Silvio

Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.

[Swan @AndySwan]

You're much more of a slave to the 1% that commit 50% of crimes than you are to the 1% that create 40% of the wealth.

[Yogi @Houseofyogi]

Bezos went on CNBC yesterday and said "You could double the taxes I pay and it's not gonna help that teacher in Queens."

And all the bureaucrats and socialists lost their minds.

Promise the teacher a raise. Tax everyone. Launder the money through Washington. Then blame the billionaire. We aren't morons Ro, we've seen this before.

Bezos said the bottom half of earners should pay zero federal income tax.

A nurse in Queens making $75K hands the IRS $12K a year. He said cut it to zero. She keeps her full paycheck. No bs refund, paperwork or shady government program.

Simple.

They won't do it. And you should ask yourself why.

They don't ACTUALLY want to help anyone. They just want to pretend they tried and get your votes while making you hate the ppl they scammed.

They want the money to flow through Washington, the city, every ponzi department and consultant and charity so each one can wet their beak.

By the time it reaches the teacher it's maybe $100, if that...

And then they'll blame the billionaire who hasn't paid their "fair share." Right Warren???

Lets take a gander at Mamdani's education budget.

NYC spends $42K per student per year, 3x the national average ($15K). Highest in America. Florida pays $9K.

NYC spends more per pupil than most people pay for private school or college. Its frickn insane.

The budget has gone up every year, enrollment has gone down. With all that money only 3 out of 10 kids can read in the 8th grade. Cuba can read better english and they speak spanish lol.

So where is the money going? Def not to teachers. but shh, ro doesn't want you to know that.

A starting teacher in NYC makes $65K. Mamdani's city spends $42K per kid, runs a $40B budget. You could pay every teacher six figures with that money and have 12 kids per a classroom. But thats too logical.

It goes to administrators. Consultants. Overtime. Unions. Friends and family businesses. Pensions for people who left a decade ago. Studies about studies. Buildings that take ten years to renovate. Everyone else but the kids, teachers and actual schools

THERE IS ENOUGH MONEY.

Politicians decide where the money goes. Teachers are underpaid because of how government spends money. Not because Bezos doesn't pay enough.

Then they stand outside a billionaire's apartment with a camera and tell you he's the problem.

That's the SCAM.

Ro Khanna says tax billionaires to fund $60K teacher salaries. NYC already spends enough to fund $100K teacher salaries. The money's there, Ro. Your people are the ones who won't give it to her.

Federal level is the same story. DOE spending up 649% since 2000 and kids aren't any smarter. GAO found $186 billion in improper payments last year. $3 trillion in errors since 2003. It’s criminal.

Stop taxing the nurse. No bureaucracy. Just let the woman keep her full paycheck.

Outrage is deflection.

They'd rather she pay.

Because her keeping her own money doesn't fund the machine and they lose the one thing that keeps the whole racket going: a billionaire to blame.

[Jay Parsons @jayparsons]

Some quick thoughts on AvalonBay + Equity Residential merger announced today.

1) Big names, but still small market share. About 0.5% of the market combined. Fun fact: The combined firm will have 180k units, which is less than Equity had at its peak (225k).

2) Naturally, we'll hear cynics screaming about "pricing power" but this is just noise. In what industry does 0.5% market share give you real pricing power? Even in their largest markets (Boston, DC, Bay, etc), they're around 4% or less. Also bear in mind both firms serve the very high end of the market, true "renters by choice" making six-figure incomes and spending ~20% of income on rent. Not exactly where the affordability issues exist.

3) The firms say they'll have $175 million in operating synergies, so the play here seems more about cost and efficiencies of scale -- as well as some capital advantages as well. FWIW, the market doesn't yet seem convinced-- with both AVB and EQR stocks ticking down after the announcement this morning.

4) Interestingly, the companies announced one big new initiative -- jumping into affordable housing. Neither is a real player in that space today. EQR was big in affordable housing in 1990s and early 2000s, but sold that portfolio a long time ago. The affordable play probably has some PR/political advantages, but also legitimately does serve a real need as well.

5) Also interestingly, the firms doubled down on apartment construction. They're building a combined 10k units now and said they'll ramp it up more. Both firms have been targeting growth in the Sun Belt (they're heavily concentrated in big coastal MSAs today) so I would assume that continues unless "NewCo" pivots. (The combined firm will operate under a new name yet to be announced.)

6) "NewCo" is positioned as a "merger of equals" and that makes sense in a lot of ways. They'll even maintain dual HQs in Northern Virginia and Chicago, though it's difficult to see Chicago winning that battle longer term. AVB's CEO (Ben Schall) becomes CEO of new firm, while EQR CEO Mark Parrell will retire. The Board chair comes from the EQR side.

Will share more thoughts in an upcoming newsletter on my website. And, as always, these are just things I find interesting -- not investment advice whatsoever.

[Marc Andreessen 🇺🇸 @pmarca]

Four years ago, this post would have gotten you erased from the entire Internet, banned from the entire banking system, fired from your job, and blackballed from future employment in the Fortune 500.

[Jake @JakehellerAI]

This week in AI for Real Estate was probably the most significant week I've tracked.

Here are the 12 biggest stories from this week:

1) Anthropic + Blackstone + Goldman launched a $1.5B joint venture to embed Claude inside PE-owned companies. Real estate is named as a target vertical.

2) OpenAI closed a competing $10B "Deployment Company" JV with TPG, Brookfield, Bain Capital, and 15 other PE firms. Same playbook, different lab.

3) Then Google jumped in. Alphabet entered talks with Blackstone, KKR, and EQT to distribute Google AI to their portfolio companies.

4) NVIDIA invested $2.1B in IREN plus a $3.4B cloud services contract to deploy up to 5 GW of AI infrastructure.

5) Blackstone filed for a $1.75B NYSE IPO for BXDC, the first pure play AI era data center REIT. Stabilized hyperscaler triple-net leases valued at $250M-$1.5B each.

6) KKR is reportedly raising $10B for a new AI-focused firm targeting data center development. Between KKR, Blackstone, and Brookfield, the institutional conviction on AI infrastructure is insane right now.

7) Cushman & Wakefield released a report projecting AI will add 330 million SF of net new CRE demand over the next decade. Industrial captures 298.5M SF. Office gets a net positive 24.4M SF.

8) Manhattan AI office leasing is surging. SL Green reported AI companies now account for 25% of their Manhattan leases. Hudson Pacific said AI tenants were 60% of their 4.1M SF Q1 volume. Average AI lease size doubled YoY to 34,500 SF.

9) Marcus & Millichap posted Q1 revenue of $171.5M (+18% YoY) and explicitly cited AI productivity on the earnings call.

10) Davis AI raised $5.5M to launch Gaudi-1, a generative model that produces building designs under real zoning and regulatory constraints.

11) Illoca raised $13M from Bessemer Venture Partners for an AI architecture canvas that replaces traditional CAD/BIM.

12) Providence, Rhode Island filed the first enforcement action under its algorithmic rent pricing ban. A landlord allegedly used an algorithm to drive a 44% rent hike. First case of its kind. Keep an eye on this...

And if you want to see what happens when Yardi Virtuoso connects with Claude, make sure to join the free webinar May 20th 11AM PT (2PM ET). Link below!

[m. stanfield @resetbasis]

If you told a Boston plumber you were going to be his "AI guy" and charge him 2-3k per month, he would beat the shit out of you with a pipe wrench.

Don't take trades advice from software people.

[Mr Family Office @MrFamilyOffice]

An interesting stat: for the past five years, 89 people crossed the US$30 million threshold every single day

The US accounted for 41% of new entrants, which also dominates the UHNW population at 37%

When it comes to billionaires, they’re more globally dispersed. 3,110 worldwide, with the APAC region having the most at 1,116, then North America at 965

Maturing economies are expected to lead billionaire growth over the next five year period, notably Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Poland, and Vietnam

[Today in History @TodayinHistory]

This may be the most articulate response I’ve ever heard to this question.

[Hiten Samtani 🗞️ @hitsamty]

The private Sunbelt multifamily REIT formed by Scott Everett's S2 is now telegraphing a total equity wipeout, according to new investor comms from partner Trinity reviewed by The Promote.

"Said another way, while the common equity was marked at $0.73 per share as of Q4 2025, S2 is currently focused on maximizing value for mezzanine investors, and equity investors should expect a full loss of capital."

More for Insiders later today. REIT has 9K+ units so a BFD.

[Yogi @Houseofyogi]

Spirit Airlines died tonight at the hands of the socialist crusader, Elizabeth Warren

She must be so proud to add another casket to her achievements.

Tonight at 3am, Spirit turns off the lights. 14,000 jobs gone. 30+ smaller airports lose service.

JetBlue offered $3.8 BILLION in cash to buy Spirit in 2022. Shareholders, flight attendants union, literally everyone voted yes.

The combined company would have held 9% of the US market against a Big 4 that already owned 80%.

For anyone who understands numbers: 9% isn’t a monopoly against 80%.

Warren said no.

She wrote letters. She pressured Buttigieg. Biden’s DOJ sued. A federal judge killed the deal in January 2024.

Her argument: the merger would cost consumers $1 billion a year.

Now look at her collateral damage she dusts under the rug.

510 pilots gone in the months after. 1,800 flight attendants furloughed in December.

14,000 jobs in 2023. 7,500 last week. Zero tonight.

And that’s just the people in Spirit uniforms.

Catering goes. Fuel guys go. Baggage crews, gate agents, airport coffee shops, hotels and rental cars in 70 cities Spirit flew to. Every airline job carries 3 more on its back.

40,000 people out of work because of one woman’s moronic crusade against the market.

And the math ain’t mathing.

Spirit abandoned 90 routes during the death spiral. Fares on those routes are up 14% on average. Oakland to Newark: $135 to $288. Fort Myers to San Juan: $92 to $219. Kansas City to Newark up 66%.

That’s reality. Not some BS number from a “study.”

So @SenWarren tell me how this saves the consumer money?

Cheap carriers in a market drop fares 21% across the board. Southwest did this in the 90s and saved Americans $68 BILLION over 20 years.

Warren killed it. That’s what moronic politicians led by socialism do.

Then with her own blind arrogance, she tweeted Spirit’s collapse is “a Biden win for flyers.”

A win.

14,000 people are reading termination letters tonight.

And she’s taking credit.

This is socialism in 2026.

A senator who’s never made payroll thinks she knows how to run a market better than the people who own and work in the company.

She saved you a billion on imaginary paper.

She cost you ten times that in real life.

She didn’t protect consumers from anything.

14,000+ will go from working to welfare.

She will make sure to blame billionaires, hardworking tax payers, AI, capitalism and whatever monster they will make up tomorrow hiding under your bed.

Higher taxes. Fewer jobs. More expensive everything.

She called it a win. I hope you enjoy winning.

[m. stanfield @resetbasis]

https://t.co/bx1GYXOMZu

[Chamath Palihapitiya @chamath]

https://t.co/20b1VnWcUn

[YIMBYLAND @YIMBYLAND]

If we don’t get at least 1 supertall out of $100 oil, im gonna be PISSED

[Elon Musk @elonmusk]

South Africa won’t allow Starlink to be licensed, even though I was BORN THERE, simply because I am not Black!

We were offered many times the opportunity to bribe our way to a license by pretending that a Black guy runs Starlink SA, but I have refused to do so on principle.

Racism should not be rewarded no matter to which race it is applied.

Shame on the racist politicians in South Africa. They should be shown no respect whatsoever anywhere in the world and shunned for being unashamedly RACISTS!

[Claude @claudeai]

Introducing Claude Managed Agents: everything you need to build and deploy agents at scale.

It pairs an agent harness tuned for performance with production infrastructure, so you can go from prototype to launch in days.

Now in public beta on the Claude Platform.

[The Kobeissi Letter @KobeissiLetter]

Tonight's situation is proof that X has become the primary source for world-changing news, developments, and analysis.

Those not on X are receiving market-moving information on a delay.

Following the right accounts on X is quite literally a source of alpha in 2026.

[HotSotin 🇫🇮🇺🇦🇪🇺△ @HotSotin]

Crazy idea: Let's split a country in socialist and capitalist halves and check in on them in 75 years.

[a16z @a16z]

We're going back to the moon.

[Open Source Intel @Osint613]

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon on the Iran conflict:

"I would step back a little when you say it’s a war of choice. There was no imminent threat? They’ve been killing people around the world for 45-plus years. They funded Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, they have terrorist cells here. They were about to get ballistic missiles that can go almost 3,000 miles. They never gave up nuclear. I’m praying it ends well." - Axios

[NASA @NASA]

We're going around the Moon. Come watch with us. Artemis II's four-astronaut crew is lifting off from @NASAKennedy on an approximately 10-day mission that will bring us closer to living on the Moon and Mars. The launch window opens at 6:24pm ET (2224 UTC). https://t.co/X27QJejNDt