Why a $154B CEO just endorsed stripping most Americans of voting rights • Hacker News Board

Re: Why a $154B CEO just endorsed stripping most Americans of voting rights

#91

Post by fakedang » Tue, Jul 28, 2026, 2:32 PM UTC

buellerbueller wrote: post #60

fakedang wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly just my experience, but I've found it ironic that finance bros in my circle have gone the other way i.e. the effective altruism, philosophizing, podcasting route. While tech bros are now turning openly elitist, and in some cases, racist. And before anyone claims it's selection bias from within my left-leaning circle, I was well involved within the Tory circus until recently (a couple of years back).

This supports my belief that when being a finance bro was the only way to Croesus-level wealth, sociopaths tended to go into finance, so they could transcend societal norms with their wealth. Then, tech came along, making finance bro-level wealth seem quaint. Where did all the sociopaths go...well, you saw for yourself.

I agree, this could strongly be the case. Especially since now the most elite in finance are either working in quant roles and /or megafund private equity, both of which are extremely selective compared to tech. Megafund PE was always and still remains a bastion of conservatism, but quant shops still select for more objective skillsets meritocratically.

Re: Why a $154B CEO just endorsed stripping most Americans of voting rights

#92

Post by mrwh » Tue, Jul 28, 2026, 2:33 PM UTC

taybin wrote: post #28

The thing about this that's so distasteful is that it removes the basis of enfranchisement from being the inherent worth of a human life and moves it more to "what have you done for me lately". It's pretty gross.

I don't know why you're being downvoted, gross is exactly the word for it.

Re: Why a $154B CEO just endorsed stripping most Americans of voting rights

#93

Post by throw1234567891 » Tue, Jul 28, 2026, 2:33 PM UTC

piker wrote: post #24

The article is paywalled, but isn’t he Canadian? Who cares what he thinks.

He’s German who lived in Canada for too long.

Re: Why a $154B CEO just endorsed stripping most Americans of voting rights

#94

Post by vkou » Tue, Jul 28, 2026, 2:33 PM UTC

throw1234567891 wrote: post #50

And the fall of Shopify begins now.

He's been a turd that any reasonable person would endorse stripping of his wealth for years.

Hasn't affected the bottom line one whit.

Re: Why a $154B CEO just endorsed stripping most Americans of voting rights

#95

Post by otterley » Tue, Jul 28, 2026, 2:33 PM UTC

jimmyjazz14 wrote: post #54

Its cute how people who don't live here have the worst ideas for how we should run our country, like we don't see what they are trying to do.

People who do live here also have terrible ideas. Terrible ideas can come from anywhere!

Re: Why a $154B CEO just endorsed stripping most Americans of voting rights

#96

Post by duped » Tue, Jul 28, 2026, 2:33 PM UTC

sph wrote: post #61

duped wrote: post #35

Shopify seems to have a fascist problem.

Words have a well-defined meaning. Fascism, as established by Benito Mussolini, has nothing to do with oligarchy or plutarchy.

I'm referring to how both Lütke and DHH, a Shopify board member, have fascist politics.

The word does have meaning. But underlying that meaning is a philosophy that there is an in group that should have power and many out groups from which power should be stripped. There is a long history of industrial leaders supporting fascist ideology.

Re: Why a $154B CEO just endorsed stripping most Americans of voting rights

#97

Post by kennywinker » Tue, Jul 28, 2026, 2:34 PM UTC

andsoitis wrote: post #29

> one that would strip voting rights from anyone who pays no income tax It could be an interesting thought experiment to consider the second and third order consequences, even if, from first principles this is a non-starter in a democratic society. First off all, what percent of people do not pay any taxes on income? What portion of them are poor vs. hedge fund managers or other super wealthy people who have structur…

We don’t have to go farther back than 100 years in history to know what this looks like. Poll taxes, land ownership requirements, etc. were pretty common. So were goon squads to beat and murder people who tried to change that. It wasn’t good.

Re: Why a $154B CEO just endorsed stripping most Americans of voting rights

#98

Post by avalys » Tue, Jul 28, 2026, 2:34 PM UTC

odyssey7 wrote: post #64

avalys wrote: post #42

What is inherently unreasonable about the idea that only people who pay into the system get a say in how the system operates? The constitution still guarantees fundamental human rights. Another idea - everyone is eligible to vote for the presidency and House of Representatives, but only net taxpayers can vote for the Senate. The idea that there should be some kind of checks and balances on spending taxpayer money, wh…

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed”

Yes, and what I outlined is one reasonable way to implement “the consent of the governed”, and still a lot more democratic and inclusive than the system the authors of that statement implemented for the next ~150 years after writing it!

Re: Why a $154B CEO just endorsed stripping most Americans of voting rights

#99

Post by kklisura » Tue, Jul 28, 2026, 2:34 PM UTC

andsoitis wrote: post #29

> one that would strip voting rights from anyone who pays no income tax It could be an interesting thought experiment to consider the second and third order consequences, even if, from first principles this is a non-starter in a democratic society. First off all, what percent of people do not pay any taxes on income? What portion of them are poor vs. hedge fund managers or other super wealthy people who have structur…

> Lütke holds seven per cent of Shopify, according to Forbes, and controls nearly a third of the votes attached to the company’s current shares. Since March 1, 2020, his base salary has been the figure he requested: $1, down from his previous $800,000. [1]

[1] https://financialpost.com/personal-finance/high-net-worth/wh...

Re: Why a $154B CEO just endorsed stripping most Americans of voting rights

#100

Post by nozzlegear » Tue, Jul 28, 2026, 2:35 PM UTC

MarkusQ wrote: post #82

Paywalled articles seem to enhance the "comment without reading, based on vibes" effect. From the article: "Pension recipients should have their financial futures “locked in and guaranteed,” but in return would be reclassified as “dependents” and lose the right to vote—the same way minors can’t vote. A reply from “Eric Thor,” who claimed to be a retired banking executive as well as “armchair economist and policy wonk…

No I think most commenters are responding to that. It's a shitty take from a shitty billionaire.