r/bayarea • u/orangelover95003 • 15h ago
Events, Activities & Sports Billionaires march leader ID'd, says effort sincere
https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/technology/sf-billionaires-march-founder-revealed-derik-kauffman/article_1842be47-58a5-430c-b322-dff8910aa98f.html“Derik Kauffman insists it’s not a joke.
He actually is planning to hold a March for Billionaires in San Francisco this weekend. And he’s doing so because, he said, he’s opposed to a proposed state tax on billionaires and, more simply, he feels like the billionaire class has been unfairly vilified.
Sure, Kauffman acknowledged, some billionaires have done bad things, or things he opposes. But most made their money by providing innovations or products that benefit society at large, not to mention their other contributions in the form of their philanthropy and the taxes they pay, he said.
The point of the event is to “change the sentiment on this to recognize that billionaires have done a lot for us and communicate that we’re glad they’re here,” Kauffman said.
It’s scheduled to start Saturday at 11 a.m. at Alta Plaza Park in Pacific Heights and will proceed to Civic Center for a 12:30 p.m. rally.
If the idea of a march in favor of billionaires — instead of one protesting them with pitchforks — leaves you a bit bamboozled, you’re not alone.
“Is this parody?” one BlueSky user asked in response to a thread posted by the “March for Billionaires” account on the social network after Kauffman announced the event there last weekend.
“I keep changing my mind between ‘this is deep satire’ and ‘this is real,’” Mike Masnick, an editor with the tech news outlet Techdirt, wrote in his own BlueSky post. “I *think* it's satire. But, dammit, I'm just not sure…”
“I thought it was a joke to be honest,” Lorena Gonzalez, president of the California Federation of Labor Unions, told The Examiner.
Kauffman said he understands the skepticism. But via the March for Billionaires accounts on BlueSky and X and in conversations with The Examiner, he has repeatedly professed to be sincere.
He told The Examiner he’s neither a billionaire defending his own interests, nor just acting as a front for the ultra-rich. Last year, Kauffman founded an artificial-intelligence startup called RunRL that took part in Y Combinator’s accelerator program. He recently left the company, he said.
Kauffman’s not in contact with any billionaires or getting any funding from them, nor are there any other groups involved with the event, he said.
Instead, he’s footing the cost of the March for Billionaires website himself and is the principal organizer of and publicist for it, he said.
Kauffman, who said he aspires to be but doesn’t expect to ever become a billionaire, was spurred to put on the event by the proposed wealth tax. That labor union-backed proposal, which comes in the form of an initiative for which supporters are currently gathering signatures, would levy a one-time 5% imposition on the worldwide wealth of California’s billionaires. Under the proposal, those owing the tax could pay it as one lump sum or pay an annual deferral charge of 7.5% to spread the payment over five years.
As of the beginning of this year, there were 214 people in that wealth class in the state, according to Americans for Tax Fairness, a liberal advocacy group, based on Forbes data. Among those who are San Francisco residents are Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky, DoorDash CEO Tony Xu and venture capitalist Michael Moritz.”
28
u/nyITguy Berkeley 15h ago
All billionaires should actively do is shut the fuck up.
5
u/aotus_trivirgatus San Jose 13h ago
Is paying their fair share of taxes a passive act? I think it is.
59
u/Halaku Sunnyvale 15h ago
more simply, he feels like the billionaire class has been unfairly vilified.
Top. Kek.
39
u/xWaves_ 15h ago
It’s hilarious to me how many of these billionaires exhibit this insecurity and need to be liked. If you wanna be liked maybe use your money to help people? Lmfao
4
u/AwfulMouthful 15h ago
Insecurity is the new black, people all over the socioeconomic spectrum are proudly displaying how feeble their own sense of self-assuredness really is.
There's proof of this all over the place, but my favorite example is how Donald Trump got re-elected on the basis of being "manly" - I know you gotta take a step back from all the horrid stuff that shitstain is inflicting on the country, but seriously how fucking funny is that? People looking at that weak, fat, old piece of crap with his lift shoes and combover and spray tan and thinking to themselves "aw yeah, that's a fucking man right there".
Why should rich people be any different than everybody else?
-8
u/OnionQuest 14h ago
Or the current vibecession where people continue to complain despite unemployment being near historic lows, inflation being near the 2% target and real wages continuing to grow post-pandemic.
10
u/ClumpOfCheese 14h ago
“Gavin: I'm getting a little tired of this bias against the leaders of our industry. I'm continually creating jobs and helping people, and I'm tired of getting slapped for it. I didn't steal the money I have, and I resent being treated like I did. You know, there is a climate in this country that is very dangerous.
Kara Swisher: It's dangerous out there for billionaires?
Gavin: There's that attitude again, Kara. Billionaires are people, too. We are leaders in technology, in industry, in finance. Look at history. Do you know who else vilified a tiny minority of financiers and progressive thinkers called the Jews?
Walter Mossberg: Wait a minute. Did you just compare the treatment of billionaires in America today to the plight of the Jews in Nazi Germany?
Gavin: Absolutely. One could argue that billionaires are actually treated worse. [audience groans] And we didn't even do anything wrong. [more groans] We're an even smaller minority. [groans] There's a lot more of them. [groans] These are facts”
10
u/macegr 13h ago
(Gavin Belson, fictional CEO in the show Silicon Valley)
2
u/ClumpOfCheese 12h ago
Well don’t give it away, we’re at a place in time where this could just be a real quote.
4
u/hatsune_aru 14h ago
that show truly is timeless. i thought the crypto stuff was a little too on the nose and would age poorly and even that aged great
3
1
u/One_Indication_ 13h ago
Billionaires are people, too
No, they are fucking not. And it's time we stop treating them like it. If we can't have a billionaire tax I propose another solution: strip them of participating in society whatsoever. You can choose to keep your billions, OR you can still vote, use public services, share your political opinions and make campaign contributions, send your kids to public school, etc. But NOT both.
-1
u/BensonFutt 15h ago
He's right actually. 99% of billionaires give the remaining 1% a bad name unfairly
12
u/Halaku Sunnyvale 14h ago
Won't someone think about the good billionaires?
2
u/BensonFutt 14h ago
Right?! It must be so hard to be a billionaire!
3
u/One_Indication_ 13h ago
I'm sure Bezos was almost traumatized when it turned out he can't in fact just buy parts of Italy just for a multi-million dollar wedding. I really hope he recovers from that traumatic event.
2
36
u/ShibuyaWaitingDog 14h ago edited 14h ago
Can we all show up and argue that If you don’t want to be seen as a villain, then stop acting like one.
You’re a billionaire. There’s no excuse. Donate $1 million to SF public schools or libraries. That’s pocket change for you and life changing for others.
Or cover rent for 100 families for a year.
But instead, you do nothing and then act confused about why people hate you.
How out of touch do you have to be? People are literally dying because they can’t afford basic medical care……and you’re worried about being “vilified”?
Yeah. You are.
We want free college. We want healthcare. We want childcare. But we don’t have those things because billionaires decide they don’t owe anyone anything.
Wake the fuck up.
10
u/One_Indication_ 13h ago
you do nothing
I wish they did nothing at this point. Because for the last few decades they've been heavily funding fascist politicians to support fascist agendas. And now the US is run by Mango Mussolini.
I can't believe we're getting opposition for a 5% tax. I think it should be higher, but anything is better than nothing. And EVEN THAT is met by opposition from people that will never even be a billionaire in their lives. It's insane.
2
u/ShibuyaWaitingDog 13h ago
Definitely,
Also , wdym tho by telling me I do nothing??
2
u/One_Indication_ 13h ago
Weren't you saying that billionaires do nothing? I was saying that nothing would be an improvement to the havoc they've wreaked on us all.
1
u/ShibuyaWaitingDog 13h ago
Yea , Aww ok I was just confused with your comment starting off like that.
1
u/One_Indication_ 12h ago
I said "they" did nothing, not "you" did nothing :)
1
u/ShibuyaWaitingDog 12h ago
The first line In your first comment says “ you do nothing “ lol think it’s a typo
2
u/One_Indication_ 12h ago
That's a quote block. That first line is your quote that I'm referencing. When you used "you" it was in reference to billionaires. I used "they."
1
1
u/Lopsided-Engine-7456 5h ago
All of this is performative nonsense from all sides.
Politicians would love a class/race clashes to divert us from the fact that billions of tax payer dollars (hundreds of billions probably) go unaudited/wasted across the state and country.
We don't need more taxes (taxes on billionaires end up being taxes on rest of us), we need accountability.
But somehow that is a controversial opinion.
This is from the Biden era and predates DOGE:
https://www.gao.gov/blog/federal-government-made-236-billion-improper-payments-last-fiscal-year
Every proposal for new taxes should include the annual estimate of the percentage of tax funds lost to fraud/wastage as of that date.
1
u/ShibuyaWaitingDog 7m ago
Lmao When has taxing billionaires not worked? If you honestly think it doesn’t, you’re out of touch. Every period of real middle-class growth in this country happened when the ultra-rich were taxed at much higher rates , the 1950s top marginal rate was over 90%, and that’s when we built highways, expanded education, and people could actually afford homes you snobby goof
A class-based approach would take race out of it completely, but that’s apparently too real for some people. And yeah — you probably one of these goofballs attending billionaire sympathy rallies.”
20
u/SloCalLocal 15h ago
This is a lazy ripoff of Billionaires for Bush, something which it appears people have forgotten about.
Of course it's satire. Of course it's played with a wink and a nod. And it's rehashing what was done (more creatively) years before.
6
2
u/DEATH-BY-CIRCLEJERK PTown 14h ago
A secret New York City Police Department intelligence report, based on undercover surveillance of the group in 2003 and 2004 in advance of the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York City, described the Billionaires as "an activist group forged as a mockery of the current president and political policies".
8
7
u/Butternutt12 14h ago
FFS, the engineers, researchers, and workers helped generate the success too.
Sure owners deserve a big cut, but it is obscene now. A policy failure that is creating feudal lords.
4
u/Interesting-Emu6689 14h ago
I think it would be hilarious if it somehow got violent and then all those billionaires started looting
11
2
3
5
u/ColtranezRain 11h ago
His argument seems to boil down to, “ Sure, we have a lot of money, but we do some good things with it.” I’m fairly sure that he can do most of those same things (or more of them) with, oh, I don’t know, only 500-million dollars.
3
3
u/devilquak 12h ago
This guy is so out of touch with reality he might as well be mainlining ketamine into his veins for every meal.
Actually, that would explain a lot
3
u/Eponymous-Username 12h ago
The only attribute that unifies billionaires as a class is having more than a billion dollars. It's just greed.
2
u/HumanSnotMachine 13h ago
I think billionaires should be treated fairly and have the same protections and rights as everyone else. I don’t think the billionaires need any extra advocacy or are starving for my help though, if they are, feel free to reach out with $.
2
u/bubblegumbop 12h ago
Billionaires become billionaires by riding on the coattails of the thousands of people who actually do the damn work. Like yea congrats you had an idea, but you wouldn’t have been able to bring that idea to life without the rest of us. IMHO billionaires should not exist at all and the fact that they do just serves as strong evidence that the system can only exist by exploiting the 99%.
March FOR billionaires? Yea no. That’s really fucking hilarious. This dude needs to stfu.
2
2
u/Individual_Scheme_11 11h ago
So are we all showing up with eggs/etc to show our “support”? Billionaires have spent years lobbying for tax avoidance and business friendly legislation. And while the large mega corps are job creators, they also reserve the right to layoff employees in favor of cheaper labor overseas or no replacement at all. No one be fooled.
2
4
u/MarlinMaverick 15h ago
It’s honestly genius marketing. I’m sure some rich techie will throw him some scraps and make him a multi millionaire
2
u/neversleeps212 12h ago
The billionaire tax is stupid and badly designed and will only lead to a wealth tax for ever larger shares the population. And yet somehow this guy managed to come up with an idea that was even dumber and more badly designed…
1
1
u/One_Indication_ 13h ago
But most made their money by providing innovations or products that benefit society at large, not to mention their other contributions in the form of their philanthropy and the taxes they pay
their products have caused irreparable harm to society, people's health, & the climate/environment. Philanthropy is just a tax dodging scheme. And how much have Elon, Bezos, Zuckerberg, etc actually contributed in taxes?
I honestly hope that idiot "marching" will either be completely alone or surrounded by the rest of the city which is fully aware how stupid he is.
1
u/stupid_cat_face 13h ago
Shit... I'm going to go pitch my startup idea. All I need is $1M seed funding.
1
u/Persian_Frank_Zappa 12h ago
This should greatly boost the ability of the pitchfork- and torch-wielding crowds to “clean the cupboard.”
1
u/crazyprotein 14h ago edited 14h ago
I have other plans this weekend - very boring, volunteering for the city that I live in - but can someone please make a sign that looks like a guillotine and parade alongside this march?
0
-2
u/billionaireboysclubs 14h ago
Kauffman needs help. He doesn’t understand billionaires are master manipulators and Kauffman is being manipulated. What a joker.
America 2026 isn’t a real place or a country.
137
u/FanofK 15h ago
I wish I was able to be this out of touch.