Gawker 
Enter your username and password.
New York, 9:43 PM
Sun Nov 29
11 posts in the last 24 hours
Tip Your Editors:
tips@gawker.com
Tipline: 646-214-8138
Editor-in-Chief:
Gabriel Snyder | Email
West Coast Editor:
Richard Rushfield | Email
Contributing Editors:
Valleywag:
Ryan Tate | Email
Media:
Hamilton Nolan | Email
Politics:
Alex Pareene | Email
Investigations:
John Cook | Email
Entertainment:
Brian Moylan | Email
Nights:
Adrian Chen | Email
Azaria Jagger | Email
Ravi Somaiya | Email
Weekends:
Foster Kamer | Email
Video Editor:
Richard Blakeley | Email
Original material is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution.
05/01/09
04/29/09
04/29/09
04/29/09
04/29/09
I am neither Republican or Democrat and I would never follow in my father's footsteps of worshipping Fox News.
And I didn't realize that "parents" equalled "father." Thanks for clearing that up. I'll be sure to tell my mom that.
04/28/09
04/28/09
This guy is some pretentious douche. Just like celebs deal in politics, rich guys do too.
I suppose they do have a bit of power. Especially since they are IWM (Idiots wielding money).
Facebook is gonna be a ghost town kids. Move out.
04/28/09
I say we give him a billion dollars!
04/28/09
Jeff
04/28/09
That's easy. If you assume that the distribution of intelligence is the same across both the old voter population (male) and the new voter population (female), then there's no reason to believe voter "quality" should go down when expanding voting rights.
04/28/09
04/28/09
Voting and governance are more about self-control and obligation to greater truth than about IQ. When voting was reserved for land-owning white males, rules and expectations could be developed and followed to some limited extent.
Rules for political debate could be better followed and adhered. As the pool of voters increased, the ability to enforce in-group norming naturally decreased. The greater the voting population, the greater the anonymity and the lower the sense of mission and obligation. Moreover, when anyone is able to vote, politicians are better able to exploit individual weakness by appealing to financial or emotional means. Women undoubtedly have played a large role in the backhandedness and emotionality that now permeates politics.
A lot of people want to believe. Too bad the dream is bull.
04/29/09
04/28/09
Now it makes sense to me as to why he wants to essentially start his own country in the sea.
04/28/09
Things are getting crazy for guys like Peter though. For every dollar a company of his earns and he wants to leave to his family he has to make about $5!!!:
38% Corporate Profit Taxes
38% Income Tax
45% Estate Tax
and that's not counting 15% payroll taxes on a large chunk of revenues.
And when the government is taking like 80% of what you make in your life...well, I think that's understandably disheartening, which was the real focus of his article.
04/28/09
Haha, 80% taxes?! What a quaint notion.
Sorry, but hedge fund principals pay the capital gains tax rate on the bulk of earnings, ~15%. And Estate taxes are mainly for the plebes. The rest of us do estate planning and shelter millions from the long arm of the IRS...
04/28/09
04/28/09
I'm sorry but this struck me as amusing. Would I be less inclined to sympathize with him if he planned to spend the money on strippers rather than leave it "to his family"?
I really don't sympathize in either case.
04/28/09
Demonizing people who pull themselves up by their bootstraps for doing so is also silly. Europe is getting messed up, too...I wouldn't consider it a shining example. Maybe Europe's demonizing of extremely hard-working entrepreneurs is why Silicon Valley is as dominant as it is on the tech scene compared to Europe.
Flat taxes is different from just changing the top tax bracket, and I don't think that richest benefit in a non-linear manner from the state, but from their hard work. Without a flat-tax, I think it's fair to argue the right to property is greatly infringed and democracy flawed. If anything can be considered "greedheaded", disproportionately shaking down a minority for their money through control of the government might as well be.
For the record, I work like 100 hours per week, building an extremely bootstrapped business for the past 5 years and intend to cross over eventually to a better economic situation through my own hard work. I live on very little in the meantime, so it's not like I'm some hypocrite who can't relate to whole economic spectrum here. America is great in that almost all of us can become rich like Peter through hard work and we should celebrate instead of demonize that.
04/29/09
04/28/09
04/28/09
04/28/09
Really, did anyone take that as an argument against women's right to vote.
Would someone making the remark, "Republicans have a tough time with gaining the votes of African Americans" be called a rascist?
04/28/09
04/28/09
I would also point out that TRENDS can be more worth studying than current status. Some of the most outspoken and effective people who are considered libertarians, Objectivest and so on (Ayn Rand WAS a woman after all) are either female, minorities, or both.
Democrats, and the media have done a good job of convincing many people (no need to specify what type of people they are) that Democratic quick-fix solutions are in their best interest. "Guaranteed me a job NOW, an optional-pay mortgage NOW, free healthcare NOW." It even sounds good to me until I start thinking about who will pay for it, and who's sweat-equity will be involved. Frankly I'm much less inclined to go to a doctor who is payed the wages of a clerical worker. Anything that is free for very long eventually becomes worth what you pay for it. By the time the electorate figures out what has happened to them the country will be run by organized crime (to the extent that they a
04/28/09
I swear I typed it the first time.
04/28/09
04/28/09
And that mess of a last para: you speak of Democrat efforts as "quick-fix solutions". Please provide the Republican and/or Objectivist (lol) solutions to what is actually an urgent, pressing problem: preventing collapse of the economy. No, don't actually, they're the prescriptions that got us into this disaster. The rest of your caricature of "demanding" jobs and affordable health care is contemptible and unworthy of comment. Verbatim right-wing radio mockery of the real suffering going on.
04/28/09
04/28/09
04/28/09
04/28/09
Oh yeah, shut up you.
04/28/09
Of course I'm completely drunk and high as a kite right now. Oh look, there's a pretty, rainbow-colored pig flying outside my window and he wants me to join him.
04/28/09
04/28/09
04/28/09
04/28/09
/snark
04/28/09
*RESIST THE FACEBOOK*
04/28/09
I am a libertarian and detest the nagging of our federal gov't as well. Not all libertarians have penises.
I love how he rationalizes his apparent proclivity to over imbibe alcohol and use drugs. Brilliant libertarians undertake "heroic drinking." I drink because I am smart. Way to kill brain cells, you tool.
04/28/09
04/28/09