Why Peter Thiel Is Decamping to Argentina

(nytimes.com)

17 points | by simonebrunozzi 8 hours ago ago

10 comments

  • gus_massa 3 hours ago

    > The Argentine government is currently working to establish a “golden passport” program that would allow people who make large investments in the country to obtain citizenship.

    It's weird, we had a lot of immigration, a “paper passport” is quite cheap. Anyway, not as much immigration as far right alarmist claim.

    > Mr. Varsavsky has hypothesized that Argentina would be completely unaffected if the northern hemisphere were wiped out by nuclear war.

    It doesn't work if too many high profile persons relocate with a lot of fuss, please relocate quietly.

    Anyway, I remember that in the WarGames movie they bomb us too. Why? Why waste nukes? We can promise to self destruct if you leave us alone.

  • kjs3 4 hours ago

    Doesn't seem so weird. Argentina has a history of taking in wealthy folks with...um...baggage.

  • techblueberry 7 hours ago

    I’m curious where all this is going. I’m not not a capitalist, and dispassionately see value in entrepreneurs / titans of industry, but when billionaires are actively talking about abandoning the social contract, and 7 giant corporations own like half the S&P 500.

    Moderation in all things, and I’m starting to think that maybe alienating your billionaires isn’t the worst thing in the world, particularly when those billionaires demonize competition, and seem to have their primary criteria of an alternative home being, having the least limits possible, not a place for mutual exchange.

    I’m reading a biography of JD Rockefeller, and it’s amazing how different the ethical and legal business environment was back then. Maybe a way to put this is it’s interesting the debate doesn’t seem to change in society (capitalism good! Billionaires good!) long after multiple underlying conditions have changed.

  • JSR_FDED 7 hours ago

    Radical idea, hear me out…instead of establishing a base in Argentina “motivated by concerns about the future of the United States”, he could take a tiny portion of his wealth and actually contribute to building the right future for the United States.

  • sleepyguy 6 hours ago

    Who can blame him, 1000's of Americans are looking for a plan b, it's good to have options especially for younger folks who have their entire lives ahead of them. If you can acquire citizenship in Canada or the EU, why not....

    • gmerc 3 hours ago

      I think it’s reasonable to blame him as a major reason for the ailments discussed.

  • jqpabc123 7 hours ago

    Bottom line: Most billionaires are mainly focused on *their* own interests --- not the country's interests, not society's interests and most definitely not your interests.

    Instead of using the wealth Theil has accumulated to benefit the society that benefited him and made him wealthy, he is taking his marbles and moving to a new home.

  • ath3nd 7 hours ago

    [dead]

  • 10xDev 7 hours ago

    Social experiment: What would happen if you gave the local homeless billions of dollars and adderall?

  • qsxfthnkp2322 4 hours ago

    The figure of the United States is bleak.

    We have private equity destroying the companies we like.

    We have a horrible healthcare system that is tired to your job. Good luck when ai takes over and you inevitably get cancer.

    We have a horrible food system where everyone is super fat and has so many health issues related to the Wild West of grass. You are what you eat.

    We have been collecting mass surveillance on everybody. Now that data is becoming increasingly more available to anyone with enough money to pay for it. And it’s more accessible than ever from tooling that Mr Thiel has created.

    Why anyone would want to be here and continue to build this garbage is beyond me.

    I wish it weren’t true. I still have an American flag.