AOC's claim that "you can't earn a billion dollars" ignited a direct rebuttal from Y Combinator's Paul Graham, who argues his two decades of evaluating founders proves billionaires are made through value creation, not exploitation. The exchange lands amid a broader California fiscal crisis: the state's own nonpartisan analyst confirms spending has outpaced revenue growth by 10 points, exposing structural deficits of $20–30 billion annually that proposed wealth taxes can't fix. Meanwhile, Sanders and Khanna's new "Make Billionaires Pay Their Fair Share Act"—a 5% annual tax on unrealized gains—faces mounting evidence from Europe that wealth taxes drive capital and founders out rather than redistributing wealth.
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.
The state's own nonpartisan analyst says spending outpaced revenue by 10 points. More taxation won't solve the problem.
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.
California bleeds $20-35 billion a year. Steyer wants to raise taxes. Mahan wants to stop lighting money on fire.
Washington State legislators are building a tax regime so hostile that NBA investors are spooked and founders are planning their exits.
Harvard and MIT trained 21 of the top 50 AI founders. Every one of them flew west to build in SF.
SEIU-UHW's asset seizure tax has already cost the state $16.4 billion per year in lost revenue—and it hasn't even passed yet.
A billionaire spending $27 million attacks a mayor for having tech support. The irony writes itself.