161–170 of 766 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Freedom is not freedom without power to exercise said freedom.
There is no law preventing me from doing 100 pushups right now. Yet I also find myself powerless to do it. Does that mean I'm not free to do pushups?
He's making a wise investment decision - if Trump wins he will probably gain a lot in favors. If Trump loses, he will lose a little bit of money and some goodwill of some people. I'm sure he can live with that. Cynical.
I'd absolutely agree if I thought: 1. Thiel needed favors 2. Trump was going to hand out favors 3. It wasn't too late. #3 is really what gets me. We've got 3 weeks. Mail-in ballots are out in a bunch of states already. Peoples' minds are made up. The election is basically over. If you believe in extreme polling error, sure, Trump could win -- but, again, it's so late, will this have made the difference? I almost wond…
He's making a wise investment decision - if Trump wins he will probably gain a lot in favors. If Trump loses, he will lose a little bit of money and some goodwill of some people. I'm sure he can live with that. Cynical.
I'd absolutely agree if I thought: 1. Thiel needed favors 2. Trump was going to hand out favors 3. It wasn't too late. #3 is really what gets me. We've got 3 weeks. Mail-in ballots are out in a bunch of states already. Peoples' minds are made up. The election is basically over. If you believe in extreme polling error, sure, Trump could win -- but, again, it's so late, will this have made the difference? I almost wond…
Politics aside. What does it say about his judgement to continue investing in something that is statistically on track to fail. Not only that, but its also a toxic brand to attach yourself to. Or do we just put this in the "expensive new hobby" section and leave it at that. ---- Update: I want to hijack my own comment to ponder something. As someone with no money and no influence, I find it hard to think about how to…
Pretty much all of Thiel's investing thesis is to invest in things that are statistically on track to fail, but whose payoff if they succeed is greater than most people imagine. PayPal, Facebook - both of these were terrible ideas when they came out (along with a number of other ones that did, in fact, fail). His idea is that people consistently mis-price risk, and so investing in a portfolio where everyone else thin…
Its unclear what Peter Thiel is supporting with this donation. This candidate is highly inconsistent. Perhaps his bet is that if this candidate is elected, it will result in chaos. A sharp, rapid upheaval will enable him to accelerate his overall agenda. Given his net worth he is insulated from the negative effects this chaos will have on everyone else. Given his net worth he, and others who support his agenda can qu…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Available jobs increase with population. Additional people need more services, goods, etc. This leads to increased demand. In other words, more people are needed to produce stuff for more people.
Required jobs scale very very poorly with population. I wouldn't be surprised if the rate was something less than 1 additional person in the workforce for every 10 additional people in the population.
Its unclear what Peter Thiel is supporting with this donation. This candidate is highly inconsistent. Perhaps his bet is that if this candidate is elected, it will result in chaos. A sharp, rapid upheaval will enable him to accelerate his overall agenda. Given his net worth he is insulated from the negative effects this chaos will have on everyone else. Given his net worth he, and others who support his agenda can qu…
The policies on donaldjtrump.com have been the same for a long time, and Trump has not contradicted them for the most part.
[1] - http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/full-list-dona...
I'm genuinely curious what the rational for Thiel is in doing this. He's a smart guy, but I just don't see the ROI. At this point, it seems very unlikely that Trump will get elected. So Thiel isn't getting access to a future President. Plus, in addition to the monetary cost of the donation there's definitely a very real reputational cost. A lot of people in SV hate Trump and are completely mystified as to Thiel's sup…
Maybe he's just a racist who holds women in contempt and hates muslims. It's hardly unheard of.
The forum discussions, here and elsewhere, give outside observers this impression:
|=============================X=| Candidate X: some minor flaws, but overall a great option
|=X=============================| Candidate Y: the new Hitler, world falls apart if elected
|============================X==| amazing candidate
|================X==============| acceptable candidate
|=======X=======================| Clinton & Trump: dishonest, obviously manipulative untrustworthy crooks
within rounding error of each other