AOC's claim that "you can't earn a billion dollars" is drawing sharp pushback from Paul Graham, who argues his two decades evaluating founders at Y Combinator prove the opposite. The exchange is the latest flashpoint in an ongoing debate over wealth, innovation, and economic policy that has put California's own federal delegation—particularly Ro Khanna and Bernie Sanders—at the center of controversy over a proposed billionaire wealth tax and Khanna's defense of streamer Hasan Piker. With Silicon Valley's future increasingly tangled in Washington's ideological battles, what federal politicians say about how wealth is created has real consequences for the state's economy.
AOC says you can't earn a billion dollars. Paul Graham, who spent 20 years predicting which founders become billionaires, has the data to prove her wrong.
Khanna defended a man who celebrates the murder of the wealthy, even as he quietly runs one of the most profitable stock portfolios in Congress.
Sanders and Khanna want to tax money that doesn't exist on assets you can't sell. The only proportionate response was a one-act play.
Asked point-blank why the US dominates tech while Europe stagnates, the Senator pivoted to healthcare and homelessness. The honest answer would destroy his worldview.
Joe Gebbia went from selling cereal to fund a startup to becoming the nation's first Chief Design Officer. Now he's fixing government.
Saikat Chakrabarti—architect of the 'dark money' operation he rails against—is trying to buy Pelosi's seat. Local Democrats aren't having it.
When nearly all your campaign cash comes from outside your district, who are you really representing?
Former supporters organize against the congressman as his wealth tax crusade threatens to tank the Bay Area economy.