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The PayPal Mafia
Posted Jun 9, 2025 by Martin Armstrong
https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/world-news/conspiracy/the-paypal-mafia/
Some may have heard of the tech geniuses who compose “The PayPal Mafia.” The mainstream media glamorizes them as “tech visionaries,” a band of rebellious geniuses who disrupted finance and went on to build empires. Yet, beneath the surface of the so-called PayPal Mafia is not innovation for the public good, but the construction of a new form of oligarchy—one more dangerous than the robber barons of the 19th century. Why? Because this new class of elites doesn’t merely build companies. These men influence monetary systems, shape global narratives, and fund policy engineering through unelected channels.
PayPal emerged in the late 1990s during the dot-com bubble, which I had warned would crash by 2000. PayPal became a clever workaround to bypass the traditional banking system, cloaked under the premise of convenience. This so-called “mafia” includes Peter Thiel, Elon Musk, Reid Hoffman, Max Levchin, David Sacks, Scott Banister, Roelof Botha, Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, Jawed Karim, Premal Shah, Yu Pan, and Yishan Wong, among others who had roots in PayPal. Each went on to build their own tech empire spanning across biotech, social media, space, venture capitalism, and surveillance.
The “paypal mafia” photographed at Tosca in San Francisco, Oct, 2007.
Back row from left: Jawed Karim, co-founder Youtube; Jeremy Stoppelman CEO Yelp; Andrew McCormack, managing partner Laiola Restaurant; Premal Shah, Pres of Kiva; 2nd row from left: Luke Nosek, managing partner The Founders Fund; Kenny Howery, managing partner The Founders Fund; David Sacks, CEO Geni and Room 9 Entertainment; Peter Thiel, CEO Clarium Capital and Founders Fund; Keith Rabois, VP BIz Dev at Slide and original Youtube Investor; Reid Hoffman, Founder Linkedin; Max Levchin, CEO Slide; Roelof Botha, partner Sequoia Capital; Russel Simmons, CTO and co-founder of Yelp
Fortune Magazine ran an article about these men in 2007, and even asked them to dress up as traditional mafia gangsters. These men are the new tech elite who wield immense power and influence. Elon Musk’s deep ties to Donald Trump shone a new light on how deeply the so-called PayPal Mafia has become embedded in politics and geopolitical affairs.
I reported how Peter Thiel provided J.D. Vance a platform to enter politics. Thiel introduced Vance to Silicon Valley and welcomed him into the scene of the tech elite. Theil’s Palantir was recently awarded a massive contract to create the first US federal centralized government database that will house every piece of data on every American citizen. Again, this is happening under the premise of convenience.
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Social Security Administration, and the Department of Education have already begun working with Palantir engineers to develop the most extensive federal database in US history. Social security numbers, medical claims, tax filings, bank information, immigration records, education records, debt—every piece of information that various agencies have collected on American citizens will be transferred to the coming centralized database.
Every world leader from Putin to Pope Leo XIV has issued dire warnings over advancing AI technology, believing it is the biggest threat to the future of civilization. The Big Beautiful Bill has several provisions related to AI, most notably a 10-year moratorium period during which state and local governments will be prohibited from regulating AI.
The bill awards the Department of Commerce $500 million to secure federal IT systems using AI. The Department of Defense, Customs and Border Protection, and the Department of Health and Human Services will also receive direct funding to promote the use of AI technology.
Prohibiting state regulations ensures that all technology is guarded and controlled by the federal government. There is resistance from both parties, as those who understand technology know the power this would provide the federal government.
“We don’t get the full bill text until very close to the time to vote for it, and so that was one section that was two pages that I didn’t see,” Marjorie Taylor Greene stated, adding, “I find it so problematic that I’m willing to come forward and admit there are two pages that I didn’t read, because I never want to see a situation where state rights are stripped away.”
Thirty-five lawmakers in California, composed of three Republicans and 32 Democrats, sent a letter to Congress to warn them that the AI provision “threatens public safety, undermines innovation, and violates the principles of federalism.”
Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) called the provision a “giant gift to Big Tech.” This ban will allow AI companies to ignore consumer privacy protections, let deepfakes spread, and allow companies to profile and deceive consumers using AI. After stopping comprehensive national privacy from passing last year, Republicans are going after states and leaving consumers unprotected online,” she stated.
There are theories that the Elon v. Trump clash is based on this provision. Regardless, the PayPal Mafia tech elite have aligned in a form of techno-feudalism, and they’ve successfully entered the US government. Thiel’s Palantir feeds intelligence to the government. Musk receives massive state subsidies for Tesla and SpaceX while criticizing government inefficiency. Hoffman, the founder of LinkedIn, funds political influence operations and AI censorship platforms under the banner of democracy.
What we are witnessing is the consolidation of influence outside the democratic process.
PAMHO AGTACBSP, ORIGINALLY THE MAFIA BORN IN SOUTH ITALY IN SICILY ONE CENTURY AGO AND MANY SICILIAN PEOPLE GET BULLIED BECAUSE ALTHOUGH THE BORN IN SICILY THEY ARE NOT MAFIOSO BY ACTION BUT BY BLOOD,NOWADAYS THE MAFIA IS SPREAD A LOT EVERYWHERE IN EVERYTHING BECAUSE AS WE KNOW A FORM OF LIFE NEED TO FEED ANOTHER FORM OF LIFE THROUGH THE PROCESS OF MAFIA PHALGUNI TATHA MAHATA JIVO JIVASYA JIVANAM THE WEAKEST BECOME FOOD FOR THE STRONGEST BUT AT THE END BOTH OF THEM LOSE EVERYTHING THIS BATTLE IS THERE UNTIL THE MAFIA IS THERE WHICH IS TRYING TO MANIPULATE OUR ACTUAL KALO SUDRA SAMBHAVAN SOCIETY OF UNCIVILISED MAFIA PEOPLE ANYWAY THEY WILL END THEIR MAFIA JOURNEY IN PATALA-LOKA WHERE YAMARAJ WILL SHOW THEM THE REAL MAFIA COMPARE TO THEIR NASTY KARMA.AGTACBSP YS HARIBOL
PAMHO AGTACBSP, AS SOON AS ONE COME IN THE MATERIAL WORLD AS SOON AS ONE GET ROBBED IN SO MANY WAY OF EVERYTHING AND THE GUNA AND KARMA ARE WORKING IN THAT WAY TOO BUT THE LOSE WILL BE COMPLETE WITH THE LAST BEAT UP CALLED DEATH BUT MANY PEOPLE DYING UNSATISFIED AND ANGRY ABOUT THEIR LOSE IN THE MATERIAL WORLD WHICH IS A BEAT UP AFTER ANOTHER BEAT UP FOR WHOEVER MAKE WEALTH HERE INSTEAD OF THE SPIRITUAL SKY, .ESPECIALLY ALL THE FALSE DESIGNATION NOT JUST THE .MAFIA ARE DESTINED TO LOSE EVERYTHING THROUGH THEIR RISE AND THEIR FALL DOWN TRAPPED IN THE FALSE DESIGNATION IN THE NASTY MATERIAL WORLD, ALL THEIR INTOXICATING THROUGH THE THREE GUNAS OF THE MATERIAL NATURE WILL BE OVER IN THEIR NEXT COFFINS. AGTACBSP YS HARIBOL
PAMHO AGTACBSP, WE COME IN THE MATERIAL WORLD AS ROBBERS AFTER THE BETRAYAL WITH SRI KRSNA THEREFORE WE GET ROBBED AND BETRAYED ALL LIFE IN THIS ROTTEN WORLD ESPECIALLY IF THEY ARE NOT PRACTICE BHAKTI YOGA UNDER THE DIRECTION OF ISKCON BBT FOUNDER ACHARYA SRILA PRABHUPADA ,THEY GET ROBBED CONSTANTLY BY BAD GIRLS BAD GUNAS ETC..AND ONE GET THE MATERIAL WORLD TO FINISH TO PAY THE BAD KARMA OF HIS SINFUL REACTIONS INSTEAD OF MAKING MORE BAD KARMA ANYWAY WHOEVER PRACTICE KRSNA CONSCIOUSNESS IN THE REAL ISKCON IS MORE SAFE THAN A VIKARMI AND KARMI BECAUSE THEY ARE ALWAYS ANGRY ABOUT THE ROBBERY WHILE A DEVOTEE DON’T STEAL HE OFFER EVERYTHING TO SSGG INCLUDING ALL THE TADIYANAM SAMARCANAM BUT IN F-ISKCON ONLY MISERABLE DEVOTEES STEAL THE RESULT OF SUKRTI PIOUX ACTIVITIES TO OTHER BY BEGGING ILLEGALLY THEREFORE THEY ARE IN THE LIST OF THE BOOK OF YAMARAJA NOT ONLY THE MAFIA F-ISKCON IS ALSO MAFIA .AGTACBSP YS HARIBOL
PAMHO AGTACBSP, IN FEW WORDS THE MATERIAL WORLD IT IS THE GREATEST ROBBERY TO THE SUPREME OWNER OF EVERYTHING CALLED SRI KRSNA BHAGAVAT THAT IS WHY THE MATERIAL IS SWEARING CONSTANTLY TO PAY THE KARMA OF THE ROBBERY THROUGH FALSE I AND MINE WHICH IS LIKE A PUKKA JAIL FOR ALL THE MISFORTUNATE RESIDENTS OF THE MATERIAL WORLD AND MORE ONE KEEPING GOING ON CHEATING AND MORE ONE GET CHEATED BECAUSE IT IS A NIGHTMARE FOR ALL THE ROBBED,CHEATED AND BETRAYED RESIDENTS OF THE STINK MATERIAL WORLD, WE THE REAL HARE KRSNA ARE ON BAIL BY CHANTING THE HOLY NAME UNTIL WE REALISED THAT THE MATERIAL WORLD IS ALL BAD THEREFORE THERE IS NOT A GOOD SIDE TO FIND THE GOOD SIDE IS TO CHANT HARE KRSNA SERIOUSLY OTHERWISE ONE GET MORE TRAPPED IN ALL THE CRAP OF THE MATERIAL WORLD UNTIL ONE MAKE SUICIDE MATERIALLY AND SPIRITUALLY THAT’S THE MAIN MENU OF THE DISGUSTING AND ROTTEN MATERIAL WORLD. WE JUST KEEPING CHANTING HARE KRSNA MORE SERIOUSLY TO BECOME A GREAT SOUL WHO ARE YOGI IN DEVOTION TO MAKE SURE WE NEVER RETUN TO THIS TEMPORARY WORLD WHICH IS FULL OF MISERY BY KEEPING CHANTING…..AGTACBSP YS HARIBOL