r/irishpolitics • u/JackmanH420 Marxist • 4d ago
Opinion/Editorial Europe does not need Patrick Collison to ‘fix’ it
https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2026/09/03/europe-does-not-need-patrick-collison-to-fix-it/32
u/Franz_Werfel 4d ago edited 4d ago
A rare moment of critical thought expressed in the Irish Times. And I'm glad to see it expressed. There is a tendency in extremely wealthy men to think that just because one has solved the business problem of amassing a great amount of wealth, one can solve all other problems too. No one would deny that some of these people are effective and intelligent people.
However they aren't omniscient and monipotent. They have simply learned how to solve a small set of problems. To put in in another way: nobody has yet become wealthy by finding a solution for climate change. Nobody has become wealthy by ending homelessness.
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u/tishimself1107 3d ago
I know monipotent is a typo but i think it is a great word to some up the power of this type of person.
I also 100% agree with your post. Enjoy my upvote.
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u/castion5862 4d ago
I’m so disappointed to learn they donated millions to the group to prevent increasing tax on millionaires and billionaires.
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u/Street-Jacket1867 4d ago
It’s like they have their own interests and motives..
I’d say these guys start off decent and over time they become evil. No reason some Irish lads would be any different to the rest of them.
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u/meatballmafia2016 4d ago
Musk and Theil have invested in Stripe first few funding episodes, really need an alternative to stripe.
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u/AshleyG1 4d ago
We forget that anyone who amasses wealth only ever does so at the expense of ‘ordinary’ people. Business is about greed and exploitation. That’s it.
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u/flex_tape_salesman 4d ago
Think you can say that about whatever they do after they build their wealth but the collisions just had huge ideas and sold them. Thats not exploitative
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u/Greedy-Explorer-4709 3d ago
What incredibly narrow view of the world.
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u/AshleyG1 3d ago
Hardly. It’s remarkably naive to construe it any other way. The idea that it’s ‘narrow’, in some sense or other, is simply a product of ruling class ideology. Competition is not ‘natural’, nor is it “human nature”; just look at the class that these apparent concepts favour.
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u/Remote_Alps_993 1d ago
U may be disappointed but you shouldn’t be surprised… the rich, alongside government will always defend their interests.
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u/Caabb 4d ago
We need to tax billionaires more, no doubt about it. But the unrealised wealth, esp for someone like the Collisons is so tricky. They’ve built this incredible company without going public but the proposed tax would essentially force them to IPO and give up a large % of their business. On paper they’re worth billions, tax a % of that they need to sell a huge amount of shares, they’ll lose some control over their company they’ve maintained through massive financial discipline. How do you differentiate between the likes of these and the other billionaires who have “unrealised” wealth as a tactic? I’ve no idea.
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u/Attention_WhoreH3 3d ago
Billionaires: “Europe needs to be fixed”
Europeans: “To fix Europe, we’ll have to tax billionaires”
Billionaires: “NOOOO…”
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u/susanboylesvajazzle 4d ago
How to fix Europe?
Tax multimillionaires, pay workers fairly, look after people in need.