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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

#311

Post by ryukoposting »

wyre wrote: post #96
jedberg wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Craigslist doesn't make any money from those scams because they don't charge for rental listings. It sucks that it's there, but for them to hire staff to deal with it, they'd have to charge for the rental listings. Right now they rely on volunteers to combat that problem, in the form of legit landlords reporting the scams.

So why not charge for rental listings? i'm sure the number of scams would go down, while posting would still be of good value for someone looking to rent out a $3000/mo apartment.

I've bought most of the cars I've ever owned from CraigsList. A tool chest, that was $400 or so. An oscilloscope, various cameras, loads of furniture. I wouldn't be surprised if I've spent nearly $10,000 on Craigslist stuff excluding the cars.

Have I gotten a bad deal a few times? Yeah. Would I have gotten a better deal elsewhere? Unlikely.

Consider the thesis of the "craigslist is sketchy" argument the next time you look something up on Amazon and the first 3 results are from WODBEP, QXJEFN, and PLUDJ.

IMO the thing that actually spooks people about CraigsList is interacting with strangers, but Facebook isn't better. If you're stalking someone's FB because you want to buy their old TV, well guess what, you're the creep, not them.

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

#312

Post by ryukoposting »

jrmg wrote: 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.

In Wisconsin and Illinois, I had far better luck both buying and selling on CL. I moved to CA fairly recently but the story seems to be the same here.

As a seller, FB marketplace is just a neverending stream of "Is this still available?" "Yes" and then radio silence.

I also found it far less common for CL sellers to share a different price in DMs than they list in the ad. CL users are also better about taking their ad down when the item is sold.

Going to a separate website and (gasp!) sending an actual email or calling someone, those are strong filters for intent that FB Marketplace lacks.

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

#314

Post by fsckboy »

wewtyflakes wrote: post #274
fsckboy wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> a byproduct of wild wealth disparity, not because the rich are so generous with paying the government you're overcorrecting WAY too far. Tax rate percentages are much higher on high income people, and THAT is why they pay most of the federal budget, it's forced generosity paying the government. and it's actually the top 20% who dominate income and taxes, but including that extra 19% is important because that is the…

I do not understand what you mean by "overcorrecting WAY too far". I have not posited anything aside from wealth disparity existing and that the wealthy do not have a tendency to just give money to the government for the fun of it. If they are paying most the taxes, it is because they have most of the money. Seems self-evident to me.

>I do not understand what you mean by "overcorrecting WAY too far".

you wrote this, and I would call this "attempting to correct any misconception":

>This is a byproduct of wild wealth disparity, not because the rich are so generous with paying the government.

I'm saying that your formulation is not much better than what you are arguing against because you neglect graduated income tax. It's not because rich people have more money, it's because they are taxed at much higher rates, and lower income people are hardly taxed at all.

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

#315

Post by zzrrt »

WalterBright wrote: post #207
computerex wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> And in any case, why do people keep leaving those satisfactory countries for America? https://www.census.gov/newsroom/blogs/random-samplings/2026/... America used to be a great place to be. To put it in perspective, I myself am an American in the top 5% of earning households. I am strongly considering leaving. The value is no longer here. I don't want to live in a country where my healthcare is conditional, on prin…

[flagged]

> Epstein died in jail.

He was awaiting trial, so death by his choice wasn't necessarily the justice he deserved.

His co-conspirator is in a cushy prison as a favor from the administration. Trump promised to release files but has been avoiding it in every possible legal way. It appears there are still things missing. What do you call that other than protection? I might buy that there is not great evidence for any more prosecutions, but they are at least reputationally protected as much as possible.

> Rosie O'Donnell didn't stay in Ireland very long.

She has only visited the US, which is congruent with this thread saying it's a less desirable place to live.

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

#316

Post by WalterBright »

nunez wrote: post #162
zuzululu wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

America is the place for very few people to get wealthy relatively compared to the rest is more accurate. I don't know how long this asymmetric upside down pyramid structure will hold. Monopoly on violence requires participants to believe in its continuity, any fracture in perception no matter how small, will create an increasingly chaotic redistribution effect.

Disagree. I have gripes with my country right now, but it's impossible to ignore how much easier to make and save a lot of money here in the US compared to other places. First, it's so easy to start a business in the US. $1000 (maybe less?) gets you an LLC or an S-Corp, properly done with an accountant. $200/mo gets you a virtual office or a coworking space. Tax code is also friendly to small businesses. Healthcare i…

You can start your own business in WA state with $50 to get a license.

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

#317

Post by WalterBright »

zzrrt wrote: post #315
WalterBright wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

> Epstein died in jail. He was awaiting trial, so death by his choice wasn't necessarily the justice he deserved. His co-conspirator is in a cushy prison as a favor from the administration. Trump promised to release files but has been avoiding it in every possible legal way. It appears there are still things missing. What do you call that other than protection? I might buy that there is not great evidence for any mor…

Epstein died in jail.

Ghislane is in prison. Trump shows no inclination to pardon her.

Rosie shows no sign of ever going back to Ireland.

Biden could have released the Epstein files.

Trump called the police on Epstein.

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

#318

Post by WalterBright »

overfeed wrote: post #293
WalterBright wrote: post #270

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Borrowing against securities not being taxable is an example of what's broken. Is is also broken that you don't pay taxes on the mortgage you borrowed to buy a house? Or the money you borrowed to buy a car? What about the money you borrowed when using your credit card? Or the money you borrowed to fund your college years?

Yes, all those things would be broken if I don't need any leverage, and my loans were backed by liquid assets I already possess that I'm avoiding selling in an effort to avoid taxable events even though I really want to purchase a fancy Palo Alto compound that occupies an entire block. For the vast majority of folk who take out the loans you listed, the loans are leveraged and are either unsecured, or secured by the…

Margin loans are secured by the stocks.

Mortgage loans are secured by the house.

Car loans are secured by the car.

They are equivalent. There's nothing special about margin debt.

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

#319

Post by WalterBright »

wewtyflakes wrote: post #273
WalterBright wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And if you take away their money, then who is going to fund the government and all those wealth redistribution programs?

That is a strawman argument. Nobody is seriously arguing to take all the money. I called out extreme wealth disparity, and implied it was a problem. You can disagree at the latter, but you cannot disagree with the former.

> Nobody is seriously arguing to take all the money.

They are arguing to take enough to destroy the businesses they create.

Remember Bernie Sanders saying billionaires should not exist? That's taking away 99.9% of Musk's wealth.

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

#320

Post by guyomes »

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.

This reminds me an interview of the author Patrick Modiano, just after he won the literature Nobel price. The presenter asked him if the money would help. His answer was something like: "well, I don't see how the money will help the next time I will be in front of a white page".
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