Earlier quoted context omitted.
whats the matter californian, scared of a little wealth tax?
[flagged]
This is so vague that it makes me believe you know even less about him than me, and I've barely heard of the guy!
Silicon Valley Is Panicking About Zohran Mamdani. NYC's Tech Scene Is Not
31–40 of 84 posts
Re: Silicon Valley Is Panicking About Zohran Mamdani. NYC's Tech Scene Is Not
#32Re: Silicon Valley Is Panicking About Zohran Mamdani. NYC's Tech Scene Is Not
#33It's a funny ideology that's like "We're going to end scarcity and implement UBI, but also, be scared of socialism."
Ending scarcity and funding UBI is uniquely possible in a capitalist society, where there is excess wealth generation. In the UK we use our capitalist excess wealth to fund socialised healthcare. But don't mistake socialised service provision for socialism Socialism implies state control of the means of production. The results of socialism, we witnessed in Eastern Europe and elsewhere during the 20th century: scarcit…
In all the actual examples I can think of, the totalitarianism came first. Eastern Europe mostly had socialism imposed by an occupying force, and that same force also imposed totalitarian governments. In other places, Communists took over, set up a totalitarian government, and then proceeded to implement whatever they thought socialism/communism entails.
Re: Silicon Valley Is Panicking About Zohran Mamdani. NYC's Tech Scene Is Not
#34It's a funny ideology that's like "We're going to end scarcity and implement UBI, but also, be scared of socialism."
Ending scarcity and funding UBI is uniquely possible in a capitalist society, where there is excess wealth generation. In the UK we use our capitalist excess wealth to fund socialised healthcare. But don't mistake socialised service provision for socialism Socialism implies state control of the means of production. The results of socialism, we witnessed in Eastern Europe and elsewhere during the 20th century: scarcit…
>Socialism implies state control of the means of production.
Socialism literally implies the opposite. That's why it's called socialism. Under capitalism, capitalists own the means of production. Under fascism, the government and the state collaborate to own the means of production. Under socialism, the means of production are socially (collectively) owned. In the most extreme interpretation of socialism, communism, the goal is the elimination of the state entirely.
Granted, historically, communist states tended to centralize power rather than work towards their own elimination because that's the inherent evil of governments, particularly revolutionary governments. But to claim that socialism presupposes authoritarianism is to expose the fact that everything you know about socialism comes from capitalist propaganda.
>And then the people rise up and demand a the restoration of a free society where people can own the fruits of their labour.
(╯°□°)╯ ┻━┻ That's socialism!
Re: Silicon Valley Is Panicking About Zohran Mamdani. NYC's Tech Scene Is Not
#35It's a funny ideology that's like "We're going to end scarcity and implement UBI, but also, be scared of socialism."
> We're going to end scarcity and implement UBI, I don't think that I've ever heard anyone in SV, at least not anyone with any real power, honestly suggest that. They don't want to pay people more than they absolutely have to now , and that's with most labor being done by humans. When humans stop being the engine of economic growth, why would those people suddenly want to implement UBI and end scarcity? It's a fugazi…
Sam Altman says it all the time. If Sam Altman "doesn't have any real power" than the phrase doesn't mean anything.
Re: Silicon Valley Is Panicking About Zohran Mamdani. NYC's Tech Scene Is Not
#36> Silicon Valley In this case, does that mean something more like "an exclusive clique of lucky tech-bros that converge on political views in their private channels"? As a larger region/industry, I can't see why SV would "panic" about a city mayor of a different city in another state thousands of miles away, no matter how populous the city is.
I'll break it down for you. For a long time, neoliberals like Pelosi and Chuck Schumer have run the Democratic party. They have enjoyed soaking up the progressive votes from the more left parts of the party, but they have done everything possible to prevent those elements from rising too high in the power structure. You saw it in 2016 when the party leadership coalesced around Hillary to nudge out Bernie, and again i…
Great comment, regret I only have one upvote. Won't be appreciated here unfortunately.
Re: Silicon Valley Is Panicking About Zohran Mamdani. NYC's Tech Scene Is Not
#37Earlier quoted context omitted.
whats the matter californian, scared of a little wealth tax?
Given that California's top tax rate is 13.3% to New York City's 14.8%, I'm not sure whos supposed to be scared.
You're thinking of income tax. Wealth tax is a tax on, well, wealth, rather than just on what you earn. I don't think any US jurisdiction currently has a wealth tax.
Re: Silicon Valley Is Panicking About Zohran Mamdani. NYC's Tech Scene Is Not
#38By silicon valley, they mostly mean the usual suspects (VC loudmouth posters like Maguire), whose opinions can be dismissed as tedious noise. I found this bit telling though:
> A handful of questions focused on how a Mamdani mayoralty would affect the tech industry. Borthwick says he asked Mamdani how he would respond to the risk that artificial intelligence poses to jobs—in particular, entry-level white-collar jobs—over the next several years. “I'm kind of amazed that this has not become already a campaign issue,” Borthwick says. He says that Mamdani “admitted that this hasn't been a focus of the campaign, but would need to be a focus if he was elected.” But overall, Borthwick didn’t feel Mamdani’s answer was specific enough.
I continue to be amazed by how many tech-oriented people assume this possibility is a matter of when, not if. What evidence is there that it has displaced workers? Competence on benchmark tests does not imply competence at creating complete solutions for complex, bespoke systems. These sci-fi speculations increasingly feel like self-absorbed delusions of grandeur.
Re: Silicon Valley Is Panicking About Zohran Mamdani. NYC's Tech Scene Is Not
#39It's a funny ideology that's like "We're going to end scarcity and implement UBI, but also, be scared of socialism."
It's actually very straight-forward. UBI still means that most people's money eventually flows to the rent-seekers (Billionaires). Socialism (and I know this is not the Socialism Mamdani is proposing), means that most people own the means of production and rent-seeking isn't possible.
Re: Silicon Valley Is Panicking About Zohran Mamdani. NYC's Tech Scene Is Not
#40> Gemini cofounders Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, Palantir cofounder Joe Lonsdale, former X CEO Linda Yaccarino, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, and Y Combinator president and CEO Garry Tan have also posted about Mamdani with some combination of anger, fear, and dread since his primary win.
Yes, Garry Tan's message is disappointing: https://archive.ph/o/mTmBP/https://x.com/garrytan/status/193...