Saturday, January 11, 2014

The Tech Oligarchs and the Democratic Party

Perhaps Joel Kotkin is being too optimistic, but at a time when the media is obsessed with the internecine warfare within the Republican Party, he suggests that the Democratic Party might soon be riven by its own internal contradictions. Apparently, its new ruling class of high-tech oligarchs has very little in common with its base constituents.

High tech oligarchs are buying major media properties, but their principles seem to contradict those of the Democratic Party’s political base:

Yet for all the advantages of this burgeoning alliance with tech interests, it threatens to create tensions with the party’s traditional base — minorities, labor unions and the public sector — as the party tries accommodate a constituency that combines social liberalism and environmentalist sentiments with vaguely libertarian instincts. The fact that this industry has a pretty awful record on labor and equity issues is something that could prove inconvenient to Democrats seeking to adopt class warfare as their primary tactic.

Sheryl Sandberg talks a good game about the feminist goal of gender parity but few industries are as male dominated than high tech. It’s nearly all white and Asian males. Very little of the wealth trickles down to minority communities:

Large tech firms are notoriously skittish about revealing their diversity data, but one recent report found the share of Hispanics and African-Americans, already far below their percentage in the population, declined in the last decade; Hispanics, roughly one quarter of the local workforce, held 5.2% of the jobs at 10 of the Valley’s largest companies in 2008, down from 6.8% in 1999, according to theSan Jose Mercury News. The share of women in management also has declined, despite the headlines generated by the rise of high-profile figures like Yahoo’s Marissa Mayer and Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg. The mostly male white and Asian top geeks in Palo Alto or San Francisco should celebrate their IPO windfalls, but wages for the region’s African-Americans and Latinos, roughly a third of the local population, have dropped, down 18% for blacks and 5% for Latinos between 2009 and 2011, according to a 2013 Joint Venture Silicon Valley report. Indeed as the Valley has de-industrialized, losing over 80,000 jobs in manufacturing since 2000, some parts of the Valley, notably San Jose, where manufacturing firms were clustered, look more like a Rust Belt city than an exemplar of tech prosperity.

High tech outsources with wild abandon and would surely not cotton too kindly to a move to unionize their workforces.

In Kotkin’s words:

Another inevitable flashpoint regards unions, a core progressive constituency. Venture capitalist Mark Andreesen recently declared that “there doesn’t seem to be a role” for unions in the modern economy because people are “marketing themselves and their skills.” Amazon has battled unions not only in the United States, but in more union-friendlyEurope as well.

And then there is the greed and the gross inequality.

Kotkin writes:

Indeed, despite its counter-cultural trappings and fashionably progressive leanings, Silicon Valley has turned out to be every bit as cutthroat and greedy as any gaggle of capitalists. Leftist journalists like John Judis may rethink their support for the Valley agenda once they realize that they have become poster children for overweening elite power and outrageous inequality.

While everyone was screaming about the predatory practice of Wall Street no one has shown any concern at all for how much money the high tech giants shield from taxation.

Kotkin explains:

Individuals like Bill Gates have voiced public support for higher taxes on the rich, yet Microsoft, Facebook and Apple have all saved billions by exploiting the tax code to shelter profits offshore. Twitter’s founders creatively exploited various arcane loopholes to avoid paying taxes on some of the proceeds of their IPO that they set aside for heirs.

I think that Kotkin’s analysis is unimpeachable. I like to think that he is right to believe that internal contradictions will eventually undermine the Democratic coalition.

For now, however, progressives have taught their constituents to direct their hatred against Wall Street and the Tea Party. As long as the media  stokes this hatred there will be very little left over for the tech oligarchs.

Also, part of being a Democratic tech oligarch is being cool and hip. Unfortunately, the Republican Party is filled with dimwits who manage to make ridiculous public statements that will instantly turn off young voters. Remember Todd Akin on “legitimate rape.” Remember Christine O’Donnell’s witchcraft. Just the other day a Virginia Republican proposed banning oral sex for teenagers. Now, there’s a winning issue: End Blow Jobs Now.

Democrats do not have to anything more than sit back and laugh while Republicans, who think that they are being principled, shoot themselves in the head.

More seriously, as long as the oligarchs own the liberal media, there is no chance that it will turn against them. And, these people have been smart enough to know where they can go to buy protection. They know that the Democratic Party is, for its wealthiest donors, a protection racket. Greasing the wheels of the Democratic Party is part of the cost of doing business. It beats paying taxes.

If the trial lawyers could do it, why can’t the tech oligarchs?

8 comments:

Freddo said...

Just like wall street billionaires the tech giant billionaires like to feel good about themselves. And democratic main policies like environmental and higher minimum wages don't impact their businesses (at least not directly). Don't expect them to introduce some sanity.

Lastango said...

"I like to think that he is right to believe that internal contradictions will eventually undermine the Democratic coalition."

I remember when I expected that would happen due to the hate between blacks and hispanics. At the time, I was reading about fear among black leaders because hispanics had become the largest minority, and would politically out-compete blacks for entitlements and set-asides. That was a decade ago.

"More seriously, as long as the oligarchs own the liberal media, there is no chance that it will turn against them. And, these people have been smart enough to know where they can go to buy protection. They know that the Democratic Party is, for its wealthiest donors, a protection racket."

Absolutely. I couldn't agree more. One small example: People were aghast at how Sandy "Socks" Berger was protected from consequences. For Democrats, it was important to reinforce the core message that "We know how to reward our friends and destroy our enemies." Sandy was a loyal friend.

n.n said...

Highly unlikely. Even the "decent" Democrats support state-sponsored (i.e. normalization) execution through lethal injection or dismemberment of over 1 million human lives annually. This is the defining policy of Democrats. Dreams of sex, money, ego, and control will overcome any emergent conscience. They are good actors for their causes. They embrace the principle of survival of the fittest with an unprecedented relish, and the greedy bastards which compose their base are either proud or unwitting members of the Dodo Dynasty.

Sam L. said...

I recall reading that people in Frisco are unhappy with the tech giants, and their employees. Seems there are buses just for employees that stop at city bus stops, and the employees, being well paid, are driving up the rents.

Anonymous said...

Pigs at the trough. Driving vast server farms and software application purchases for the alphabet soup of government (NSA, CIA, DIA, etc...). They care not a whit about any of the long-term consequences to the Republic... an oligarchy is not a republic, after all. Is this not what Democrats tell us about "greedy" corporations, that they only care about the next quarter's profit? Well, we have hundreds of quarters of devastating results in our public schools, awash with cash and the corrupting influence of the teachers' unions. We're told it's all"for the children." Hogwash! It's an adult jobs program. No, no, no.... don't forget the educational oligarchy. Same difference. More pigs at the trough...

Tip

katzxy said...

Another thing is that they, the tech folks, may see the economy as something that can be 'engineered' and thus naturally support the administrative state, and with it the Democrat party. The alternative is the constitutional separation of powers, which may not make as much sense to an executive.

sestamibi said...

"Unfortunately, the Republican Party is filled with dimwits who manage to make ridiculous public statements that will instantly turn off young voters."

As a former GOP small-county chairman, I wince when I read that, and it embarrasses me to say I have to agree with it.

Anonymous said...

Sestamibi:

That's because the a Republican Party believes in rules and standards. The less it believed in the former, and the more it stands for the latter, the better they'll fare. Socially, rules change because culture changes. But because standards determine the success of a culture, this is the area Republicans must not shirk their responsibility to protect. They need to posture themselves as the standard-bearers, and if American society doesn't want high standards anymore, we're doomed. That's why I mentioned the teacher's union. They don't stand for the children and the high quality of education... they, by definition, stand for themselves.

Tip