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The founder of Craigslist has given away half a billion dollars

independent.co.uk

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Re: The founder of Craigslist has given away half a billion dollars

#131

Post by rayiner »

Forgeties79 wrote: post #121
rayiner wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of non-profits are just jobs programs for people who run in the same educational/social circles as the wealthy people. Not all non-profits obviously. But a shocking amount when you get close to it.

And for-profit companies are better than a quality non-profit…how?

Note my caveat: "Not all non-profits obviously."

I didn't say anything about a "quality non-profit." I said that a lot of non-profits are jobs programs for people who travel in the same social circles as wealthy people. Those non-profits often make little meaningful impact. Those non-profits are worse than for-profit companies because ineffectual for-profit companies at least go out of business. By contrast, fund-raising for non-profits generally isn't based on results, it's based on social networks. Donors get the same tax write-off whether the non-profit is effective or not. And they have social reasons for donating to non-profits run by people they or their spouse went to school with, grew up with, etc.

Re: The founder of Craigslist has given away half a billion dollars

#132

Post by computerex »

WalterBright wrote: post #14
zuzululu wrote: post #2

good for him! but empty words to the american working class it may be too late, now ppl hate the rich

[flagged]

Except capitalism is a zero sum game. The two people you talk about that are multimillionaires are lucky. For each person you know that has made it, there are thousands of people that are equally as hardworking/talented but are destined to slum away for the rest of their lives.

All human beings deserve to live a happy life. We live in a world where few have accumulated more capital than they could ever spend in their lives while others starve to death.

I don't think anyone with a good moral conscience can support America's brand of capitalism. We live in a world where few live, the rest survive.

Re: The founder of Craigslist has given away half a billion dollars

#133

Post by dlcarrier »

helterskelter wrote: post #6

I don't know much about this guy, but I remember reading an interview with him maybe 15 years ago where he was asked if his lifestyle had changed since he came into money and if he bought a new house or anything, and his answer was basically something like: "Not really, and I've already got good water pressure where I'm at, what else do I need?" I can't help but like his attitude.

He has a point. Good water pressure us underrated.

Re: The founder of Craigslist has given away half a billion dollars

#134

Post by dfxm12 »

roksprok wrote: post #27

Craigslist is often held up as an example of a company "doing it right", but what is never mentioned in these posts is that a large portion of their revenue comes from facilitating scams. Around 25% of rooms/apartments I contact are scams, and Craigslist has so far done nothing to prevent these. A common scam is to take pictures from a real estate site of a house that recently sold and advertise it as for rent, but t…

Of course I've found some too good to be true auto listings on cl (so I stayed away), but this is a weird thing to fixate on when there are scams on Amazon, fb marketplace, newspaper classifieds, etc.

As an aside, I think getting involved in making people prove they live at an address to cl is not the right way to do anything, especially in the context of cl, where many listings may have many different people who live together at that same address.

Re: The founder of Craigslist has given away half a billion dollars

#135

Post by dstroot »

BeetleB wrote: post #125
dstroot wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I once wanted to build an alternative to Craig’s list. There were SO MANY things I had ideas to improve. Then I realized I had literally no idea how Craig’s list makes money. None. They did not charge for ads and they didn’t have advertising. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

IIRC, he said the bulk of revenue comes from job listings.

Thanks!

Re: The founder of Craigslist has given away half a billion dollars

#136

Post by rayiner »

ryandrake wrote: post #7

> “They told me that I should treat people like I want to be treated,” he said. “I should know when enough is enough. And they told me I should be my brother's keeper or my sister's keeper. And that made sense to me.” Refreshing to see a multimillionaire+ who actually knows the meaning of the word "enough." The world seems to be run by people who don't even know of the word.

> Refreshing to see a multimillionaire+ who actually knows the meaning of the word "enough." The world seems to be run by people who don't even know of the word.

What makes you think rich people keep working to make more money, instead of doing it because they want to build things and want to have the capital to do it? We don't exactly live in the era of inherited wealth anymore.

Re: The founder of Craigslist has given away half a billion dollars

#137

Post by esafak »

urbandw311er wrote: post #51
helterskelter wrote: post #6

I don't know much about this guy, but I remember reading an interview with him maybe 15 years ago where he was asked if his lifestyle had changed since he came into money and if he bought a new house or anything, and his answer was basically something like: "Not really, and I've already got good water pressure where I'm at, what else do I need?" I can't help but like his attitude.

I can't help but like his altitude.

Well, he is flying high.

Re: The founder of Craigslist has given away half a billion dollars

#138

Post by computerex »

gottorf wrote: post #73
micro2588 wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

median household income is not higher in missisippi vs germany, especially not true if you adjust for the value of healthcare, education, and social benefits including time off work.

There are, of course, many ways to measure this, some of which are slightly higher for Germany and some for Mississippi. Many are in the same ballpark, which is pretty crazy to think about. Many of these statistics take into account the taxpayer-funded programs you mentioned. Broadly speaking, the median Mississippian is about as rich as the median German, with the tradeoff being that the Mississippian has greater ac…

Your point is totally and completely wrong. Germany has public benefits that actually matter. Germany's average life expectancy is ahead of Mississippi by *10 years*. Germany ranks as one of the highest in the world in general satisfaction of the people, Mississippi does not.

Re: The founder of Craigslist has given away half a billion dollars

#140

Post by [deleted] »

jmalicki wrote: post #101
dyauspitr wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Giving away money is stupid. With that much money I would rather fund companies that push the frontier on something. If it fails no biggie, if it succeeds it will probably end up employing people and giving them a source of income for life while simultaneously contributing to human progress.

You're saying charities like OpenAI that people have given money to haven't pushed the frontier on anything? You'd rather vibecode a SaaS or start a dropshipping business because that is somehow pushing the frontier more than a charity like OpenAI people gave away money to?

[deleted]
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