DealBook Conference: Clinton Says ‘Twitter Got It Right’ on Political Ads

Wait a minute. Bill Gates is worth about $100 billion dollars and he has ONLY paid $10 billion in taxes? That is absurd! Also, Gates' argument about incentives is utterly ridiculous and based in no logic or fact. The bizarre idea that highly inventive and innovative people will not invent or innovate if they cannot keep 90% of their earnings is preposterous and has never been true. Gates himself should know this and should ask himself if he never would have built Microsoft if the tax system was different. The reality is that people are motivated by much more than wealth. And does any human being need more than $1 billlion? I suggest not. Mr Gates could be stripped of 99% of his wealth and he would still be obscenely rich and very productive.

Local government treasuries are targeted by corporations and businesses who've been playing one community against another for the lowest tax break for decades now. Cleveland Clinic actually got their tax eliminated retroactively. Now they're owed 4 million dollars by us. Leave it to a republican in the governors chair. Of course property owners get another huge levy to make up for them. Its been happening everywhere and doesn't get the coverage it ought to get. Another reason to follow the money for our problems. Go ahead, ask anybody if they're over paid. Even sitting on their behind speculators think they Worked for it.

How about a hotline for neighbors negatively impacted by Airbnb guests who cause disturbances during their stays?

Good. AirBnb can go verify the dump they rented my family in Barcelona which had deceiving photos and location description. We'd love the $575 they refused to refund us based on "their rules." I'm sure it wouldn't make a dent in their deep pockets. For an honest, hard-working family like mine it was a disgusting lesson in the company's arrogance and greed.

Airbnb wants give their customers “peace of mind.” What about the rest of us who live next door to an illegal short term rental. I for one along with many Miami Beach residents are tired from sleepless nights when the party house next door is enjoying their “peace of mind” to all hours of the day. Or blocking my driveway or having renters ringing my front door by mistake with luggage in hand or better yet trashing the neighborhood. What about my “peace of mind”?

Mr. Muilenberg "thought about resigning"? He should be long fired from his job and now indicted for mass murder, albeit the charge would be manslaughter.

Funny how Airbnb decides to now verify every listing. Do you think the referendum loss today in Jersey City had anything to do with that? Or are they just good corporate citizens?

“...When asked why the company believed the plane was safe to fly even though employees had voiced concerns, Mr. Muilenburg said that he would have responded to the first crash differently “if back then we knew everything that we know now.”....” Muilenburg is a liar. He is an engineer, and he knew exactly what the issue was related to even before the first crash. Physically larger engines with more thrust were retrofitted onto an old fuselage. This required that the engines be moved forward and higher off the ground. This causes the plane to pitch up excessively during takeoff (both crashes occurred during takeoff). MCAS was a kludge added to automatically detect and 'correct' for this. A combination of a single point of failure (level detectors), and buggy MCAS software caused the plane to continuously nose down.

Was the AirBnB announcement in any way related to Allie Conti's recent investigative report for Vice on a massive short-term rental scam on their platform? It's a great article, and the Times should give a shout-out to good journalism. Anyone who hasn't read it should. It is an eye opening look at the fraud rampant on that platform and AirBnB's total disregard for customer complaints.

Why would I as a neighbor ever call Airbnb? What incentive would they have to help? It's either the building manager or the police. Airbnb came to our apartment building in a European capital this summer. Tourists now come to stay here as they consider it cheap. Apartment owners, however, make about 3-4x regular rent in high season. Who loses? Whoever lives next to these hostels in this formerly working class neighborhood that has become the most expensive area in the country. I abhor the irregularities arising from large groups vacationing in an apartment building, disregarding rules and regulations. I want to know my neighbors. I do not want to wake up to tourists arriving at 2 am on a Tuesday. I do not want to meet strangers in the basement where nobody can hear me scream. And it is so disturbing to have groups of inebriated travelers drinking and smoking in our beautiful gated courtyard (isn't the point of a gate to keep disturbance out?) When this began happening in May I just wanted to shout, How can this be? This is why we have hotels. So I have thought a lot about Chesky and the other Airbnb billionaires this year, and I truly hope they understand that their business is abhorred globally by so many of us who bear many of its external costs. Judging from Airbnb's recent Jersey City spending they are aware. Nothing Airbnb purports to do will fix these externalities as they are at the crux of their business model. That is why we need strict regulation.

East Hampton, NY has a "Rental Registry". All rental properties must register with the Town and meet safety requirements. Will Airbnb verify that each rental property is registered with the Town?

"Vigorous antitrust enforcement alone should be enough"- well let us know when the vigor returns to this enforcement activity.

It is illegal for renter of an apartment (rent controlled, rent stabilized or market rate) in NYC to offer that apartment on AirBnB. So why are there so many listings for NYC apartments?

If they can do this, then they should be able to verify illegal listings in cities that have enacted regulations limiting short-term rentals. Unfortunately I see no reference to that in this article or the linked blog post.

Now, if only they would verify every guest. I bring this up because the AirBnB homeowner has the most to lose. The homeowner has very little recourse for misused/damaged property.

I stayed at an Airbnb once a couple years ago - never again. While the place wasn't totally different from the description, it was in much worse shape and the host announced stringent rules upon our arrival that weren't previously disclosed (but fortunately didn't really impact us). The host also lied, telling us the bathroom was for us only and then she booked a second couple in a bedroom next to us - and they stayed out late and were loud - and so we had to share the very small bathroom. Fool me once, shame on me. There won't be a second time.

You lost me when I saw Jenner/Kardashian on the roster. Don’t care to know anything more from them. What an insult to those who have actually accomplished something worthwhile.