Join us live this afternoon, Tuesday, September 9, at 1:00 p.m. Eastern to talk about billionaires with journalist and author David Gelles. Watch on desktop at The Ink or on a phone or tablet using the Substack app.
Considered as spectacle, this weekend’s White House Big Tech dinner was disturbing enough — a healthy percentage of the richest, most powerful people in America, buttering up Donald Trump in a style reminiscent of North Korean apparatchiks. It’s tempting to look at them, gathered to pay homage to a leader who exhibits little understanding of what they do beyond the balance sheet, as desperate, fearful, trying to preserve something in a dark time. But there’s a key moment early on that bursts the bubble:
Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google (that company whose motto was, once upon a time, “Don’t be evil”), seated directly across from the President, says to him:
I think it’s a real incredible inflection point right now in A.I., and the fact that your administration is supporting our companies instead of fighting with them is hugely important.
And that is hugely important, though not only in the way Brin means. By “fighting with them,” Brin’s referring to something we’ve talked about a lot here at The Ink over the past couple of years: the Biden-era attempt, led by former Federal Trade Commission chair Lina Khan, to break the power of monopolies over the lives of Americans. Monopolies like Google, for instance, which had just had its day in court, wrapping up a five-year antitrust battle.
Last week, it seemed that though Google had technically lost, the company had for the most part beaten the rap, forking over some data to rivals and promising to forgo some future dealmaking — but avoiding a forced breakup, maintaining its search-engine deal with Apple, hanging onto ownership of the Chrome browser, and leaving the internet just as consolidated under a very few giant movers and shakers as it’s been for most of the past decade. And the share price bump for both Google and rival/partner Apple following the decision likely made up for any inconvenience.
And as the White House rolls back the work Khan and others have done since 2020 to tilt the balance ever so slightly back toward the people — remaking the FTC, tossing out the noncompete ban, and so on — it seems that under the leadership of a man often said to be stuck in the 1980s, the country is looking back to some of the worst excesses of that earlier era.
None of this is good news for people who work or buy things or provide or use the services that keep everything running. But it’s good for the people at that table (there at the People’s House), and that comes at everyone else’s expense. It seems that in this land where all are created equal, some are a lot more equal than others.
It’s the attitude you can see on display in the other peeks we’ve gotten this week into the lives, values, and goals of the ultrawealthy: the bitter resolution of the Rupert Murdoch family inheritance drama — the real Succession — keeping the Fox empire in right-wing hands; the Anthropic book piracy settlement, which gave us the price A.I. puts on human ingenuity (it’s about three grand); and the Jeffrey Epstein “birthday book” a terrifying novelistic account that traces the ascent of a working-class striver as he ascends through the ranks, eventually joing the elite club that treats (very openly!) the people he used to count himself among as servants, playthings, resources to exploit. Or ignore.
Silicon Valley’s world changers have thrown off even the pretense of do-gooding chronicled in Winners Take All. What exactly happened to “Don’t be evil”? To talk about how and why we got here, and whether there’s a better way, even for billionaires, we hope you’ll join us this afternoon at 1:00 Eastern when we talk to journalist David Gelles about his new book, Dirtbag Billionaire: How Yvon Chouinard Built Patagonia, Made a Fortune, and Gave It All Away.
The Ink is powered by readers, not billionaires. Help us stand up for independent media that isn’t afraid to tell the truth by joining us today.
Your support is how we keep the lights on, pay our writers and editors a fair wage, and build the new media we all deserve. When you subscribe, you help us reach more people. Join us today, or if you are already a member, give a gift or group subscription.
Join us for more Live conversations this week!
Today, Tuesday, September 9, at 1:00 p.m. Eastern, we’ll speak with author David Gelles about billionaires and his new book on Patagonia’s Yvon Chouinard. Then on Wednesday, September 10, at 12:30 p.m. Eastern, we’ll talk with human rights attorney and Knight First Amendment Institute director Jameel Jaffer.
To join and watch, download the Substack app (click on the button below) and turn on notifications — you’ll get an alert once we’re live, and you can watch, chat, and even participate in the conversation during our Book Club meetings from your iOS or Android mobile device. If you’re using a computer, you can also watch (and ask questions in the text chat) on our homepage.
Thank you, Anand. Yours is a voice of reason and reality in an upside-down bizarro world. It sickens me to see those billionaires sucking up to him.
I’m a subscriber, but I can’t figure out how to watch the video later. Can you please help? Thanks!