Local (Silicon Valley) uprising against G

[rcjordan]

I don't know how much of this is making the general-consumption news, but the locals living around Google and Apple are starting to bring out their pitchforks.

https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2014/01/21/18749504.php

This, by itself, would be written off as crackpot protest. BUT there has been weeks of news about protests over G's private transit system sending buses to pick up their employees.  This is, IMO, getting to be a serious issue for G, and to a lesser extent, A. Given the right set up circumstances regarding privacy concerns, I could see this sparking a national backlash.  Probably not, but interesting to watch.

[Rumbas]

Yeah, I've seen that transport stuff mentioned several times. What's up with that?

[littleman]

I could tell you that the anti-tech transplant sentiment is very high here -- particularly in San Fransisco & San Jose.  The high paying jobs are transforming neighborhoods and pushing people who have been living in areas for decades to the farthest reaches of the Bay Area.  One weird thing that is happening is that people are working in the Peninsula (northern part of Silicon Valley) and working in San Fransisco -- it is the reverse of the traditional commute.  I am currently doing the opposite, living in the Peninsula and working in SF.  SF is becoming a very odd place where only the very rich and the very poor (homeless) live.  The anti-tech theme has caught on on local TV and radio.

[Mackin USA]

YAAAAAA, San Fran has a BIG Homeless problem!!!

[rcjordan]

'I would call attention to the parallels of Nazi Germany to its war on its "one percent," namely its Jews, to the progressive war on the American one percent, namely the "rich."'

by Tom Perkins, one of the co-founders of the Silicon Valley powerhouse venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304549504579316913982034286

I'd dismiss this issue as tempest-in-a-teapot urban road rage except I'm seeing a rise in this sentiment across the country.

[Brad]

His silver spoon runeth over.

[Gurtie]

Interesting to see the general sentiment - we have plenty of complaints about the rich over here but I don't think the mass hate (aside from against bankers) that the US seems to have.  Only 50% agree with raising the top rate of income tax again and tellingly 17% disagree, according to the radio this morning.

The rate impacts only about 1% of taxpayers and only about 10% fall into the next bracket (and most of those are a hell of a long way off the top 1% of salaries!) so it doesn't look like its entirely self interest - although obviously families of big earners might make up some of the surveyed. Anyhow - although there's protest as there always has been, its certainly not from the majority as far as I can see.

Don't these guys personify the American Dream?  Or don't people believe in it any more?

[Brad]

Gurtie, California does not represent the rest of the US.   

[rcjordan]

San Francisco's guerrilla protest at Google buses swells into revolt. Campaign against tech giant pricing ordinary citizens out of the housing market becomes increasingly disruptive and forces city to act.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/25/google-bus-protest-swells-to-revolt-san-francisco

[Brad]

>bankers

Now that is a group that needs a dose of reform and reality.

The Berkeley protesters are like Luddites, hitting the wrong target.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57617775-93/its-not-the-bus-stupid-its-the-system/

"But after living in the Bay Area for a while, you get used to batshit insane without flinching. After all, Berkeley exists to make San Francisco look sane."

[littleman]

>Tom Perkins

Right, because the billionaires are just like an oppressed religious minority in pre-WWII Germany and the homeless protesters in Berkeley are just like the BrownShirts.

Gurtie, I wouldn't say there is mass hate, but I do think there are some who are very frustrated.  The tax structure in the US favors investing and makes it possible to pay a lot less % in taxes from passive income than from labor.  There is also a lot of offshoring of profits, so that international corporations like Google ans Exon pay little in taxes even though they are hugely profitable.  There is also the banking bail outs, where the banks sat on huge reserves without passing it on to the consumer.  I think a some working Americans feel like they carry the weight of financial burdens while the top earners get a pass.