Now Playing at Reason.tv: Craigslist's Craig Newmark on "nerd values," Barack Obama, Ayn Rand, and much more.

Nick Gillespie | October 27, 2008

Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist, talks about "nerd values," the Internet, Ayn Rand, Barack Obama, and more.

Comments

Timmy|10.27.08 @ 3:03PM|#

Timmy!

|10.27.08 @ 3:15PM|#

Cthulhu 2008

My Candidate can Eat Yours

|10.27.08 @ 3:16PM|#

You know, as I was scrolling down, I thought that was Clint Howard (from the eyes up).

squarooticus|10.27.08 @ 3:33PM|#

Paraphrased:

I'm a libertarian except when I don't like the results.

Someone should clue him in on the fact that health insurance isn't a free market, so blaming the free market for the failures of the existing health care system is disingenuous.

hotsauce|10.27.08 @ 3:46PM|#

I stopped watching at 1:30. This guy is a moron. But probably a rich moron.

|10.27.08 @ 3:52PM|#

if he's such a libertarian, why can't I buy a gun on Craigslist?

|10.27.08 @ 3:56PM|#

Yep, the eyes and the head are totally Clint Howard.

Ken_K|10.27.08 @ 4:20PM|#

This guy's an idiot.

Neu Mejican|10.27.08 @ 4:21PM|#

Ken_K,

This guy's an idiot.

You should have known when you say the tag line "talks about "nerd values," the Internet, Ayn Rand..."

Elemenope|10.27.08 @ 4:28PM|#

But probably a rich moron.

But...but...but...I THOUGHT THAT WAS *IMPOSSIBLE*!!!

Elemenope|10.27.08 @ 4:34PM|#

And, FWIW, I am hesitant to call a guy an idiot from a mere eight minutes of heavily edited footage.

So, he expressed an opinion that sometimes there are market failures. So what. Many economists will concede as much, and readily.

Take your DEMAND KURV! and crawl back to the shadow, market fundies.

|10.27.08 @ 4:34PM|#

Yeah, he doesn't seem to have any coherent political philosophy--did he REALLY read Rand when he was younger? Maybe he just knew someone who did... Either way, I somewhat doubt Obama will be looking to him for guidance on Internet policy. But, he's definitely improved his grooming/wardrobe since I last saw him on TV.

|10.27.08 @ 4:37PM|#

Just regular Clint Howard, mind you, not Balok Clint Howard.

|10.27.08 @ 5:21PM|#

Wait...

A guy who works on the Obama campaign is telling newspapers that they should call politicians on their lies?

broncoremy|10.27.08 @ 5:30PM|#

Sunlight is the best disinfectant, unless of course we are talking about disclosing campaign contributions to the One and that the Obama campaign has raked in hundreds of millions of possibly fraudulent contributions through shutting off the AVS checks on their website. Otherwise, yes, Obama is all for transparency.

|10.27.08 @ 5:34PM|#

Is it just me, or are other people having trouble playing these Reason.TV clips? I hit play and two seconds later, the damn thing stalls, again and again.

|10.27.08 @ 5:35PM|#

lmnop, yes there are indeed market failures. But there are also government failures. The latter are more frequent and severe.

Elemenope|10.27.08 @ 5:45PM|#

lmnop, yes there are indeed market failures. But there are also government failures. The latter are more frequent and severe.

I'm not sure they are more frequent, but I agree they tend to be more severe. That is why I tend to be more circumspect than he seems to be about announcing a market failure and letting the state take a crack at managing a resource that the market seemingly fails to. It is a big risk, and should be a last resort.

But everyone above seemed ready to call the guy an idiot because he pointed out that markets sometimes fail (he used the problematic but not entirely unjustified example of health care). That's what I was primarily complaining about.

Elemenope|10.27.08 @ 5:46PM|#

Is it just me, or are other people having trouble playing these Reason.TV clips? I hit play and two seconds later, the damn thing stalls, again and again.

I was having trouble about a week ago, so I reinstalled Flash and updated my DirectX drivers, and everything is now peachy. Might be worth a shot.

hotsauce|10.27.08 @ 7:10PM|#

Markets can't fail or succeed. They don't act or have goals. They simply exist, as the aggregation of actions of billions of individuals.

Chrispy|10.27.08 @ 7:57PM|#

So, he expressed an opinion that sometimes there are market failures.

That may or may not be what he meant, but it wasn't what he said. He said that health care specifically has been a market failure. That simply isn't true, and it's perfectly appropriate to call him on it.

Chrispy|10.27.08 @ 8:01PM|#

if he's such a libertarian, why can't I buy a gun on Craigslist?

Because Craigslist is a privately owned company, and they get to decide what you can buy or sell on it. (There are probably a lot of government restrictions too, but that's beside the point.) If you don't like it, you're free to start MCabslist if you want to.

I agree that (based on this clip at least) the guy is far from libertarian.

|10.27.08 @ 9:01PM|#

If I treat people the way I want to be treated, that means getting the government to steal from A to give to B...God, I feel good about myself.

Mike Laursen|10.28.08 @ 1:17AM|#

Yeah, he doesn't seem to have any coherent political philosophy--did he REALLY read Rand when he was younger?

In the video he said that he was so into Rand that he visited her headquarters and met Murray Rothbard. That's a pretty good indication he actually read the books.

Seems like a very thoughtful guy who has been through his libertarian fundamentalist phase. Those who are still stuck in that phase might learn something from him.

|10.28.08 @ 8:05AM|#

This guy is a moron. But probably a rich moron.

Rich because of a former partner who put him on the map. He was making pocket change before Nancy Melone got involved.

-jcr

|10.28.08 @ 8:41AM|#

"Newspapers are doing well"
"I have hope in young people bailing out my sorry butt"

This poor guy is tragically out of touch.
Doesn't he ever read the Rants and Raves section of Craigslist??? The collective schizoid menace that trolls CL on any given day is enough to make me want to build a bomb shelter and commit to life underground.

Larry McElhinney|10.28.08 @ 4:39PM|#

Hotsauce: I did exactly the same thing. After I read your post I scrolled back up to find the video paused at exactly 1:30.

Its interesting to see how many people call themselves libertarians and yet seem hopelessly incapable of viewing the world through libertarian eyes.

|10.28.08 @ 9:37PM|#

Yeah, Obama is so transparent about how he is involved with ACORN, and how he raised so much money from $200 contributions. Why aren't those names online? Probably because there are 2 million $200 contributions from George Soros

His claim to be libertarian is very weak.

Chrispy|10.28.08 @ 9:46PM|#

Those who are still stuck in that phase might learn something from him.

Which phase is that, the one where you have principles and stick to them? If so, I think I'll stay a 'libertarian fundamentalist' a while longer.

|10.28.08 @ 10:38PM|#

This guy is an ignorant dildo. Why have him on Reason when his view is on every other website. He is like a Christian who's for capital punishment - he's a "libertarian" for socialized medicine - give me a break

|11.2.08 @ 7:14PM|#

Craig;
Thanks for the list. Sincerely.

Everyone else;
Craig just made a website. His opinions are no more valuable than mine.... or yours... or whomever's. In fact, he is an idiot for not monetizing his website to a much greater extent. Just my worthless opinion.