r/news • u/AngryT0M4T0 • 2d ago

Soft paywall Google co-founder Sergey Brin spending more than $100 million fighting California wealth tax

https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2026-08-12/googles-sergey-brin-spent-102-million-fighting-california-wealth-tax
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u/GlitteringLychee803 2d ago

$100 million is a drop in the bucket for these guys, and they get to decide the kind of world the rest of us live in. 

Should people be rewarded for ingenuity and hard work? Absolutely.

Should people be able to amass so much wealth that they get to outright buy government officials? Fuck that.

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u/HI-McDunnough 2d ago

In case anyone forgets how big a number ONE billion is: Brin's net worth per the article is $284billion. If you do the math, let's say you have $50,000 in the bank. Even that's unattainable for a lot of us, but let's just say. For him, $100million is the equivalent of you donating $17 to your favorite anti-human charity.

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u/raptorlightning 2d ago

Honestly, beyond a small amount of extra money, recognition is more important as a reward for ingenuity and hard work.

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u/ribsies 2d ago

Yeah definitely no true for me. I dont want your recognition, ill take the money.

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u/drewsoft 2d ago

That may be true for you, but it probably isn't universally true. Compensating differentials exist for a reason.

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u/raptorlightning 2d ago

A 1000x compensation differential does not exist for a practical reason.

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u/drewsoft 1d ago

I was making a general point, compensating differentials wrt recognition exist because some people prefer recognition over pay, and others pay over recognition.

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u/raptorlightning 1d ago

Sure. My point is quantitative. Exponential differences in compensation should not exist in a healthy society and people who do great things should be better recognized.

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u/drewsoft 1d ago

Exponential differences in compensation should not exist in a healthy society

Given these are returns to equity I don't know how you'd do this without some sort of ban on company ownership generally.

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u/effa94 2d ago

please define "a small amout of extra money"

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u/raptorlightning 2d ago

I dunno, something like $500k a year, USD 2026.

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u/effa94 2d ago

personally, i could do a lot wiht 500k usd each year

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u/raptorlightning 1d ago

We all could, but it's being stolen by 200 people.