THE PERSUADERS by Anand Giridharadas

THE PERSUADERS by Anand Giridharadas @AnandWrites

I would like to see every mega-tycoon calling for a bailout first commit $1 billion of their own funds to shoring up the bank. Then we can discuss. — PolitiTweet.org

THE PERSUADERS by Anand Giridharadas @AnandWrites

Don’t address your request to the “government,” @BillAckman. Address it to us. We would be paying for it. Explain to us why you need our money, and what you plan to offer us for it. What public benefit? We’re listening. — PolitiTweet.org

THE PERSUADERS by Anand Giridharadas @AnandWrites

.@BillAckman, any additional help must be conditioned on reform. An end to monopolies, tax avoidance, wage theft, regulation gutting, union busting, liability dodging, disinformation spouting. If you want us to help you, lead with what your industry is willing to do for us. — PolitiTweet.org

THE PERSUADERS by Anand Giridharadas @AnandWrites

Hey @BillAckman, this sounds like a list of what Silicon Valley wants from the government. You’re missing a second list: All the reforms Silicon Valley will agree to, as an industry, as a condition for this aid. Call me when you produce that list. — PolitiTweet.org

THE PERSUADERS by Anand Giridharadas @AnandWrites

I love hearing from Silicon Valley bros that I have a “bad take” on them. I think what you mean is that I disagree with you and don’t share your interests. — PolitiTweet.org

THE PERSUADERS by Anand Giridharadas @AnandWrites

Either tell us if Silicon Valley as a complex has fully changed its mind and believes all agreements should be reopened to maximize help to people, or tell us that the Valley just wants help for some people and not for most people. — PolitiTweet.org

THE PERSUADERS by Anand Giridharadas @AnandWrites

Uber and Lyft drivers asked to be treated as employees. The firms said they couldn’t, since they’d signed an agreement to be contractors. Depositors similarly deposit based on an agreement about $250,000 guaranteed. Why does the Valley only want one of these agreements revised? — PolitiTweet.org

THE PERSUADERS by Anand Giridharadas @AnandWrites

Silicon Valley is not an assortment of people. It is an industry and a complex that have prosecuted a war on the idea of the common good. We are not fools. If you have been part of that ecosystem and not dissented from this war, asking for government help now is...interesting. — PolitiTweet.org

THE PERSUADERS by Anand Giridharadas @AnandWrites

A move being made now is folks in Silicon Valley trying to carve a distinction between workaday founders and industry leaders who malign government and the commons. For this to make any sense, you would need to show us receipts of how you have challenged those leaders’ ideas. — PolitiTweet.org

THE PERSUADERS by Anand Giridharadas @AnandWrites

I’m suggesting that the industry as a whole make a deal, since it’s some of its biggest leaders asking for bailouts. I’m not misinformed. I just think differently from you. Be well. — PolitiTweet.org

THE PERSUADERS by Anand Giridharadas @AnandWrites

Remember, people: any bailout gives the public the right to ask for whatever on earth it wants in exchange for the money. We can literally ask for anything. Of course, I’m hardly even saying we should do a bailout. But the idea of conditionality is hugely underappreciated. — PolitiTweet.org

THE PERSUADERS by Anand Giridharadas @AnandWrites

And they’re going to say no. Which is fine. Had to ask. — PolitiTweet.org

THE PERSUADERS by Anand Giridharadas @AnandWrites

Any further help for Silicon Valley not required by existing law should come with strong conditions that forever reform the industry. Break up all monopolies. End all tax avoidance. Subject platforms to product liability. You want our help? Make it worth our while. — PolitiTweet.org

THE PERSUADERS by Anand Giridharadas @AnandWrites

No one is rooting for technology to fail. People are sick and tired of having well-connected people and industries get help before regular folks ever get any help. And people are tired of watching Silicon Valley denigrate government at every turn, only to ask for its help now. — PolitiTweet.org

THE PERSUADERS by Anand Giridharadas @AnandWrites

RT @MaxSeijo: Something fundamental about humans that I wish people understood more deeply is that often it’s easier for people to lose a g… — PolitiTweet.org

THE PERSUADERS by Anand Giridharadas @AnandWrites

If you are calling for help for depositors now, did you also call for more aid to small businesses that had to make payroll in a pandemic? Did you also call for aid for student debtors? For people who can’t access clean air or water? — PolitiTweet.org

THE PERSUADERS by Anand Giridharadas @AnandWrites

The government is us. And to have built an industry on the intellectual foundation of degrading us, degrading our common institutions, and then, without any acknowledgment, pivoting to asking for public help from truck drivers and teachers and nurses — wow. — PolitiTweet.org

THE PERSUADERS by Anand Giridharadas @AnandWrites

I would love to see one Silicon Valley bigwig admit they have been plain wrong about government. Just plain wrong. — PolitiTweet.org

THE PERSUADERS by Anand Giridharadas @AnandWrites

But it is gaslighty to suddenly invoke the importance of public help when your industry is led by people who demean the common good and our common institutions as socialism — until the moment they want a big bailout. — PolitiTweet.org

THE PERSUADERS by Anand Giridharadas @AnandWrites

My point is less about whether further help should be given now. My hope is that, after this mess, the people who spent so long undercutting the idea of public investment in each other will honestly declare their change of heart. And advocate for help for everyone. — PolitiTweet.org

THE PERSUADERS by Anand Giridharadas @AnandWrites

No one is denying that companies have to make payroll, and this is hard. That is precisely why we have government. To help us when things get hard. But please acknowledge that your industry, not every individual, but your industry has sought to shred the social contract. — PolitiTweet.org

THE PERSUADERS by Anand Giridharadas @AnandWrites

If Silicon Valley’s leaders now believe that, when factors beyond any individual’s control cause hardship, the government should step in to help, they might consider owning the fact that this is the notion they have devoted themselves to maligning. — PolitiTweet.org

THE PERSUADERS by Anand Giridharadas @AnandWrites

Tom, does Meta, as your employer, support other policies to step in during crisis, for example the disinformation crisis aided and abetted by Meta? https://t.co/H65Mub0Dpg — PolitiTweet.org

THE PERSUADERS by Anand Giridharadas @AnandWrites

Tom, does Meta, as your employer, support other policies to step in during crisis, for example the disinformation crisis aided and abetted by Meta? — PolitiTweet.org

THE PERSUADERS by Anand Giridharadas @AnandWrites

So why don’t the billionaires step up and pay it forward to the next-generation founders? Just wire them money. Don’t ask the people to help. — PolitiTweet.org

THE PERSUADERS by Anand Giridharadas @AnandWrites

Got it. — PolitiTweet.org

THE PERSUADERS by Anand Giridharadas @AnandWrites

Still waiting. — PolitiTweet.org

THE PERSUADERS by Anand Giridharadas @AnandWrites

Still waiting. — PolitiTweet.org

THE PERSUADERS by Anand Giridharadas @AnandWrites

If you’re now calling for government help for Silicon Valley Bank, please reply to this tweet with screenshots of your advocacy in the past for relief for student debtors, essential workers, low-income parents, etc. I’m not saying you didn’t so advocate. Just want to see it. — PolitiTweet.org

THE PERSUADERS by Anand Giridharadas @AnandWrites

How about you and your Silicon Valley friends bail them out with your money? Oh, not a priority for you? — PolitiTweet.org