Live data from Hacker News

The founder of Craigslist has given away half a billion dollars

independent.co.uk

231–240 of 341 posts

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

#231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a very naive, but common, viewpoint of wealth. "Worth" 1.3 billion does not mean "has 1.3 billion lying around in liquid cash". Net worth is tied up usually in many bank accounts across multiple banks, securities, real estate, trusts, etc. And that's all excluding capital tied up in corporations/orgs. Freeing up and giving away half of a billion dollar net worth is a difficult and time consuming thing, one whi…

I guess that’s why more billionaires don’t give money away, it’s just too hard.

you can donate assets without selling to cash first, the tax incentives and deductions are even better actually

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

#232
Ugh, the only thing giving money out has done has made a few millionaires. If he had $500M he would create much more for the public by creating companies. Seriously, wealth generated by companies far far far exceeds philanthropy, which enriches very few.

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

#233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

I've always been an advocate of the free market. And I'll tell you why. When I was 9, my dad arranged a tour of East Berlin for his family. As part of the deal with the USSR when the 4 zones were partitioned, this was allowed for an Air Force officer. This was at the height of the Cold War. The Wall is gone now, but it was something to behold in those days. There's the Wall, the kill zone, the tank traps, the dogs, t…

Do you have a blog or website with similar anecdotes of life? I found this very interesting.

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

#235
post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You misspelled "ads for prostitution." Which they eventually stopped doing, only after considerable public pressure and state AGs threatening criminal prosecution. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/craigslist-drops-adult-ser... Everyone need stop making out Craig and James out to be super moralistic dudes. They both profited, enormously, off sexual exploitation and human trafficking around the world by (knowingly) se…

Its not a private business fault that US did not create a legal framework protecting sex workers and instead continue facilitate exploitation and traffiking by keeping it illegal. US have legal porn industry and its strictly regulated and mostly safe for those wofking in it. Imagine how it would look like if it was illegal too.

Are you proposing that forming an S-corp somehow eliminates an individuals moral or ethical obligations?

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

#236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The 1% hold more than 40% of the wealth, and therefore should be paying much more than 40% of income taxes, based on proportion alone - nevermind historic precedence before trickle-down Reaganomics. When the top 1% are not in the top tax bracket, something is horribly wrong.

They are in the top tax bracket. The federal income tax is based on income, not wealth.

> They are in the top tax bracket

They are not in the top bracket by choice - a luxury option unavailable to non-wealthy people in the working middle-class who actually are in the top tax bracket.

As you helpfully noted in your second half of your comment, high wealth, deliberately low income[0] means they are not in the top tax bracket[1] on the basis of their carefully calculated, tax-optimized income.

0. Taxable events need be overhauled to cover loopholes, including removing tax-advantages of borrowing against securities. The legal fiction that allows rich people to spend money not recognized as income is deleterious.

1. Warren Buffet, IIRC, noted his assistant was in a higher tax bracket than him.

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

#237
post #38

Is Craigslist still the go-to classifieds site in some places? Around here it’s (very sadly IMO) been almost completely replaced by Facebook Marketplace, to the extent that people make Facebook accounts just to use Marketplace.

I sell on CL and FB Marketplace. Some items that I listed for months on CL sold in days on FB, but I prefer CL. FB search results are inferior often because FB posters created misleading ads and don't delete ads for events that have already occurred. Never tried Nextdoor because they required I give them my cell phone number. My landline number was not enough.

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

#238

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

maybe because we don't see many of said rich people (unless by "build things" you mean "start another company that they can sell and make them even more money")

People don’t build new companies after a successful exit to “make even more money.” You’re projecting.

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

#239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

6 million house is not "modest", cmon.

What percentage of his earnings does represent?

It's still not modest. There's no way in which a $6 million dollar house is "modest".

Don't try to launder it through lying with percentages. It's not modest.

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

#240
post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

6 million house is not "modest", cmon.

Have you checked real estate prices in Manhattan? Today for these prices you can likely buy an appartment. Its just area itself is expensive. Not like owns mansion with a zoo and 100 servants.

The 6 million was a decade ago so can’t be compared with today’s prices
Post reply on HN