The Giving Pledge’s numbers, reported Sunday by the New York Times, trace a steady decline. In its first five years, 113 families signed the Pledge. Then 72 over the next five, 43 in the five after that, and just four in all of 2024. The roster includes Sam Altman, Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan, and Elon Musk — some of the most powerful people in the world, and yet, in Peter Thiel’s words to the Times, it is a club that’s “really run out of energy . . .I don’t know if the branding is outright negative,” Thiel told the outlet, “but it feels way less important for people to join.”
Fuck philanthropy, TAX THEM!
It’s worth separating the fate of the Pledge from the fate of philanthropy more broadly. Some of the wealthiest people in tech are still giving; they’re just doing it on their own terms, through their own vehicles, toward their own chosen ends. At the start of 2026, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) cut about 70 jobs — 8% of its workforce — as part of a move away from education and social justice causes toward its Biohub network, a group of nonprofit, biology-focused research institutes operating across several cities. “Biohub is going to be the main focus of our philanthropy going forward,” Zuckerberg said last November.
They’re just trying to extend their own lifespans
guys, it still counts as philantropy if i just love myself, right? guys?
Philanthropy from the wealthy is already a way for them to whitewash their image and stave off torches and pitchforks. Charity is premised on the idea that the system is fine, but some people just need help sometimes, rather than acknowledging that the system is wrong and needs to be fundamentally changed. So fuck it, let them show their utter lack of real concern for everyone other than themselves to the world, and learn that they’re not superhuman the hard way.
People are going to people. While a noble idea, the pledge overlooks the sociopathic and selfish personality traits pretty much required to attain that level of wealth.
ETA: This is why tax policy is a better way to do this. Problem is if just one or two countries have such policies, the wealthy can hide from it. Not a reason not to have the tax policy, though. That’s where foreign policy should come into play.
a club that’s “really run out of energy . . .I don’t know if the branding is outright negative,” Thiel told the outlet, “but it feels way less important for people to join.”
That’s fine, we’ll just take it all, whether you like it or not. If it comes to that, it probably won’t be a pleasant experience for you, and you will most certainly wish you had been more generous up front.
I like how the assumption is that there is honour among billionaires.
This article seems to take a freak piece of shit like Thiel at face value, without any mention of just what a crazy figure he is.
Yeah since he has the vp of the US in his pocket you can’t take anything he says as an improvement.
Wonder what living room furniture the vp has due to Thiel. Heh. Yes I know not real but still fun to poke fun at, cause in these times little else is left.
Also not American so can’t have any sway with what happens except say what a horrible administration they allow to continue.
he has the vp of the US in his pocket
On a leash.
The roster includes Sam Altman, Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan, and Elon Musk — some of the most powerful people in the world, and yet, in Peter Thiel’s words to the Times, it is a club that’s “really run out of energy . . .I don’t know if the branding is outright negative,” Thiel told the outlet, “but it feels way less important for people to join.”
I wonder what (or who) else this roster of billionaires all have in common? 🤔
Also: Peter Thiel: Why Monopolies Are a Good Thing
Those seem to be two conflicting ideas… It’s almost like this guy has no fucking clue what he’s talking about, but people keep listening to him and amplifying his bullshit because he’s part of some club that signals anytime he opens his mouth important things are being said…
“I have a law degree from Stanford.” & “Academic elites are destroying society.”
“My dream was always to be nominated to the supreme court, but they rejected me when I applied for a clerkship.” & “I believe traditional government institutions must be toppled.”
“I fear regulations of technology will lead to a single one world authoritarian government.” & “I plan to use my monopoly to create and control that one world authoritarian government, but it’s different because it’s a private business and nobody but me and my pedophile friends had any say in it taking control.”
Or if you just want it all boiled down into Thiel’s greatest hit:.“I’ve come to believe that democracy and freedom are incompatible.”
Do something good or at least unselfish with their money? What were they thinking!
“Most of the ones I’ve talked to have at least expressed regret about signing it,” Thiel said, calling the Giving Pledge an “Epstein-adjacent, fake Boomer club.”
Pot calling the kettle a pedo.
“Some of us actually, as naïve as it sounds, came here to make the world a better place. And we did not succeed. We made some things better, we made some things worse, and in the meantime the libertarians took over, and they do not give a damn about right or wrong. They are here to make money.”
… sounds about right.
One day altruism won’t be voluntary for these f**ks.
