I haven’t written a diary in a while, so please bear with me.
Can someone please explain to me why billionaires – especially those venture capitalists – feel the need to stick their noses into areas that are not their ‘core competency’? The latest to do this is Tim Draper - founder of the global venture capital firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson. He has a proposal that he is trying to get on the ballot in California to break it up into SIX individual states. His reasoning – because he wants his tax dollars spent closer to home and feels California is too big to govern as one state. He needs 807,615 signatures to get this on the ballot. He pretty much admitted on the CBS Morning Show that it was about taxes – always about taxes with this crowd.
Follow below the pretty orange squiggly
This article in the San Jose Mercury News explains.
http://www.mercurynews.com/...
"Vast parts of our state are poorly served by a representative government," according to Draper's plan, which cleared a key government hurdle this week, part of the process to qualify for the ballot. California residents "would be better served by six smaller state governments."
So just who is Timothy Scott Draper:
“An advocate for entrepreneurs and free markets, Tim is regularly featured as a keynote speaker in entrepreneurial conferences throughout the world, has been recognized as a leader in his field through numerous awards and honors, and has frequent TV, radio, and headline appearances. He was #52 on the list of the 100 most influential Harvard Alumni, and #7 on the Forbes Midas List. He was named Always-On #1 top venture capital deal maker for 2008. He was awarded the Commonwealth Club's Distinguished Citizen Award for achievements in green and sustainable energy. His blog is featured at www.theriskmaster.com.
Tim is the course creator and Chairman of BizWorld, a 501c3 organization built around simulated teaching of entrepreneurship and business to children. He also serves on the Harvard Business School Board of Dean's Advisors. Tim has a BS in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University, and an MBA from Harvard Business School.”
Has he thought down the road about the break-up of the California University System? How about the California water system? This guy isn’t some crazy teapublican crackpot from Texas who wants to secede from the United States; he actually seems to have a real plan. I am not sure about other DKos readers but I am sick to death of these ‘very wealthy people’ trying to form the government they wish they had or pushing their ideas onto the rest of us just trying to make a living. I don’t like Bill Gates using his foundation to take apart our education system. And the Koch Brothers – enough said.
Why does this bother me so much? I don’t live in California but the company I work for is headquartered in California and sometimes the laws passed there actually benefit me. For instance – there was a law suit in California that required employers to give breaks to their employees. I work and live in North Carolina – don’t get me started – but my timecard all of a sudden had a check off box that I received my lunch hour and 2 – 15 minute breaks each day for that time period. I also benefit from their better health insurance requirements because my insurance is from CA.
The hubris of these ‘smartest people in the room’ just drives me to the brink.
Not sure what we can do to make this stop, besides just laughing at them and not signing any petitions to make their dreams come true. This comment from the article had me laughing.
"I don't think anyone is going to give California 12 Senate seats," Raphael Sonenshein, executive director of the Pat Brown Institute of Public Affairs at California State University, Los Angeles said.