Dave Kellogg

Californians will vote on whether to impose a one-time, five-per-cent wealth tax on billionaires. “If it passes, it will be a revolution,” an economist at the University of California, Berkeley, said. newyorker.com/magazine/2026/…

Tom Steyer is the only billionaire who supports the California billionaire tax. He makes SO many powerful observations in the recent @NewYorker article about the selfish, decadent and morally corrupt elites running Silicon Valley right now.

From the piece:

"I suggested to several super-rich Californians, ‘Look, if you don’t like this, why don’t we sit down and come up with something that works from your standpoint and actually addresses the issues?’ And they had no interest in doing it."

He lamented the passing of what he saw as tech’s originating spirit, entrepreneurial but also patriotic, which was exemplified by the Hewlett-Packard founders’ heavy involvement in philanthropy and public service."

Can you imagine David Packard or Bill Hewlett doing the kind of self-promotion that Elon Musk does?” he said. “There’s obviously been just a really dramatic change. I don’t want to turn them into gods, but Dave Packard and Bill Hewlett felt a deep connection with the country and with the state and with the land. It doesn’t exist today.”

I asked him how he explains this change. “The people who are making the big money in California are technology people,” he said, and many of them “are incredibly focussed on that and quite dismissive of the other kinds of learning. That is not something they respect. English literature is not something they respect.”

It may be pertinent that we were speaking at the decidedly old-school Yale Club, in New York City—Steyer is an alum. “When you get too reductive in terms of focussing just on money, or just focussing on technology, there are a lot of things that you’re cutting away from that world view,” he went on. “And a lot of those things are what we would think of as human values, like compassion, some sense of honor, all the things that you read about in the soft courses. And, if you don’t have that, then O.K., good night. You have a different frame of reference and a different value system.”

Marc Andreessen (@pmarca) on founders taking psychedelics:

“I was describing this phenomenon we see in Silicon Valley where these guys get under pressure and they feel anxious and somebody tells them about psychedelics.

They try it and they kind of come out the other end as a changed person. And they kind of come out much more at peace, but then they also tend to like quit their companies and they move to Indonesia and become a surf instructor.

They just peace out. They're just done.

There's been a whole bunch of examples of this and I was complaining to @hubermanlab about this and in true Huberman kind of wise Yoda style, he's like, "Well, you know, how do you know they're not happier? Maybe that was the positive outcome. Maybe the thing that was driving them to be a great entrepreneur was a fundamental level of insecurity. They had this kind of unsatisfied, neurotic impulse, and now, they're just satisfied.”

And I'm like, "Yeah, but their company, it's failing."

Just an FYI on how Sphere works... These dates were ALWAYS planned, but ticket sales needed to dictate the math. That is why EVERY Sphere residency gets added dates.

Basically, as an artist, you are paying an exorbitant rental fee to Sphere because it makes so much money on movies. There is no discount for load-in and load-out. Also, you are responsible for producing the visuals (which Sphere can veto). So the way it works is this:

1) Your first string of dates have to be limited enough to cause a sell-out. These dates pay for the Sphere fees and your production. Then based on the demand you saw from your first release, you trigger the soft holds on the new dates.

2) The new dates are actually where you make your money on the residency.

Here's the math. Sphere is about $2M a night to rent because you have to make them more money than they make with Oz or other films. Visuals for a 2 hour show are going to cost you between $5-8M. Add another $2-5M for various other production costs. An act like John Mayer is probably pulling in $5-6M a night. So the first 6 nights are gonna cost you around $22-25M in costs for $30-36M in revenue. But then after that, you are looking at $3-4M in revenue per night for sold out shows, if the demand is there.

Either way, Sphere makes it's money. Which makes me happy, because my Sphere stock is up 120% since I bought it.

Board members are supposed to be fiduciaries, but many don’t even know what that means.

With great power comes great responsibility….and great potential liability

Cognition vs Factory + role of board members vs board observers

onlycfo.io/p/cognition-vs…

A lot of people should read this aeon.co/essays/your-br…

The LLMs were definitely trained on Jim Sinegal warning an incoming Costco CEO to not raise the price of the $1.50 hot dog combo: “I’ll f**king kill you.”

But this exchange Sinegal had with Seattle Times was even better training data to convey the value of a Costco membership:

It's the corruption

Ray would like a word

Why I Believe in Categories, Just Not Category Design kellblog.com/why-i-believe-…

Excellent Op Ed recommending that Democrats focus on affordability and economic fairness.
nytimes.com/2026/09/28/opi…

National core values are food and protest. They're right above liberty, equality, and fraternity.

That's called product differentiation, not a moat

I want someone to explain to me why the colors disappeared

Dear @UPS do not ring my bell or knock on my door unless you are going to stand there and wait for a required signature. I already have electronic delivery notifications. I don't need you making my dog wild for no reason. (And why isn't this an option in My Choice)

The surge we are seeing in borrowing costs right now is not a coincidence.

Even as the US Treasury has attempted to intervene, yields just keep on rising.

Amid record deficit spending and 60-straight months of 2%+ inflation, the bond market can no longer ignore reality.

Asset owners will be the only winners.

One day after @jaredkushner took to this platform to insist his work diplomatically is unconnected to his business interests, the Times drops this one

The aging president expressed sympathy for the seven men who have been accused of drugging and gang-raping a classmate at Cornell University.
thedailybeast.com/donald-trump-e…

The fact you can't just close a gambling account without a "cooldown" period is actually psychopathic

The far-right ideologues and grifters running U.S. foreign policy are the vanguard of a movement that will alter not just America but the world, @anneapplebaum reports. theatlantic.com/magazine/2026/…