If you don't think government plays too much of a role in business, then you are sadly mistaken. Access and influence is what it is all about, even in the relatively unregulated Silicon Valley. The sad news comes via The San Francisco Chronicle:
President Obama will hit the Mountain View headquarters of Y Combinator, the hot technology startup funder and incubator, as part of a May 8 fundraiser that will now be co-hosted by the company's president, Sam Altman, and Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, The Chronicle has learned.
The event was originally planned at the Palo Alto home of Mayer, where only about 200 could be accommodated. The change was made because of demand for tickets to the Obama fundraiser, which benefits the Democratic National Committee, sources said.
Ticket pricing will remain the same to the event - starting at $1,000 per person for the reception, $5,000 for a photo line with the president, and up to $32,400 for membership in the DNC Presidential Partners program.
Obama earlier that same day will star at a tech round table for 20 at the Los Altos home of 23andMe co-founder and CEO Ann Wojcicki - with tickets at the max-out range of $32,400...
Mayer and husband Zachary Bogue's cozy home - complete with custom movie theater - is in an upscale Palo Alto neighborhood and was the site of a big October 2010 party fundraiser starring Obama.
Very sad to see so many in the tech industry that think the left is the only option for them in politics when the fact that the left will crush their innovation with the boot of the state. The ones I talk to are apathetic to the whole thing as they see the left is only nice to them when they're minions are in charge and they see the right as too obsessed with a different set of fairy tales aka religion. They also said that while they believe libertarian politics is the way, the uphill battle won be won in their lifetimes. The ones Ive talked to tend to be in their mid to late 30s.
ReplyDeleteunregulated Silicon Valley? Since there is productive activity going on, it has to be unregulated? How is it unregulated? Same federal regulations apply to Silicon Valley that apply everywhere else.
ReplyDeleteJerry Wolfgang: Oblivious Idiot.
DeleteSoftware engineering is one of the few professions in this country which escaped the clutches of regulators. You don't need a license or a degree to write code - and to be successful. I chalk it to the fact that the majority of programmers are smarter than average, and so the vast majority of people in this profession was laughing away and heaping ridicule at all the attempts to introduce formal certifications and licenses. Oh, and there's no fucking trade unions around.
JW: Troll.
Delete"Same federal regulations apply to Silicon Valley that apply everywhere else."
Well, Wenzel did write "RELATIVELY unregulated." Wow, you can't even read.
In related thought Salon posts, Google Glass, techno-rage and the battle for San Francisco
ReplyDeletehttp://www.salon.com/2014/04/18/the_bay_is_burning_google_glass_techno_rage_and_the_battle_for_san_franciscos_soul/
The tech sector used to lean strongly to the Libertarian side, even if they didn't identify themselves as such. When did they all start going hard left? Although these days, anyone who wants pot legalized fancies themselves a Libertarian. Yet they are often pro big government in every other respect.
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