Posted on 11/16/2008 8:43:48 PM PST by Samantha_West_2008
Billionaire Facebook investor's anti-immigrant heresy By Owen Thomas, 11:20 AM on Fri Nov 14 2008, 4,806 views Insiders at Clarium Capital, the $5.3 billion hedge fund run by Facebook investor Peter Thiel, are buzzing about their boss's $1 million donation to NumbersUSA, an anti-immigrant group. The donation is an open secret within Clarium, and it has enraged several staff members who joined Clarium because they believed Thiel shared their libertarian ideals. When I asked Thiel if he'd made the donation, an underling passed on a nondenial saying the company didn't comment on "gossip and heresy." A typo — he meant to say "hearsay" — but a suggestive one. Thiel has fallen under the sway of Robertson "Rob" Morrow III, a Christian right-wing thinker who has personally donated to NumbersUSA, and persuaded Thiel to make his own, much larger donation.
Morrow is a controversial figure within Clarium, a hedge fund Thiel founded after leaving PayPal, the payments company he cofounded and sold to eBay for $1.5 billion. Morrow was once chief investment officer at the San Francisco-based company, but was pushed out of Thiel's inner circle after he had a nervous breakdown on the trading floor. Morrow slowly worked his way back into Thiel's good graces, and was assigned to run the company's then-small New York office. Recently, his influence over Thiel and Clarium has grown.
Earlier this year, Morrow wrote a paper called "The Bull Market in Politics." His thesis was that "government influence — over trade policy, social programs, decisions of war and peace — becomes much more important" to investors. One key policy area: immigration, where Morrow thinks there is a rising consensus for restrictions.
A politically driven drop in immigration has broad economic implications, especially on the housing market; with less population growth, housing prices will continue to suffer for much longer than most anticipate.
But Morrow is not merely forecasting the market. He has cajoled his influential boss to spend money to make his forecast a reality.
A NumbersUSA spokesman called me to deny that Thiel had made a donation. But the money trail out of Clarium is clear, insiders say, and it would be a simple matter for Thiel to have arranged to make his donation through a third party like DonorsTrust, a conservative foundation through which charitable grants can be directed. The reason why Thiel would want his donation to be anonymous is simple: Even while he's betting against immigration with his hedge fund, he's making money off of immigrant-run startups in Silicon Valley.
However Thiel is getting the money to NumbersUSA, it has specific goals: upgrading NumbersUSA's computer system; hiring a full-time fundraiser to solicit large donations from the wealthy; and hiring Luntz Maslansky Strategic Research to run focus groups on public attitudes toward immigration.
So Thiel, like many wealthy sorts, is getting into politics. What's interesting about this is his shift from outspoken Libertarian. At PayPal, he had ambitions of using his payments startup to undermine illiberal economies and create a new world financial order. Many of his employees, first at PayPal and then at Clarium, were attracted by this powerful (if outlandish) vision.
That he's now fallen under the sway of a right-wing Christian conservative is a bit crushing to the true believers Thiel attracted to his cause. Thiel once aimed to overturn the system. Now he just wants to work within it. As much as his anti-immigration views render him noxious to the Northern California mainstream, his turning away from an embrace of freedom make him an enemy to the rebellious thinkers he's hired.
And what is the problem with that, troll?
The Terry Anderson Show...
Tonight Terry will ask, “Are they going to do it to us?”
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Listen tonight to find out what Terry thinks about “it”
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http://freerepublic.com/focus/news/2133259/posts?page=1
The Terry Anderson Show...
Tonight Terry will ask, “Are they going to do it to us?”
If you don’t know what “IT” is, then you aint been paying attention ...
Listen tonight to find out what Terry thinks about “it”
Call Terry LIVE 9-10 PM PST at (866) 870-57521
LIVE stream at http://krla870.townhall.com/
http://www.republicbroadcasting.org/index.php?cmd=listenliv
http://freerepublic.com/focus/news/2133259/posts?page=1
Good for him.
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
It’s a PRO-IMMIGRATION group...
The illegal aliens and their enablers are the ANTI-IMMIGRATION group...
Learn that difference ...
There be a closed book test...
I have no problems with someone being a Libertarian who believes in the Constitutional duty of the Federal Government to secure the borders from invasion. I do not see a conflict there.
I really have no problems with a billionaire who would donate a million dollars to those ends (securing the border, or pushing for that). Seems patriotic to me.
I noticed the "Anti-Immigration" part of the headline, too, but as garbled as the rest is, I figured that was the mediaspeak code for anti-ILLEGAL immigration. Or did I get that wrong?
Sounds like a great way to spend a million bucks to me.
NumbersUSA Education and Research Foundation is a non-profit, non-partisan immigration-reduction organization. We conduct research on the impacts of high numerical levels of immigration and educate the public, opinion leaders and policy makers on the results of those and other studies. Undergirding our work are beliefs in environmental sustainability, economic justice, the rule of law, and individual liberty, and opposition to federal immigration policies that threaten these values by forcing massive U.S. population growth.
Thanks for the informational post from a source I doubt I would have read had it not been for your posting. I did not know much about Thiel. You did not editorialize at all in my opinion, so we don’t know your view on this (unless I am missing something in the thread). However I guess since you are new, some automatically called you a troll, I guess about posting an article that might lean toward Thiel’s conversion and donation being a bad thing?
I think this issue, like legalized drugs, is one big hot button issue between the classic libertarians and the less-libertarian conservatives, though both of those groups agree a lot more than they disagree, and we will all benefit from understanding issues such as this.
So instead of calling you a troll, I will just say “Welcome to FreeRepublic” and keep an open mind.
So, what is your take on the situation described in this article?
I am getting sick of the outright blind, naked bias in these Gawker Media-run websites. Is this what you wanted to point out?
Fantastic!!!!!
Dear Troll
Numbers USA is an ‘anti-illegal’ immigration group
ping
Good for him
BTT!
I read an interview with Pete Thiel about 18 months ago in Barrons. He is very bright I am not easily impressed but the guy really knows his stuff.
Ping.
Thanks for bringing this to my attention. I just sent a thank you note to Bob Morrow.
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