareholders who technically own the company. You want to charge them an extra 20% in taxes, what do you think will happen to the stock price? It's not just the CEO's that make money. Lots of investors make money too. That's how the stock market functions. If everybody sold their shares the stock market would tank and that would cause a recession. There are lots of moving parts here. You can't just slap a 20% extra tax on a corporation and not expect a negative domino effect to happen.... How about the CPP and other private pension funds that hold stocks in their portfolios. Anyone suggestion corporations do not benefit people are full of BS. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boudrias Posted August 25 Share Posted August 25 6 minutes ago, The Arrogant Worms said: I am progressive. Are you telling me I do not like to think thru "stuff?" C'mon.....you are better than that. No I'm not. You got the wrong guy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Heffy Posted August 25 Share Posted August 25 (edited) 13 minutes ago, Elias Pettersson said: Joe Londsale is the founder of 8VC corporation... After it came out that I’m supporting Trump this election, it was no surprise to be attacked by lefty journalists on multiple topics. The far-left Rolling Stone’s hit piece on me a few days ago based on our policy org Cicero’s success - we’re helping several states reduce corruption and death by fixing incentives and increasing accountability in the homelessness services area - is a badge of honor. But perhaps the most pathetic hit piece is a nativist Forbes reporter looking to paint our two Russian colleagues at 8VC as a “scandal”. America is an amazing country in part because it attracts the best and brightest, enabling us to achieve great things with talented people of all backgrounds. People like Albert Einstein, Jensen Huang, or Elon Musk. 8VC has ten partners including me and nearly 70 employees today, and we work closely with several hundred founders, who employ hundreds of thousands of leaders and innovators. We co-found companies and we invest. I work with colleagues of all backgrounds - men and women from Iowa, or from California; from Texas, and from Argentina; even close friends and allies from China and Iran, and from many other places, including Russia. We met my colleague Jack when he was a talented young man graduating from Stanford several years ago, known to people we respected as one of their brightest friends. My partner hired him and he became an analyst, and over the coming years rose through our firm quickly and is a star Principal, working as a leader at 8VC and earning the respect of our colleagues and of many founders and CEO’s. It turns out that his father is a successful agricultural leader in Russia; if you’re a businessman in Russia, and their leader says to meet, you go, regardless of your views. His father is now on "oligarch" sanction lists. I didn’t hire his father though, I hired him. And he’s a superstar. Jack has a US green card and is a resident allowed to be in the USA, as he should be - and he’s somebody I know and trust. Denis is a friend of Jack’s with whom he grew up - somebody he told us that he admired and respected as one of the brightest people in his life. Denis went to secondary school in the UK, and attended places like Yale and Harvard. When he was graduating with his master’s degree, a leading PE firm had been paying for it and he planned to go work there, but the cowards at that firm saw that Denis had a father who was now on sanction lists, and told Denis they could no longer hire him - for now to wait a year or so until things blow over, etc. So what did I do when I heard about this? I've known my colleague Jack for years, and trust his judgment. I looked into it, spoke with mentors I respect on the topic, and met with Denis. Truly top talent is hard to find, and we were impressed. Denis hasn’t lived in Russia since he was 12. Should we be holding him accountable for the invasion, and driving this amazing talent out of the USA? We work in a lot of sectors, including defense where I’ve founded more top US companies than anybody alive, not least Palantir, and we support great entrepreneurs. We have huge wins in bio-manufacturing, are the top venture firm in US logistics, and have done amazing work in healthcare and fintech - another company I founded and chair now has over a thousand firms reporting over seven trillion dollars over our system. These days we are doing leading work in AI and AI-services. Leaders I respect, including friends and mentors in the defense world, agreed with my decision. Let’s be honest: a lot of people make decisions based on fear today, especially money managers. A lesser man might put silly opinions and anxiety ahead of the truth and the substance of what’s right, and would have been afraid to hire Denis; lesser men in fact were. I detest Putin, and I’ve fought to help eliminate terrorists, save the US government billions, and make us more competent to deter our adversaries - at least as well as any American in the defense sector. But we also do important work in other areas, and I happen to disagree that it’s a good strategy for us to isolate the smart, wealthy Russian people themselves. Regardless, we have a strict compliance and legal framework and always make sure to respect and follow the law. We haven’t taken any money from their fathers or their fathers’ friends, and don’t need it - we know the relevant institutions and wealthy people everywhere in the world, and our funds are massively oversubscribed, as we hit home run after home run in multiple areas and keep the fund sizes smaller than our peers. But there’s no reason not to work with a talent like Denis on the AI Services theme and other areas as we are doing, and to help him soon launch a new venture with us as an EIR. This reporter wanted a response; he has it. I’m lucky to live in the greatest country in the world, and it will remain as such if we can keep working with the top talent of all backgrounds, including, yes, Chinese and Russians and Israelis et al, without demonizing people for imagined things they didn’t do. I’m not naive that there are bad guys in this world, and I’ll follow the law and the advice of US intelligence and defense leaders we respect, but beyond that I will continue to use my judgement. Complaining about "fake news" and then wants us to take the words from this worthless piece of shit who who's working with these orcs seriously. Edited August 25 by King Heffy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Satchmo Posted August 25 Share Posted August 25 8 minutes ago, Elias Pettersson said: Joe Londsale is the founder of 8VC corporation... After it came out that I’m supporting Trump this election, it was no surprise to be attacked by lefty journalists on multiple topics. The far-left Rolling Stone’s hit piece on me a few days ago based on our policy org Cicero’s success - we’re helping several states reduce corruption and death by fixing incentives and increasing accountability in the homelessness services area - is a badge of honor. But perhaps the most pathetic hit piece is a nativist Forbes reporter looking to paint our two Russian colleagues at 8VC as a “scandal”. America is an amazing country in part because it attracts the best and brightest, enabling us to achieve great things with talented people of all backgrounds. People like Albert Einstein, Jensen Huang, or Elon Musk. 8VC has ten partners including me and nearly 70 employees today, and we work closely with several hundred founders, who employ hundreds of thousands of leaders and innovators. We co-found companies and we invest. I work with colleagues of all backgrounds - men and women from Iowa, or from California; from Texas, and from Argentina; even close friends and allies from China and Iran, and from many other places, including Russia. We met my colleague Jack when he was a talented young man graduating from Stanford several years ago, known to people we respected as one of their brightest friends. My partner hired him and he became an analyst, and over the coming years rose through our firm quickly and is a star Principal, working as a leader at 8VC and earning the respect of our colleagues and of many founders and CEO’s. It turns out that his father is a successful agricultural leader in Russia; if you’re a businessman in Russia, and their leader says to meet, you go, regardless of your views. His father is now on "oligarch" sanction lists. I didn’t hire his father though, I hired him. And he’s a superstar. Jack has a US green card and is a resident allowed to be in the USA, as he should be - and he’s somebody I know and trust. Denis is a friend of Jack’s with whom he grew up - somebody he told us that he admired and respected as one of the brightest people in his life. Denis went to secondary school in the UK, and attended places like Yale and Harvard. When he was graduating with his master’s degree, a leading PE firm had been paying for it and he planned to go work there, but the cowards at that firm saw that Denis had a father who was now on sanction lists, and told Denis they could no longer hire him - for now to wait a year or so until things blow over, etc. So what did I do when I heard about this? I've known my colleague Jack for years, and trust his judgment. I looked into it, spoke with mentors I respect on the topic, and met with Denis. Truly top talent is hard to find, and we were impressed. Denis hasn’t lived in Russia since he was 12. Should we be holding him accountable for the invasion, and driving this amazing talent out of the USA? We work in a lot of sectors, including defense where I’ve founded more top US companies than anybody alive, not least Palantir, and we support great entrepreneurs. We have huge wins in bio-manufacturing, are the top venture firm in US logistics, and have done amazing work in healthcare and fintech - another company I founded and chair now has over a thousand firms reporting over seven trillion dollars over our system. These days we are doing leading work in AI and AI-services. Leaders I respect, including friends and mentors in the defense world, agreed with my decision. Let’s be honest: a lot of people make decisions based on fear today, especially money managers. A lesser man might put silly opinions and anxiety ahead of the truth and the substance of what’s right, and would have been afraid to hire Denis; lesser men in fact were. I detest Putin, and I’ve fought to help eliminate terrorists, save the US government billions, and make us more competent to deter our adversaries - at least as well as any American in the defense sector. But we also do important work in other areas, and I happen to disagree that it’s a good strategy for us to isolate the smart, wealthy Russian people themselves. Regardless, we have a strict compliance and legal framework and always make sure to respect and follow the law. We haven’t taken any money from their fathers or their fathers’ friends, and don’t need it - we know the relevant institutions and wealthy people everywhere in the world, and our funds are massively oversubscribed, as we hit home run after home run in multiple areas and keep the fund sizes smaller than our peers. But there’s no reason not to work with a talent like Denis on the AI Services theme and other areas as we are doing, and to help him soon launch a new venture with us as an EIR. This reporter wanted a response; he has it. I’m lucky to live in the greatest country in the world, and it will remain as such if we can keep working with the top talent of all backgrounds, including, yes, Chinese and Russians and Israelis et al, without demonizing people for imagined things they didn’t do. I’m not naive that there are bad guys in this world, and I’ll follow the law and the advice of US intelligence and defense leaders we respect, but beyond that I will continue to use my judgement. You may have missed it, but pages ago I commented on the Twitter/Russia thing by saying I've looked into and I'm not convinced it is true. That's about all I said. I did not point angry fingers. I did not go on and on complaining about fake news and the rights of billionaires. No arguments resulted from my post. (I realize this could be taken as a request for you to be more like me but that wouldn't be such a bad thing would it? ) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gurn Posted August 25 Share Posted August 25 Amazing what is allowed to be published in Canada, by an editor: https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/politics/hammer-no-one-is-buying-it/ar-AA1pprpB?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531&cvid=e518e0ed25bc4016ab453b539ec48fd4&ei=24#comments Just a snippet "On the second night of their satanic summit," 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elias Pettersson Posted August 25 Share Posted August 25 18 minutes ago, The Arrogant Worms said: Stopped reading after he wrote " lefty journalists" So, you stopped reading right before you got to the part where it says that the two Russian oligarchs own ZERO percent of X? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elias Pettersson Posted August 25 Share Posted August 25 14 minutes ago, King Heffy said: Complaining about "fake news" and then wants us to take the words from this worthless piece of shit who who's working with these orcs seriously. So, Joe Lonsdale and the two sons of the oligarchs who now live in the USA, went to Stanford, Yale and Harvard and have zero connections back to Russia and their fathers are all worthless pieces of shit? Why? Because you got called out for posting fake news and now you're upset about it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Heffy Posted August 25 Share Posted August 25 1 minute ago, Elias Pettersson said: So, Joe Lonsdale and the two sons of the oligarchs who now live in the USA, went to Stanford, Yale and Harvard and have zero connections back to Russia and their fathers are all worthless pieces of shit? Why? Because you got called out for posting fake news and now you're upset about it? I don't consider some Trump loving piece of garbage's tantrum to be a valid source. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Arrogant Worms Posted August 25 Share Posted August 25 6 minutes ago, Elias Pettersson said: So, you stopped reading right before you got to the part where it says that the two Russian oligarchs own ZERO percent of X? I would stop if someone wrote "righty" also. It is childish. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Satchmo Posted August 25 Share Posted August 25 3 minutes ago, Elias Pettersson said: So, Joe Lonsdale and the two sons of the oligarchs who now live in the USA, went to Stanford, Yale and Harvard and have zero connections back to Russia and their fathers are all worthless pieces of shit? Why? Because you got called out for posting fake news and now you're upset about it? Need I now go internet searching for criminals who went to Stanford, Yale, or Harvard or should I just accept I'd find a bunch and not bother? How about rich criminals? You give fancy education and fancy wealth too much credit and absolution methinks. It's actions, not station, that counts. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post DSVII Posted August 25 Popular Post Share Posted August 25 (edited) 2 hours ago, Elias Pettersson said: The destruction of the middle class is the fault of governments not billionaires. Tax cuts aren’t created by billionaires, they are created by governments. Tax loopholes are created by governments. Inflation via money printing is created by governments. Government debt is created by governments. Poverty is literally created by governments. World wars are created by governments. Notice a pattern? Billionaires are active participants in these events. Billionaires through political lobbying, think tanks and wage suppression have fed into the destruction of the middle class. Tax loopholes are made by policy makers and think tanks, all funded by Billionaires. Government debt is incurred from tax cuts proposed by Think Tanks funded by Billionaires. Poverty and the resulting Social safety nets being defunded and strained are because Billionaires are refusing to pay living wages, like Walmart's Walton family. Imprisonment in the states has a profit incentive, as is medical and big pharma. Wars today are driven by the military industrial complex, benefiting billionaires like Erik Prince of Blackwater Government is a part of the system yes, but it is but one component. Big Pharma Big Media Big Tech Big Brands (Groceries etc...) Big Government Make no mistake, too many billionaires are an extractive, parasitic presence on the system. To blame just the government is just buying into their bs and diverting attention from the roots of the issues here. Money in Politics, mainly driven by Billionaires. Edited August 25 by DSVII 1 2 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elias Pettersson Posted August 25 Share Posted August 25 1 minute ago, Satchmo said: Need I now go internet searching for criminals who went to Stanford, Yale, or Harvard or should I just accept I'd find a bunch and not bother? How about rich criminals? You give fancy education and fancy wealth too much credit and absolution methinks. It's actions, not station, that counts. I'm sure there are alot of criminals that went to Harvard, so please don't bother and go spend this extra time on a beautiful Sunday afternoon with your better half!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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