Silicon Valley, the New Lobbying Monster

I like how they started with different values compared to the old American companies (oil, cigarettes, defense).

But they ended up exactly the same. Helping the worst regimes, all-in in military complex, taking advantage of screen addiction and teen insecurities.

But hey at least they don’t wear white collars like the old bad guys.

The excellent financial podcaster/youtuber Patrick Boyle has a related entry, "Crypto Has Bought The 2024 Election": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpZvC_5leDY

Any time the message is "We should do X because if we don't, the bogeyman will do it," it should be a red flag. Seems to be one of the common themes in the article.

It's always admitting that the thing you want to do is bad, but wanting to do it anyways. And more often than not, it relies on a mischaracterization of the supposed bogeyman: "the democrats eat babies and wouldn't hesitate to do X, so that justifies us sinking lower unless we want baby eaters to win."

Or maybe it's just inevitable that anything structurally resembling a race to the bottom ends up with everybody on the bottom.

Dirty brainwashing ad tricks sneak into Congress, no surprise: “If you are pro-crypto, we will help you, and if you are anti we will tear you apart.”

Semi on-topic: Why should the federal government even entertain a "strongly" pro-cryptocurrency agenda, when the real goal of cryptocurrencies is to displace/reduce the power of the U.S. dollar, from which the federal government (and the American people) derive many, many benefits?

“New”

They’ve been this way for decades. The whole “don’t be evil” facade slipped away once the money started flowing

Katie Porter is a progressive House newcomer who punched above her weight in earned media with a series of populist House floor stunts that got her a lot of attention in Northern Virginia and Boston, but probably didn't do as much as you'd think to raise her profile in the suburban communities in California that turn out in primary races.

Schiff is an undefeated 12-term House Democratic mainstay with a reputation as one of the savvier players in the party.

Cryptocurrency lobbyists didn't tank Porter's primary campaign. Schiff beat her 2:1, as observers expected. Just compare the endorsements. California has a jungle primary, so you can end up with two Democratic candidates after a primary, but Garvey beat her 2:1 as well, and you don't swing from a Republican MLB first baseman to Katie Porter based on an independent ad campaign.

Makes sense. Lobbyists for legacy competitors tried to screw them so they picked up the game. In Canada and Australia they tried to screw them on the news / search linking debacle. The problem is that when you come at the king, you best not miss.

What a politician wants most is to win reelection. This explains everything

One of Microsoft's biggest lessons out of their anit monopoly trial was that they were not political enough.

Before the trial Bill Gates though spending money on lobbying was a waste and its a widely held belief that their anti trust trial wouldn't have happened if they had spent on lobbiest like healthcare, finance, and anything military do.

Post 2000, silicon valley learned this lesson and became one of the biggest lobbyers of the government. To the point where they eclipsed the oil and farm lobbies.

> Porter, who had initially polled well, lost decisively in the primary, coming in third, with just fifteen per cent of the vote.

She was running against Adam Schiff, who had much broader name recognition. It also didn't help that she's overweight and "Porker" became her nasty nickname.

This is a shoddy piece of reporting. Tech lobbying didn't start with Chris Lehane, Uber, Lyft, or crypto. Anytime government is capable of helping or hurting an industry, they form a lobbying group. The more money involved, the bigger the lobbying effort.

I wouldn't say "new". This has been a thing for decades. While the companies who are the top spenders may have changed, Silicon Valley tech as a whole has been pretty aggressively represented for some time.

The Andreessen and Horowitz quotes in this are particularly hilarious and pathetic. The desperate attempts at linking their greed to the fate of the country itself is so nakedly self-serving (as are many of the quotes from these lobbyists and other VCs) that they should make them a laughing stock.

The Citizens United decision will be a cancer in American politics and a boon for the ultra-wealthy for generations.

Innocent question: what other major lobbying monsters are there in the US?

>The Valley’s enthusiasm for Biden, however, was short-lived. The President quickly appointed three prominent tech skeptics—Gary Gensler, Lina Khan, and Jonathan Kanter—to oversee the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Trade Commission, and the antitrust division of the Department of Justice, respectively. Soon the government was suing or investigating Google, Apple, Amazon, Meta, Tesla, and dozens of other companies.

Gensler, Warren and Khan have been exceptionally anti-tech. Nice of this article to notice there is a growing number of techies putting their money where their mouth is in response.

Dismantle what SV has evolved into under venture capital.

When tech was scrappy and didnt have billions at stake, its products seemed to benefit humanity. Now it is (the most powerful?) part of the oppresive regime.

If anyone needs to see what happen, read Marc Andreesen's cringy posts on X. The guy is a MAGA promoter and sounds more and more like an elderly "the country is going to hell in a handbasket" geriatric conservative every second.

Too many years in a bubble of undeserved wealth where people suck up to him constantly.

YC helped fund/promote Palantir, the dystopian surveillance company.

The Iraq war defense contractor boom pumped tons of money into pro-war entities and this is just the result of that capital finding its way into new ventures. Ideology comes along for the ride. It's the very definition of dystopian, government propaganda and big-lie-driven malinvesment and (in hindsight) massive financial fraud on taxpayers.

I'm personally shocked that PG touches any of this dirty money. When is enough enough?

Those articles kept reminding me that I am right to be very cynical. Is lobbying #foundermode? /s

From "Don't be evil" to "We're the baddies".